CHANDIGARH: In the face of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, online and blended learning is now an educational fact of life. Developing Strategies for Online Teaching and Learning is a new program designed to support teachers to prepare for the upcoming school year. An online survey was conducted by IQAC, Dev Samaj College of Education during the trying circumstances amid the coronavirus pandemic when the schools & colleges across India have been shut since mid-March.
After a few days, an unplanned and rapid move to online teaching and learning with no training to teachers, insufficient bandwidth and little preparation got initiated by all educational institutions. Online mode of teaching, undoubtedly, is a good stopgap arrangement with no other option.
The results of the survey revealed that Out of the total 82.1% respondents having no previous experience of online teaching, 90.2% teachers said that they are taking online classes for the first time, while 9.8% teachers mentioned that they were not taking online classes during lockdown amid COVID-19. To follow up this study, keeping in mind the above problems faced by teachers & Supporting the continuation of teaching and learning during COVID-19 Pandemic, Dev Samaj College of Education, Sec. 36-B, Chandigarh has developed an online MOOC course on ‘LEARNING TO TEACH ONLINE’ for prospective and in-service teachers. It is an initiative taken by IQAC through Teaching Learning Centre of DSCE under the able guidance and leadership of revered Sh. Nirmal Singh Dhillon, Secretary Dev Samaj and Chairman, Dev Samaj College of Education. Chandigarh. This e course has been initiated and launched because of the concerted efforts and vision of Principal Dr. (Mrs.) Agnese Dhillon.
This course has proven to be a land mark as an important and urgent task of supporting students’ opportunity to learn during these challenging times. Our teachers will get the opportunity to learn new technological tools and experience new possibilities to generate education for students across the world.
The college has already completed one batch of this course where around 700 candidates from different states like Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttrakhand, Assam, Tamilnadu, Rajasthan etc. participated. Before this, the college did a pilot study of same course on 60 prospective teachers, who appreciated this too much. The College has now got the sponsorship from State Council of Educational Research & Training (SCERT), Department of School Education, and Government of Punjab for two week e-course for In-service teachers on Transition From Blackboard to Broadband: Online Training for Online Teaching whose valedictory is going to be held on 9th August, 2020 i.e. on Monday. On demand and overwhelming response that the course received from participants, the college is going to start one more batch of the same from 12th August, 2020 to 28th August, 2020. Many candidates have already registered in the course and registration is still on. We sincerely hope that whatever teachers learn here, will apply effectively at their workplace.