This was our first monthly event focussing on teacher training and it was great to see so many Hub members there. We broke off fairly quickly into breakout rooms after an initial hello and these were the three suggested questions:
- How have you supported your teachers in their in-house professional development with the move online?
- What other skills have teacher training courses needed to include?
- How is observing online classes different to face-to-face classes?
From monitoring the chats, it felt like a lot of the conversations were around supporting teachers, initially with the move to online teaching in March 2020 and then again for those going back into the classroom – either in a socially-distanced or hybrid format – in September.
Supporting teachers
Different schools took different approaches to the move online: for some, teaching online was optional, with the opportunity to observe their more confident colleagues before starting their own groups online; in other cases, staffing was drastically reduced, sometimes with one teacher taking on all the remaining students whilst learning to use Zoom at the same time.
Some schools had a weekly trouble-shooting session for the move online, which started changed as teachers became more comfortable and confident with teaching online.
There were also ideas-sharing sessions, such as a monthly ‘Zoomroom’, for teachers to come together and share what had been working for them.
It also felt like a positive move that those who were ‘just’ teachers were becoming the experts, as trainers and managers often weren’t in the online classroom learning the important lessons about what works and what doesn’t. The role in that case became one of a facilitator – spotting who the experts are and asking them to help others.
For those involved in in-house development, adapting paper-based books to the online environment was mentioned, although in some cases learners are able to access their own copies of the books.
Another positive note was a feeling of becoming more ‘Zoom competent’ – as teachers and students gained experience working with whichever platform they were on, routines became much more routine and activities flowed more easily.
Supporting students
In some cases, schools provided guides to support parents during lockdown to help them help their own children.
There was also some chat around the idea of ‘digital natives’ – whilst many of our learners feel confident with a smartphone or tablet, many struggled with digital literacy on a desktop.
There was sometimes a degree of ‘assumed literacy’ for students which wasn’t always there.
People also mentioned how having the chat function had helped support weaker learners during online lessons – they could ask questions privately to teachers so felt more confident during the lessons.
And, another positive is that after the initial feeling of being a bit of a YouTuber when classes first moved online, some people now feel that the online classroom is a much less teacher-centred space, allowing for more collaboration between students and higher-order activities.
The hybrid classroom
It felt there was a distinct lack of resources to support teachers who were dealing with hybrid classes from September, particularly around ways of increasing interaction and engaging learners in both environments.
Teachers found a lot of online support through Facebook groups, particularly as in the States it was already being used in mainstream education. Doing a search in the groups (e.g. ‘hybrid’) will throw up great resources. These groups were highlighted (thanks Lucie!):
Some key points which were mentioned to make the hybrid class easier were the positioning of the camera, using a mic which can pick up the responses of learners in the traditional classroom and a reminder to always nominate rather than asking an open question to the class. And when nominating, it also helps to alternate between the two environments – or encouraging students to nominate a classmate in the other environment. It can also help to tell the students in the non-virtual classroom to imagine that their classmates are in the room next door as this encourages them to speak more loudly and clearly J
Some teachers have tried a buddy system, whereby a student in the classroom is paired with a student online. Alternatively, having one student in the physical classroom who’s ‘responsible’ for those online – ensuring instructions have been understood, sharing vocabulary in the chat box, etc.
For the teacher, it’s better to think of the class as having two objectives: one for those in the masked classroom and one for those online.
Working with lower-level groups was mentioned as being particularly tricky, as a combination of poor audio quality and mask-wearing can make it difficult for them to hear each other clearly.
Harry has also done a couple of great blogposts with tips for the set-up of a hybrid classroom and some hacks and activities.
Backchannelling on teacher training courses
It was suggested that backchannelling – setting up an alternate communication channel (e.g. using the chat box alongside what’s happening ‘live’) – was essential for the hybrid classroom. When working with younger learners, this needs to be done carefully as it could potentially lead to chaos. It’s also important for there to be a community of trust before private channels are opened up between students.
This led us on to talk about the idea of using it during lesson observations. Some trainers mentioned that they had always commented to fellow observers during pre-service training courses as it provides them with the opportunity to get much more from the observation process; others said they felt it could be distracting during a face-to-face course, but would feel comfortable using it during observed lessons.
It was also highlighted that although (online) chatting during the observation encourages reflection in action, it doesn’t provide reflection on action and this needs to be balanced out.
The private chat function can also be a good resource for encouraging pairwork on courses (or in classes). This can be especially useful if breakout rooms aren’t possible.
As an aside, there was a question of who can see the private chat if the chat is saved after the meeting ends – as a trial, we asked participants to send private messages to each other to see if they were visible in the saved chat. They weren’t, and from the settings in Zoom, it doesn’t seem to be a feature, but may be possible on other platforms.
Training online
Trainers were also largely thrown in at the deep end with pre-service qualifications, and some higher-level assessed teaching practice, moving online in 2020.
This feeling of not being an expert was mentioned by a couple of people – whilst in the past you would have gone into teacher training confident in your own teaching abilities, the shift online meant some felt a little like imposters observing and assessing others. However, on a positive note, some trainers felt that it was good for trainee teachers to see that we were learning too and making mistakes.
Keeping to the key principles on a training course was mentioned – balancing the tools available with the teaching skills needed, always with the idea that any tools should make the teaching better, to achieve the learning objective in a more effective manner. It’s very easy for us to get over-excited by a new tool and switch off our critical faculties!
KISS – keep it super(?) simple
However, it feels there’s still a slight discord in online teaching courses, with the best online methodology missing. It feels that at times classes have turned to ‘death by Powerpoint’ and as trainers, we need to be introducing our teachers to other formats, without overwhelming them with too many resources.
Another point which was mentioned was the importance of ensuring an online course provides trainees with the same support (both from tutors and peers) as a face-to-face course. The time dedicated at the end of a lesson for trainees to reflect and then share their thoughts with the tutor and peers is essential.
Recording lessons
This was briefly mentioned as a great tool for self-reflection, followed by some chat around the ethics of recording lessons, who has access to the recording and the purpose of recording.
A suggestion was that it might be possible to pin your video so that you’re the only one visible in the recording, but other people can be heard.
Listening back to snippets of the recording can really help to improve your teacher talk or online interaction.
Someone mentioned that it might be possible for Zoom to provide a transcription of a recording and otter.ai was mentioned as a (paid) site which will do the same.
A couple of extras:
Students accessing the class from home with technology has been explored on a smaller scale before – AV1 is a robot which was designed to support children who are in hospital or aren’t able to attend the school for other reasons.
There was also a report of an 8-year-old that worked out how to block her Zoom account so she couldn’t attend lesson.
Gavin Dudeney’s Facebook post was also highlighted:
So, suddenly not only are people being asked to use Zoom to teach all their classes online, they’re also being told they should be making it even more exciting by incorporating two hundred tools – Padlet, Quizlet, Schnizlet, Kahoot, Schrute, Gamut, Kakadu, Dobedoo and loads more.
Teachers are being told that they can’t just do it – there are experts who work in this field. It’s not the same as teaching face-to-face. You can’t just do what you’ve always done.
But, see… the thing is, you can (at least for the moment), and you probably actually should. Because your students need a teacher at the moment, not someone carrying out hurried experiments.
Ah sure, people will try to sell you things and tools and their advice and more, but maybe – just maybe the first thing you need to do is simply do a bit of teaching. Pick things up slowly, try something new occasionally.
Stick some sticky whiteboard paper on a wall in your house, get a decent webcam and a microphone and do what you do best – teach. Draw, write, show, demonstrate, ask questions, involve people, have discussions. Do what you know. In a while maybe try the breakout rooms, or add something else in. But first get comfortable.
Online teaching IS different, and in time you may well want to do a course, or get some more skills. And these may make you a better online teacher for as long as it’s needed. With some training you’ll acquire new skills and work out how to combine asynchronous tools with synchronous tools, how to plan an online course, how to moderate an online course, how to support and mentor people online. All this would be great, and useful – in the long run.
But for now, you know how to do what you do, so just do it like that and don’t get stressed or pressured. There will be time enough for everyone to become experts, I suspect.