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Staff-student dialogue
2020-2021 batch MA student, Surabhi Srivastava and Deputy Rector for Education Affairs, Professor Karin Arts, share their experiences of learning and teaching during a pandemic.*
Learning and teaching during a pandemic –
Lessons learned Surabhi (S): This year was quite a challenge at first. But as many of us adapted to virtual worlds, online education became one of those things that we just had to get used to. Eventually, I really enjoyed the learning process and being able to engage with people from around the world. I appreciated that faculty creatively engaged with students and helped us engage with each other. But that is my personal experience from a place of privilege, with access to internet, without the need to also have
a job. I realize that's not everyone’s experience. There were people in very restricted settings who didn't have access to internet or to the time or privilege to be able to be present online. I am also interested to learn what challenges faculty faced. Karin (K): Well, most staff also went through a rollercoaster of emotions and anxieties. Almost overnight, we had to shift to online education. As you can imagine, the lockdown forced faculty to
critically reflect on their normal teaching practices and figure out whether these would work in an online setting. S: I think we can expect to see academic research on what working on Zoom does to you mentally and psychologically. I think the impact can be both positive or negative and it’s interesting to hear that ISS faculty had similar experiences. K: Maybe it’s also interesting to discuss whether, in hindsight, things could have been done differently.
