After a whole year of the pandemic, a lot of us have started returning back to our institutions with some expectations of ‘having things going back to normal’, but did the ‘normal life’ really turned out as we expected?
Today, we at Tricity Scoop, give you an insight into the reality of the ‘blended mode of teaching’ in colleges as some students and teachers share their opinion on the ‘2021 style of education’!
Abhishek Sakhuja, A Third Year Student
A localite, when Abhishek learned about the new teaching model, he was delighted to be back to college.
“I did not get to experience the college life which we deserved, but it feels good to be back finally. When I come to the college, I try to attend as many offline classes as possible, but some teachers feel comfortable online because they don’t want to put us in the risk of getting infected,” shared Sakhuja.
He further added, “Sometimes, the blended mode does not work in my favour because at times I would be the only one showing up in the class and I would find myself bridging between the teacher and the students who are unable to attend the classes. There have been many incidents where I’ve taken my classes from Nescafe since I don’t want to feel that I’m missing on my memories with my friends. But in whatever way you choose to attend your classes, you would have to study on your own to make a life for yourself.”
Soumya Gawri, A Third Year Student
Soumya hails from the city of Sirsa and just like many other students, she expected to start her ‘last year of college’ in what we can call, a normal way.
“When I first heard about the blended mode, I really thought I would be rushing back and forth between my classes, but I felt happy to be back in college.”
“I highly doubt a bright future for this mode of teaching. I remember that once I had a class and I came to the college to attend it, but the teacher was already taking the class online, and both of us were facing connectivity issues. So, I had to resort to a friend’s phone to attend the lecture while sitting in the canteen.”
When asked about how Soumya would improvise this blended mode, she commented, “I would try to come up with a timetable that would have offline classes in the morning and online classes in the afternoon. I’d also focus on getting better internet connectivity for the teacher as well as the class.”
Abhay Patial, A Third Year Student
A resident from Kasauli, Abhay came back excited for his last year of college. “It was exciting yet confusing at the same time since both practical and non-practical classes were being held in the college.”
When asked about the reason behind the confusion, Abhay said, “At times there have been instances where I would show up for my class and my teacher would be teaching from their home. So, I would resort to any place in the college and listen to the lecture. I came to Chandigarh because of my practical subjects. Since the curriculum said that we will have offline classes for them, but the students do not show up on either of the modes, so the teacher ends up cancelling the class.”
“I have seen people attending classes through the Nescafé canteen but even if everything changes to an offline mode, there will be students who won’t show up if they’re not interested in their studies. If a student genuinely wants to attend a class, he/she would attend the class, whether it is online or offline.”
Pranav Kapil, Professor
Pranav has been a Professor for the last few years and just like the rest of the world, he switched to the online mode of teaching in 2020.
When asked about how he felt about practicing the new blended mode of teaching, he modestly shared that these new innovations are being tested everywhere and it’s not certainly his favourite. However, he’s glad that technology has created a bridge for the students and teachers.
“It felt like a silver lining or the rainbow for us teachers! In the entire chaos, we tried many methods which were effective and safe for the students, and over the last two years, we adapted ourselves to teach online,” shared Kapil.
“I asked the students during my online lectures as to which mode they would prefer, and to my surprise, many favored online. So, when the blended mode of classes began, I knew that only a handful of students would show up to my class and rest would attend online,” explained Kapil.
He further added, “At my college, we are trying to accommodate flexible learning in the best way possible. At first, I try to encourage my students to switch on their cameras, but I also keep an understanding that there might be times when a student is put in a tight situation which won’t allow him/her to do so.”
“I’m particularly not happy about this mode of teaching but I feel that this method is a decent approach to connect to the students, given the unprecedented circumstances that we’re in,” he concluded.
Gaganpreet Walia, Professor
An outspoken Professor, when we interacted with Gaganpreet, she gave us her good insights about this new method of teaching in Chandigarh.
“Every mode is a progressive mode, and there is no exception for this mode as well. Since we do not know what might happen in the future, we would like to ensure that we’re conducting our classes safely before we go back to normal. My college is very capable of providing flexible modes of education but, since we came out of the online mode of teaching, we still have some students expecting that we can have a college offline but exams online. Though I try to encourage my students to have their cameras on, but we have to think of the 10% of students who might be facing something significant,” shared Walia.
“On top of being unsure of the Third wave, many of my colleagues have the seasonal viral fever, so we have to be extra cautious of our health which at times drives us to take classes from our homes. I would very much like the students to attend classes if they are able to and not run away from them since even in class, you will be creating memories for life,” she wrapped.
It is rightly said, everything on this earth is flawed. And that’s what we learnt from our Tricity’s blended class for the day. We hope our readers got to see this new side of life and had fun reading along the way.
Till then,
We shall see you in our next class!
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