The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted almost every area of life, including the teaching and learning process in primary, secondary, and higher education. Even with the availability of vaccines, uncertainty prevails because of the emerging variants of the Coronavirus disease. For learning to proceed, education stakeholders must develop resilient hybrid learning systems that appropriate face-to-face and virtual student-teacher interactions. An excellent example of this system is the use of one-on-one and online tutoring and writing centers.
The Hybrid Classroom
Because of the COVID-19 containment measures, such as social distancing, teachers must find ways of accommodating students for face-to-face learning in the classroom setting. With the need to ensure social distancing in the classroom, teachers may alternate learners between in-person and virtual learning. In other words, while some students attend a physical classroom, others may visit online portals, such as a writing center. People should alternate their options to ensure uniformity in the learning experience.
Digital and Human Resources
Schools and colleges must ensure two conditions to build a resilient hybrid learning system. Firstly, they must ensure students have access to appropriate devices. Here, the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) model could be applied, where teachers encourage learners to come to class with their digital devices. Secondly, the school or college administration must set up a digital infrastructure to facilitate face-to-face and online learning. Here, the availability of interactive whiteboards and virtual learning environments is critical.
Interactive Whiteboards
Although COVID-19 has created a new reality that discourages constant physical interaction, it is impossible to avoid face-to-face interaction between teachers and students. In this new reality, interactive whiteboards are one way of building a resilient hybrid learning system because these digital resources utilize both face-to-face and online learning. Ideally, teachers use their fingers or a specially provided pen to create content on the large screen, including links to external resources.
Electronic Portfolios
One way of building a resilient hybrid learning system is to encourage teachers to use electronic portfolios to document content and learning objectives and activities. Ideally, a teacher interacts with students via face-to-face learning and then records their experiences with students in the e-portfolio. Such experiences include assignments and each students’ score, fieldwork, and other data, such as sketches.
Tutoring and Writing Centers
A virtual learning environment allows students to interact with course content without physically attending a classroom or interacting with a teacher. A popular example of such an environment is an online tutoring or writing center, where teachers, retired teachers, graduate students, and other professionals tutor students needing academic assistance or support. These online resources ensure students get help whenever they need it without attending a physical classroom.
In summary, COVID-19 has created a new reality in every sphere of life that requires people to adapt to resume some normalcy. Schools and colleges can adapt to this new reality by building resilient hybrid learning systems that appropriate face-to-face and virtual learning. Examples of resilient hybrid learning systems are interactive whiteboards and virtual learning environments, such as online tutoring and writing centers.
