By Gavin Grenda
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and schools across the country going virtual, technology has become a bigger part of education than ever before. Programs like Zoom and Google Meet have become mandatory for teachers to use and learn, and figuring out how to coordinate assignments over the Internet is a must for any teacher in 2021.
Mr. Owen, the engineering and computer science teacher at Lusher, teaches classes that were already very oriented around technology before the pandemic. Despite this, even the tech-savvy Mr. Owen describes difficulty in the transition to virtual learning in his computer science class.
“I originally thought that CS wouldn’t be that different–we’re on the computers anyway,” Owen said, “but it turns out that even in a class like that, the vibe is very different when asking people to work together. So much of the normal learning process involves things like ‘check in with your neighbor,’ and those are so much harder now. You have to make the breakout rooms, then remind people to share their screens and actually talk to each other. Sometimes my timer goes off and a group will say they never even got started on the activity because they had trouble getting the setup right. So I have definitely done less group work than I normally would because of that.”
Many teachers this year were unfamiliar with Zoom, which has been the bread and butter of virtual teaching. Mr. Owen was comfortable using the program to teach his classes and helped other teachers get familiar with the program. “I taught a summer class using it, and that really helped prepare me for starting the school year virtually. I also worked alongside Ms. Straight and Dr. Michna to help other teachers get up and running with Zoom in August.”
While the transition to virtual learning has created plenty of barriers and obstacles, it has also been an opportunity for teachers to innovate and improve their teaching methods. Many teachers are quick to take advantage of online resources like Google Classroom and Google Jamboards. Mr. Owen mentions incorporating the program OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) to have more control and options in his virtual classes.
This innovation, along with better incorporation of technology into the classroom that may last post-pandemic, shows the bright side of virtual learning. Unfortunately, school being cancelled for snow days may be a thing of the past…not that we have ever had a snow day in southeast Louisiana.
