Six years ago, I arrived in Belgium as a distance learning student from Spain. I carried the University of Málaga with me to Antwerp, right in the palm of my hand (or rather, laptop). On my first day as a student, I was overwhelmed by the history of the buildings at the University of Antwerp. I remember thinking: “How could anybody not be motivated to study in this beautiful place?”
How does this work?
Life is full of surprises, and a while later, I became a teacher at the university myself. I started teaching Spanish at Linguapolis a couple of weeks ago. So I had to migrate to online teaching after having taught only three live classes. Like everyone else, my first thought was “How does this work?”. And so the journey started. I devoted the weekend exploring tutorials and webinars I found online.
Monday morning started with a virtual department meeting to discuss options for language teaching. It ended with criteria for structure, tools and didactics. There was a lot of support and enthusiasm among the teachers. The guidance of my colleagues and coordinators was of great help to me. Although they were worried, everybody understood the responsibility that rested on our shoulders.
Dedication among the teachers
When taking part in the webinars provided by our university (respect for the fast response of the ICT team!), I saw the dedication and willingness to learn on all of my (new) colleagues’ faces. It didn’t surprise me. After all, we are teachers. How are we to teach life-long competences if we are no longer learning ourselves?
By Monday afternoon my students had tutorials so they could resume the course. By Tuesday, the material for self-study was uploaded to the platform and the online session was planned. The students’ feedback was key to gaining efficiency. Their appreciation for the work boosted my motivation. In my second online session yesterday, all the students were prepared and took part in the lively group interaction.
The challenge is to avoid the loneliness of distance learning
The challenge now is to keep them interested and motivated. And more importantly, to keep them connected to prevent the loneliness of distance learning. I know how that feels, because I am the product of distance learning. But I also know that socialisation among students can be catered for. We have the tools, so let’s use them.
We don’t yet know what is going to happen, but I’ve already experienced the feeling of belonging at the university. Despite the fact that we don’t see each other physically, I haven’t felt alone throughout this challenging time. There is a strong educational community that takes responsibility for our society and our students. You know, education is the only thing that cannot be taken from us. You can lose your freedom to go outside, but nobody can stop you learning.