Adjusting to a Job in the Academia During a Pandemic

So how does Engr. Rolando Paulino adjust? He explains below:

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While Engr. Paulino makes it sound easy, it can be said that some people will have to adjust more. Having worked with people who are arguably more mature and experienced may have warped your expectations and how you socialize. In the end, as with what Engr. Paulino said, it’s just accepting that you’re now working with students – individuals who are definitely less experienced, exposed, and knowledgeable than those who you are accustomed to.

Teaching in the New Normal

We’ve all had that mental schema of a teacher as someone standing in the classroom, talking to a bunch of students, delivering a lesson and hoping that their audience learned something. But the pandemic has fundamentally changed how teachers operate, presenting a challenge to teachers, including the new ones. Engr. Rolando Paulino and Mr. Chen Ramos shared their experiences with regards to encountering this problem:

Indeed, our interaction with our students has been severely hampered by the fact we’re teaching online these days. In both their interviews Mr. Ramos and Engr. Paulin explained made their online sessions more lively: by asking questions, by letting students explain, and promoting discussion between all the participants. However, we must always remember that that’s not the only kind of interaction vital during Online Distance Learning. For Moore (1989), there are actually three, briefly explained below:

Learner-instructor interaction

This is the type of interaction we are most familiar with, as when we think of “teaching”, we automatically think that, as teachers, learning involves us interacting with our students. However, this goes beyond simply “instructing” or “teaching” per se, as it also involves guiding our students’ thought processes, supporting their development through meaningful conversations, and sometimes ‘mentoring’ them. When you were a student yourself, was there a teacher who made you “better” just by simply talking to you? That’s the kind of interaction that we’re talking about.

Learner-learner interaction

This type refers to the interaction between our students themselves. As we continue to utilize Online Distance Learning, we may have realized that our students are less motivated. This could be an effect of not being connected enough to their fellow students, as one can argue that education is indeed a social process. To combat this, we might want to promote further interaction between the learners. This could be done via discussion boards, breakout rooms, collaborative projects, and the like. Not only will this help them feel more connected, but it will also likely promote our students’ interaction skills, and possibly their leadership skills as well, which are definitely valuable to have when they finally start working themselves.

Learner-content interaction

Now when we think about “interaction”, we think about interacting with other people. In most cases, that’s technically right, but it’s a little bit different in this type of interaction. Moore (1989) explains that we can understand this type in two ways: first, the interaction with the content itself. Do we have content which can be “interacted” with by the student, like simple guide questions and mini-activities within our modules. This can also be in the form manipulable content, such as (serious) games or simulations. On the other hand, Moore likewise takes it a step further describing this type as somewhat of a metacognitive aspect of learning. Does our content make our students have an intrapersonal dialogue which makes them think deeper about the topic and so forth?

Indeed, we miss interacting with our peers and our students. It is also true that students are lacking the quality interaction they have grown accustomed to back in face-to-face education. It is therefore imperative that we, as teachers, promote these types of interactions to further engage our students.

Learning About Learning Management Systems

One of the biggest challenges new teachers face is the fact that we need to be adept at using Learning Management Systems (LMS) now. This is challenging, given that many secondary teachers are not so used to using new technologies, and even if the secondary teacher was much younger, the intricacies and mechanics of LMS can be quite daunting. Indeed, as Dr. Santos puts it.

So what advice does Dr. Santos give to those who are first-timers with LMS?