As of Monday 30th March, all schools in Lithuania will be teaching and learning remotely, if they have not already started this process. As well as most of the rest of the globe. So aside from the basic strain, this will put on systems and various platforms and the internet In general, what else should we expect? How effective is remote learning? How can we improve it?

Having experienced this now for the last 2 weeks personally, I have been inspired by the effort of both teachers, students and parents, to transgress to this new method. You can obviously expect some technical questions and getting used to using a completely different approach, however, it has so far been a pretty seamless transition. In fact, some of the work that is being produced is of particularly high quality and that is dependent on a number of factors. Depending on the age group you are teaching, then the preparation and sourcing for new platforms and interactive methods may take some time, however, it is producing some very interesting results, that the students are finding both novel and unique. I believe this is helping open our eyes to a new and exciting way of producing work. We know all students love technology anyway!

According to Associated Professor PhD Nerijus Pacesa founder of Erudito Lycejus, his thoughts were as follows. “Teachers transformed education online very fast and very professionally. We are improving each day on balancing with synchronized lesson delivery and rich e-content that provides high opportunities for self-learning. We are very excited in using this opportunity to make online education engaging, differentiated and enriched with high-quality student-centric content”, – he said.

With technology placed where it currently is, moving out of the standard lesson format, enables teachers a whole new expanse of limitless resources to bring into the lessons moving forward. With our own internal platform already In existence, we should be protected from the surge of necessary upcoming online options this week and beyond. So, we are already somewhat prepared and practiced in advance. Maybe some of the schools worldwide will feel the brunt of this for a while, however. It is a learning process for us teachers too, however, with the quick transition over, most teachers have jumped up to the mark and embraced this new way of teaching. You are online with your class, however, bringing so many other aspects into that is imperative. Video links, AI learning, presentation creation form you and them, familiarizing with different platforms for upload of work and marking it immediately, is becoming something that is starting to feel comfortable for this period of time. I’m sure, as teachers, there is nothing better than being in the classroom, however, we are not losing relationships with our students and it is refreshing to see this approach being taken on so wholeheartedly during a difficult time for everyone.

After this period is over, I think we will see a general increase in the level of teaching, learning and overall engagement between students and their teachers. We are all in this together.

Sara Spivey