2020-2021 is an unprecedented academic year. Students are dealing with serious issues which significantly influence their study. Many of my students have taken on work as teaching assistants in jobs offered by the Ministry of Education in their effort to divide classes into “capsules” and rapidly increase staff numbers in schools. Many are working in other sectors to support their families or to catch up on long periods of unemployment. Some students have been unwell or quarantined, and many are caring for family members. Other students are still finding it challenging to adapt to online learning and are discovering that every task takes them a lot longer than it should. Others are struggling with time management issues and chronic procrastination. In this situation, I am committed to tailoring my program to the needs of individual students, as much as is possible, within the limits of reason.
And here is where course management becomes confusing. Finding the balance between responding to students’ needs while looking after my well-being and workload is tricky. There are times when I make decisions related to my teaching or the assessment tasks I set, where I know in advance that I am creating a lot of work or complexity for myself. There are other times when I agree to student requests which sound reasonable, and then find myself drowning in the consequences. The most frustrating situation occurs when I know I am generating more work for myself, but am convinced that I need to accommodate student needs. I make a decision which I believe is extremely beneficial for the students and even generous, and then I receive feedback that they are requesting even more flexibility.
I had an example of this earlier this week. The Oranim College, aiming to reduce the number of courses taught in the regular timetable, and thereby reduce the number of synchronous lessons the students have during the day and week, asked me to develop a unique structure for one of my courses. I was allocated four days during the Hanukkah week, in which there will be no practice teaching in the schools, and most other classes will be cancelled to make time for my lessons, and a parallel course. My year-long course was to be taught in four intensive days and then continue a-synchronously throughout the year. I began planning the unit, and then the emails started to arrive: “I am working in a kindergarten, replacing the kindergarten teacher who is on the Hanukkah break. It’s an important opportunity for me to work, gain work experience and make some necessary wages”; “I am a Master’s student, and our studies are continuing throughout the week; we aren’t BA students like the others”; “Sunday was supposed to be a college holiday, and I really need a break after this exhausting period”. These are all valid comments amid a pandemic which we dreamed would be gone by Hannukah, and is clearly here for the remainder of the academic year.
What did I decide? I created a plan for the four intensive days in which I would teach three-hour synchronous lessons on Zoom each day, and they will align with asynchronous tasks which can be completed during those days or over a more extended period. Three hours on Zoom with thirty-nine students is not conducive to active learning and the generation of significant dialogue. To create better learning conditions and to adapt the program to the needs of the students, I decided that I would teach the synchronous parts of the program three times each day – one group in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening, to accommodate those working or studying elsewhere. I sent out a questionnaire and asked each student to choose the group that suits them best. Dividing the group will be an incredible effort on my part, but I imagine it will vastly improve the conditions for learning. I believe it will also give me a better opportunity to get to know the students. Convinced this would work, I was disappointed to see that the morning group is still larger than I would like it to be. I am considering suggesting students interested in studying in a smaller group to move to the afternoon or the evening.
My frustration began when students began to write to me asking for more consideration and further accommodations: “Please consider cancelling the Sunday classes and adding an hour to the other days”, for example. Is this ‘me giving an inch and them taking a mile?’ or are these just students trying to survive in an impossible academic context?
I would love to hear your thoughts on how I am attempting to negotiate the needs of the students while sustaining my sanity as a lecturer.
