Perspectives on the future of academic teaching: Lessons gained from the Corona experience at times of Corona

Proceedings of The 4th World Conference on Future of Education

Year: 2021

DOI:

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Perspectives on the future of academic teaching: Lessons gained from the Corona experience at times of Corona

Prof. Dr. Nissim Ben-Arie

ABSTRACT: 

The Covid-19 pandemic has imposed radical, yet immediate, conceptual and technical changes at all levels of the educational system, all around the globe. The gradual recovery and return to schools and universities provide us with a rare opportunity to re-evaluate and re-design various strategic, pedagogical, technological, and practical aspects shaping the way we teach. I will describe our perspective on the bright and dark sides of remote teaching (e.g., by Zoom), based on my experience as a university lecturer and an academic director of pre-academic schools. We now have a unique opportunity to merge past (traditional) and present (remote digital) experiences, in order to shape the future of education. We can incorporate synchronous and non-synchronous classes, utilize various digital tools further developed during the crisis, encourage independent studying and group work, and so on. In my opinion, the main challenge we face nowadays is the shift from a teacher-oriented to a student-oriented approach. Alongside taking advantage of the plethora of e-tools, we should promote and enhance social interactions and collaborations, as they have been shown to be critical for students’ wellbeing, even more than previously estimated.

keywords: Covid-19, Zoom, perspective, teaching design, education strategy.