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.

S: When we started our education online, a lot of us did not realise the toll it would take. I wonder now whether spacing out some of the courses could have helped and given us some breathing space. I also wonder whether having more checks on emotional and mental health could have helped.

K: ISS focused very much on the continuity of its education programme; on keeping all the courses running, ensuring we had the necessary technology and so on. Maybe we didn't take enough time to also think about the emotional, wellbeing and pedagogical side of our education programme. One positive outcome of this period is that we now have a much better eye for our wellbeing and for personal circumstances. Such things became more obvious and it became self-evident to discuss them. I hope that is something we will maintain. we should ask what help we can provide in terms of making sure that people have a healthy, safe workspace.

K: Some rather simple measures might already help. For example, we found a way to provide a break in Term 2. Another example is simply for teachers to stay around after class for whoever wants to have a chat. Small things like that can make a difference.

In hindsight, I think we could have been better prepared logistically, for instance in terms of planning for people in different time zones. The same goes for the issue of excessive screen time.

S: Maybe another very practical measure would have been to provide people in student housing with a laptop stand, for instance, to help with posture. This has such an impact during online learning because you're sitting at your computer for long periods.

K: And I would say for staff it is very important to deliberately create slack time in the day. That's what I realize now that I'm gradually coming back to the office - how much slack time there is in a normal office day.

Another question is whether COVID-19 has also created opportunities for education.

S: Indeed. There is still this hierarchy between in-person education versus online education. Maybe we need to rethink this binary. The pandemic has brought to the foreground a reframing and revaluing of how we think about online education. We have learned that we can connect without having to spend resources on logistics, transport and so on. And as we try to become more sustainable, maybe investing in airfares, for example, will not be viable.

K: Yes, it has also become so much easier to bring guest lecturers onto our courses. Another advantage, of course, is that you can reach out to a much broader audience and open up academic activities to an audience that would otherwise not have had access.

Many colleagues are now also thinking about how to use the new ways of teaching and learning. We might also think about this in terms of opportunities for setting up new educational activities with higher education institutes in the South. That is much easier if they are partly online.

S: As you say, I think the future is hybrid. We now have the power of choice and that really empowers people.

K: Definitely, we have all experienced that both online and in-person may be suitable. Done rightly, the combinations will lead to better quality and a more impactful outcome.

S: It has been a steep learning curve but if I had to choose between this experience versus no education at all, I would opt for online education again. The fact that I could connect with people virtually around the world is a privilege. I take that very seriously and cherish the experience.

K: That’s a nice way to end to this conversation!

‘I think the future is hybrid. We now have the power of choice and that really empowers people.’