Online Teaching is not better nor worse than Face to Face instruction. Online Teaching is just simply different. It presents significant challenges to both the teacher and the students.
The RCI Faculty are geared up to embrace the complexities involved in this Online Teaching, a great shift in the delivery of instruction. The Faculty has been keeping themselves busy with the revision of their syllabi and the creation of their Modules for the Integrative Kit for Learning. Online Teaching however is not just about the equipment and materials needed nor the supporting references to meet the Intended Learning Outcomes. Online Teaching requires strategies on how to enable students to have a deep engagement with their course materials and applications. It also requires how students can substantially and effectively interact with their teacher and their classmates.
It is for this reason that the RCI Faculty is empowered through a Training entitled “Boosting Student Engagement in the Classroom,” with Mr. Angel Lozari of Lozari ConsulThink scheduled for two batches, August 4-7 and August 11-14. The program has the following objectives: 1. Getting Ready for the Inevitability; 2. The science behind learning processes; 3. Tools and Techniques to make learning more engaging; and, 4. Putting it all together and assessing success.
The entire Training is conducted in Microsoft TEAMS, the same platform that RCI will use for its online instruction this Academic Year 2020-2021.
It is important that as teachers prepare to embrace the shift, they themselves should experience their students’ digital learning space so that the teachers will be more equipped to better understand and meet their student’s behavior and learning needs.