Let’s contextualize on-line classes

Author, John Vianney Ahumuza. PHOTO/COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • Uganda’s education system  just like other nations  has been affected by lock down. Apparently all schools are still closed to control the spread of the virus.

Recently, the whole world has been swung into confusion especially in the Education system caused by the effects of Covid -19 pandemic.

Although developed countries had already adopted online classes and blended systems for delivering content to learners , this has not necessary been the same with some developing countries whose progress has been limited to latent blended system of teaching.

Uganda’s education system  just like other nations  has been affected by lock down. Apparently all schools are still closed to control the spread of the virus. The Ministry of Education and sports under the guidance of the Ministry of Health experts has in the meantime advised schools to adopt to the new normal of online teaching. Whereas many schools especially higher institutions of learning have attempted to adopt to this new directive successfully such as Uganda Christian University, this has not necessarily been the case with lower classes especially at primary levels.

To begin with, the concentration of learners in lower levels of learning has a very limited  concentration span. Simply put, a learner is in high gear in the first thirty minutes and beyond this the law of diminishing returns takes course. Secondary, in lower classes especially primary, learners get content through  vigorous repetitive visual illustrations.

Whereas some schools handling such classes have tried this intervention, others  seem to have remained stuck on mere static zoom, google meet  links that only enables a learner to simply view the face of the teacher and listen to his  audio voice explaining content without illustrations!

Besides, since there is a distance between a leaner and the teacher, most parents and guardians have equally not provided an adequate learning environment at home for the learners. It is not surprising to view zoom videos of pupils lying in their beds or seated on the extreme edge of the dinning table with other siblings visibly seen watching cartoons in another corner!

Others have even reached an extent of driving their children at the back of their vehicles busy attending classes with the view that as long as ear phones are on, all is well! This is not an Ideal learning environment. Parents ought to psychologically prepare their learners for online classes.

The teachers too need to remember that the difference between an online class and a physical class is  majorly the distance that exists between the learner and the student. This means all methods of a physical  class room teaching apply to online classes. For Instance students must not be held hostage for a very long period of time without breaks. Always remember to wet the appetite of learners to motivate them to enjoy the class. Name calling to put some learners in order or to praise them for any good contribution is very key. You must however remember that in most cases, names displayed on computers or phones may not be actual names of learners. This is because many use parents or friends phones. Always ask a learner to confirm  their Identities.

With all these interventions put in the context of running physical classes, Iam personally convinced that we will maintain the quality of education of our learners till the the final dates when the government will officially open schools for physical or blended classes.

John Vianney Ahumuza, lecturer at Uganda Christian University,   Mukono.