ICT Essentials for Teachers (Module 3)

You may think that to teach remotely, you can simply apply the same principles of the traditional face to face setting to remote teaching. Teaching remotely is very different from the traditional face to face environment and as such will require strategies to promote effective teaching and learning. Remote teaching is a term often used synonymously with online teaching, e-learning, distance education, correspondence education, external studies, flexible learning, and massive open online courses (MOOCs). 

Common features of any form of remote learning are: the teacher-learner separation by space or time, or both, and the use of media and technology to enable communication and exchange during the learning process despite this separation. This may be achieved through print-based learning materials, or one-way massive broadcasting (TV and radio programmes), or through web-based exchange using social media channels or learning platforms. Distance learning tends to require a high level of self-directed learning on the part of the learner, and study skills, which must be supported through new teaching, learning and guidance strategies.

Online instruction and remote teaching, which can be given in one of three pedagogical approaches: (1) synchronous, (2) asynchronous and (3) blended learning strategy. In synchronous online remote lectures (real-time), instructors and students meet online using a video conferencing software during the designated class hours and instructors give lectures on the course. Students participate in the lectures and are able to ask questions vocally or via live text chat. In asynchronous remote lectures, instructors record lecture videos and upload them in Blackboard learning management system (LMS) or YouTube, so that students can access them in their most convenient time.

The blended remote teaching strategy is deemed to be the most practical method to adapt as this combines the advantages of synchronous and asynchronous strategies. The main motivation in choosing the blended strategy is to increase the student’s participation in their own learning process rather than quietly sitting during a synchronous discussion. The basis of this approach is the cognitive load theory, on the basis that novice learners are immediately overwhelmed by a large amount of new ideas and terminologies, and resort to surface learning.