Teaching During Covid-19

Abstract

The recent outbreak of COVID-19 has enor- mously affected every aspect of global arrange- ments with its fast and lethal reach. Originating from Wuhan, a Chinese city, this highly infectious virus has forced to impose nationwide closures in many countries impacting onsite educational systems to shut down. Considering the safety of students and following the steps taken by many infected countries, the Pakistan government initially closed all the edu- cational institutions and later allowed partial opening of schools where 30-50 % of students were allowed to attend classes in a cyclic manner. The direct and most immediate impact of this decision was an untimely break and loss of learning opportunities for all students. In order to continue with teaching and learning, Higher education commission, developed online tea- ching guidelines with the instructions to resume tea- ching, by following these guidelines. The guidelines included development and implementation of both online and hybrid curricula. Online teaching-learning is based on application of information technology tools to ensure access to learning resources for all students in the absence of face to face classes. It is conducted in the form of asynchronous or synchronous communication where-in asynchronous system tools like e-mail, discussion boards, learning newsgroups are used. For synchronous system webcasting, live chat and audio/video technologies are used for realtime class. Hybrid learning can be defined as a learning approach that combines both remote learning and inperson learning to improve student experience and ensure learning continuity.