Social aspect of education: How can I establish contact between my students and myself?
Vignette #37
Context
I am a teacher educator and I work at a University of Applied Sciences. Normally, our student teachers come to our Institute for four days a week to be taught by me and my colleagues. On the fifth day, they are doing their internships in a school (secondary education).
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the whole situation has changed. In order to diminish travelling of students and staff and to avoid meetings in large groups, our University decided to close the buildings and switch to online teaching.
I have changed my normal lessons into online lessons, utilizing the possibilities that MS teams has to offer. Although I have succeed in making my lessons interactive, I have not yet found a replacement for the ‘small talk’ and informal contacts that I usually have with the student teachers.
Dilemma
How can I enrich my online lessons and meetings in such a way that students feel connected with me and with each other. For me this is an essential part of teacher education?
Choices
Since I am a teacher educator, the way I teach is an example for my students. My students are becoming teachers and they encounter the same challenges as I do at the moment. They also need to find ways to connect with their pupils.
So in this case, I face the same problems as my student teachers. From my role as teacher educator, I invite them to think of solutions for this issue. Together we discuss their ideas and try if it works in practice.