Reflective Essay on the Remote Teaching & Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Hola a todos! ¿Cómo están, gente? Espero que estés bien. Me llamo Jannah Zamri. As titled above, I write this essay to reflect my experience on the remote teaching and learning (T&L) in ESA368 High-Speed Aerodynamic course during the COVID-19 pandemic. 17 November 2019, the first case of Coronavirus was identified in Wuhan, Hubei. In December 2019, more confirmed cases were reported. During this period, the rest of the world was laughing at China, oblivious to the coming virus outbreak that would shake this sphere planet, Earth. As of 26 July 2020, more than 16 million cases have been reported across 188 countries and territories, resulting in more than 640,000 deaths. Who would’ve known that a single case may lead to millions? Who would’ve known that thousands of people would die because of human’s ignorance, stubbornness, and inferior educations? No one knows, because no one ever prepares for the arrival of this new virus. Months had passed, no vaccine created. Of course, because a vaccine would generally take years, if not decades, to develop. But whether there is a vaccine or not, the truth is there is no going back to the world pre-pandemic.

18 March 2020, most of the students in Universiti Sains Malaysia had gone back to their homes, including me. Early semester break, yay! Plus, it was an abnormally long mid-semester break. 3 weeks of holiday. I was scared of bringing back the virus to my family. Still, my heart resists staying at the hostel because Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had officially promulgated the Movement Control Order (MCO) for who knows how long. Hence, I decided to bring home only the necessities that I might need. Little did I know that the 3 weeks’ break would prolong to months. The current state of affairs is forcing a faster pace of change for which many are ill-prepared. This includes the shutting down of malls, companies, public places, and many more, especially schools and universities. All the T&L process has to be conducted online by embracing technological improvements, including the High-Speed Aerodynamic course. Fortunately, I brought my laptop with me. Worse luck, I left all of my study materials at the hostel. Great!

Learning remotely has its own pros y contras. In-person learning makes the students have to stick to a fixed schedule and specific learning processes. In stark contrast to that, distance learning gives its students the freedom to comprehend, assimilate, and peruse the course content in ways that work best for them as most -if not all- of the resources are provided online. It is a known indisputable fact that different people learn in individual ways and at different speeds. With distance learning, I can manage my assignments, watch recordings of lectures, and embark on my personalized learning journey - whenever I’m at my productive best regardless of whether I’m a morning lark or a night owl.

Be that as it may, remote learning is not as easy as one could’ve imagined. To be able to learn at my own pace is sometimes a poisoned chalice. It is more likely of a curse than a blessing to someone who needs constant guidance and lives on a rigid schedule like me. Learning flexibly often causes me to slip into the habits of procrastination. Apart from that, remote learning also comes with high chances of distraction. With no lecturers around for face-to-face interaction, and no classmates who would give me constant reminders about pending assignments, the odds of getting distracted and slip away from deadlines are high, especially for this course where the number of students taking this subject is only about 10 people. The onus is on me to heighten my self-motivation and self-focus.

On the bright side, with the freedom to schedule and manage my studies comes a high level of self-sufficiency, discipline, and independence. Good thing that independence and self-sufficiency are excellent attributes to develop at youth and has become sought-after attributes in fresh graduates. Moreover, remote learning requires me to be just as efficient and organized as I’d be in a traditional education, where I have to boost the drive to study and complete all the tasks given. Those who love procrastination and cannot stick to the deadline would have significant pressure on him/her during distance learning.

High-Speed Aerodynamic is a tough course, no joke. With three projects and three individual tests, I have indeed struggled to keep up the momentum. A planner and to-do list have been my best friend during this pandemic.  Every day before going to bed, I would make sure that I keep tasks and projects on track and prevent bottlenecks by meeting deadlines. I would always prioritize each of my work, depending on its urgency and value, so that I could deliver them on time.

In terms of teaching, this course offers asynchronous learning or location independent learning. Since the students are given all learning materials beforehand, I could study as much or as little as I want every day, as long as I complete the study material within the stipulated time. Whenever I have doubts or queries, the discussion forum on e-learn would be a great help. As much as I love using the e-learning platform, I figured chatting and discussing in WhatsApp is more convenient.

The lecture video quiz is another excellent effort by the lecturer because the quiz has made it easier to piece together when students haven’t understood a concept. The drawback is that there is no hint of cheating, even with the promise of upholding integrity. Thus, these online quizzes and tests only depend on student’s trustworthiness. One most practical suggestion I would recommend is to have a synchronous online quiz where the lecturer creates a poll for students to answer the question on the basic concept of a particular topic. This way, the lecturer would know for sure that his/her students fully understand the course content without getting a false sense of confidence that his/her message had gotten across.

To conclude, my virtual learning experience is lleno de altibajos. While I do miss the atmosphere of traditional education, this has been an opportunity for me to understand the power of remote learning and how it could benefit me in the current or future situation. It was incredibly difficult transitioning from face-to-face learning to remote education at first because I feel that my anxiety and melancholia have increased tremendously and have become more prevalent while being home. Still, as time passes, I could finally get the hang of it.  I don’t know if I would want to re-experience this distance learning or have more online education in the future because, honestly, I miss the feel and the environment of a regular classroom sometimes.

For me, I loved getting to see my friends every day at school or anywhere on campus. Now that it’s taken away from me, I feel as though I’m losing friendships I had with my peers due to a lack of communication between us. University life also taught me responsibility and time management. Every day I would follow my daily routine in between waking up and going to bed. Now that I even have no reason to possess a schedule, I have been turning in and getting out of bed much later than I used to. There also seems to be a significant lack of motivation for me now to accomplish tasks because I have no one around who would always remind me of the deadline and how vital the submission is. This definitely won’t be beneficial to my work ethic henceforth. Besides, I feel like my education is not being fulfilled, and I miss the thought-provoking discussions I used to have with my coursemates at school.

The globe was already changing rapidly, but COVID-19 accelerated it. Taking the bad with the good, the endeavor is a virtue. Believe it or not, this ballgame forces us to develop life skills. Adapting to overcome the challenges not only enhances my problem-solving skills but also help in building my resilience. On a side note, to succeed in the post-coronavirus-world, we will need to possess the ability to adapt to the ever-evolving situation and have the capability to revitalize our talent and career. Last but not least, the COVID-19 pandemic also increases my emotional intelligence. Instead of having emotional outbursts, I am able to stay calm during stressful situations and avoid impulsive decisions by making a conscious choice to focus on resolutions.

That is all for my teaching-learning experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you.

 

Translations:

Hola a todos! ¿Cómo están, gente? Espero que estés bien. Me llamo Jannah Zamri - Hello everyone! How are you all doing? I hope you are doing well. My name is Jannah Zamri

Pros y contras - Pros and cons

lleno de altibajos – full of ups and downs