Interview of Alexandria Turnquest – World Teachers’ Day 5 October

In the following interview, we ask Alexandria Turnquest, an educator, questions about this international day and generally about the effectiveness of virtual classes and how local communities can further support teachers during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Interviewer: The use of technology is expected to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of delivering services.  As far as you are aware, have virtual classes improved the efficiency and effectiveness of the delivery of classes?  In your view are students generally more at risk of being left behind?  If so, then how and why?

Turnquest: Learning is a personal thing, you have to want to understand and as a result you will do what is required for you to achieve the level of understanding that is required to say that you have learned something. Students who have realized this will flourish, with or without the teacher, as they have developed a level of intrinsic motivation. The use of virtual classes has not affected this student as severely as it has the unmotivated or academically challenged student, the exception to this being the lack of technical support for this student, i.e. If the student lacks internet access, or a device that can handle the rigours of virtual classes or the skill to manipulate the device to attend virtual classes. These three deficiencies are a problem for any student no matter the academic ability.

The word efficient is defined as a system achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense or an individual working in a well-organized and competent way. The word effective is defined as success in producing a desired or intended result. With these in mind, I cannot say that this process has been efficient as the productivity is subjective, yes we have held classes, but how many students have attended? Did the students learn anything in those classes? So the hours of preparation by the teacher, which most definitely is NOT minimum effort, has it been wasted? The teacher, being one of the individuals in this scenario, in order to achieve a level of organization and competency, has developed many strategies to ensure that the teaching –learning dynamic is achieved. Teaching ONE class can be a delicate balance of using the Ministry of Education’s prescribed virtual programme on one computer, along with an additional computer/tablet for resource material, using your cell phone to included those students unable to utilize that platform, meanwhile fielding texts or calls from parents and students experiencing technical challenges and being mindful of the student whose data is about to run out.

Having spent four weeks in these virtual classrooms there are many students who have not attended classes on a regular basis for reasons that are varied but unknown if schools are not made aware of the challenges they may be facing. Some parents and students haven’t taken this seriously and are still hoping that we return face to face, while others think that this is “pretend school”. These delinquent students are typically the low flyers, the unmotivated and ones in greatest need of individualized attention.

Interview: What can local communities do to further support teachers during this COVID-19 pandemic?

Turnquest: I can say that I am currently sitting in a luxurious position as my former challenges with internet access have been significantly reduced. Had this virtual teaching been required of us last academic year, it would have been IMPOSSIBLE. Having internet access is crucial to the delivery of virtual lessons, so if only this one thing can be provided for teachers it will be one step closer to effectively and efficiently deliver virtual lessons.

Parental support is crucial. There are many instances where the household is unsettled, noisy and completely distracting. Students need a quiet space to focus on the lessons and be able to freely participate in the classes. Students should not be babysitting or doing chores while in virtual classes, or be made to feel embarrassed by their parent’s unruly behaviour in the background.

It is my belief that a marriage between the old and new would bring best results as we transition to this more technological era in education. By simply providing a hard copy workbook for the students to complete assignments in while teaching virtually and providing notes digitally, I think would give the parents and students a more traditional approach to attaining grades and completing assignments while pushing them to access information virtually.

It is also my hope that research is done to determine what has been working and what challenges we have had to correct them and improve the delivery of education in the future.