KUCHING: Although the Covid-19 pandemic has made it necessary for teachers and students to adapt to online classes, most still prefer face-to-face interactions in a physical classroom setting.
St Joseph’s Private School (SJPS) principal Father Francis Lim said students tended to prefer a variety of tasks in different formats when learning online, with numerous students voicing out that they preferred face-to-face interactions with their teachers and other classmates in an actual classroom.
Sharing feedback from SJPS teachers regarding their students, he said most students felt fatigued with online classes.
“They feel that everything is so routine and very tiring because everyone is constrained in the same space for such a long time.
“They are overwhelmed with the quantity of work, and therefore they find it difficult to do them and hand in their work on time,” Lim said when contacted by New Sarawak Tribune.
He said the strain was also felt by teachers, explaining that teaching online was more time consuming and required more strenuous effort than normal classes.
“Not only are teachers to teach their subject content online, they are also asked to dish out technical help when students encounter problems with their platform,” said Lim.
He pointed out that teachers sometimes needed to be on standby for the entire day and late into the night dealing with such issues, including responding to students’ queries.
He said that at the initial stage, most teachers found online teaching and learning a novel approach and had to undergo a process of adjustment, tweaking their teaching approaches as they moved along.
He said teachers utilised various platforms for online teaching and learning, such as Google Classroom, Whatsapp, Zoom, email, and so on – with some using two or more platforms concurrently for a more seamless approach.
Noting that one size does not fit all, he said the platform used could be varied depending on the subject content, skill to be learned, and the ability of the teacher.
“Generally, I would say Science, Mathematics, and technical subjects do better with face-to-face interaction and assignments given out via another platform.
“On the other hand, languages do quite well with assignments given out via non-face time,” he said.
Lim said one of the biggest challenges faced by students was time management.
He said many found it taxing to follow many Zoom sessions and then adapt to other platforms such as Google Classroom and Whatsapp, only to find themselves unable to keep up with the tasks set.
He said it was also a challenge to keep everyone engaged, especially when stuck indoors. Thus, teachers had to be creative and try new things to keep learning fresh and to stave off boredom.
“Other issues with online classes include slow internet connection and some students and teachers not having adequate devices.
“Some also do not have physical textbooks or workbooks so teachers have had to adapt and take photos of relevant pages for the students to use,” he said.
