A Message from TELLAL Institute

In unprecedented times such as this (with schools effectively closing), we must hope for the best and prepare for the worst. On a positive note, considerable evidence shows that periods of extreme adversity foster innovation. In this context, necessity is the mother of invention. 

The UAE Government school’s proposed home-teaching programme called Learn from Afar could be an example of this. I’m very confident that we will see inspiring ways of virtual learning in our private schools, in setting up their own distance-learning programmes or expanding their existing e-learning tools. Out of such self-organizing behaviors, a new order for teaching and learning will emerge. And, I’m my view, there will be no going back.

In considering all our efforts to contain the virus and Learn from Afar, it’s worthwhile drawing on some of the lessons learned from China, where, in order to help contain the epidemic, the ministry announced on Jan 27 that schools should delay the opening of the spring semester until further notice. It also called for "nonstop teaching and learning" and encouraged various online education methods. Insights gained from schools in China trying to restore education through online learning include:

• Teachers have formed groups to learn best practices from each other, consult with technical staff, and master different kinds of online teaching platforms.
• Some teachers are growing stressed dealing with the challenges of online teaching, including the lack of face-to-face interaction and sometimes unreliable technology. In the future, there is a need to better prepare teachers with ICT competency in advance, to ensure online teaching and learning can continue in another emergency.
• To help bolster teachers’ ICT competency, there is a need to provide a one-stop online teaching and learning support platform to provide teachers with the technical information for ICT tools and platforms, general guideline for online teaching, practical education resources, and other support, including feedback for teachers’ questions and psychological support.
• Online platforms should include multiple options for meeting practical teaching needs, such as synchronized video and voice for group learning and classroom interactions.
• There is a need to rethink how education can be effective for students’ overall cognitive and non-cognitive development with e-learning.
• There are challenges in teachers interacting with students through online education, as only a few teachers take students’ feelings and interests into account.

At the TELLAL Institute we have been thinking about how we might help both teachers and parents in these unprecedented times. In doing so we’ve tried to hone in on those questions that would likely keep us awake at night as parents such as “how do I create a home school environment for my child or what does virtual learning look like?”. Or, as teachers, “how can we adapt the curriculum online - ensuring quality and consistency and how do we communicate the adapted curriculum to the parents?”. There are some important considerations for our students, too, who will likely be stressing about how to cope with their parents; keeping in touch with their friends and preparing for exams. 

With these concerns in mind TELLAL has designed a select range of resources to support teachers and parents in intelligent and practical ways. As usual, the resources are in both Arabic and English. Key messages stemming from our endeavors are about “Living in the Solution”, “Understanding the current environment” and “Sharing the problem. Sharing the support”.

The TELLAL Virtual Knowledge Exchange is only one of the resources in TELLAL's Virtual Learning Guide. You can access others by clicking on the following links:

• For Parents: Parent Support for Virtual Learning
• For Teachers: Get Prepared to Teach Virtually and Virtual Teaching & Learning Toolkit