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Our COVID-19 Stories | A Lecturer's POV

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Updated: Aug 8, 2020

Mr Ethan Wong, a Teaching Fellow from NIE’s Psychology and Child & Human Development (PCHD) academic group, shares his work-from-home experience and advice for student teachers who might very well have to teach online one day too.



How has your experience of working from home been?


Working from home has been a good experience for me so far. I am quite a homebody who enjoys spending time at home with my wife and daughter.



What were some other duties in your home that you had to balance with work?


Duties I had at home would be mopping the floor and taking out the trash (laughs). The one I enjoyed the most was playing with my young daughter, Edna. She is very active and loves having either daddy or mummy by her side most of the time. When the Circuit Breaker first started and we could not go out, I brought her downstairs to ride her bicycle and play soccer. We also got to know the flowers in the garden. When the Circuit Breaker was extended and we could no longer exercise outdoors as a family, we started playing board games and doing simple science experiments at home. Edna helped her mummy in the kitchen as well.



Have you faced any awkward situations during your online classes?


I had a three hour class on Monday afternoons and it was really tiring facing a Zoom meeting for an extended period of time. I remembered that I yawned so many times. I felt a little embarrassed trying to hide my yawn each time!



What are some tips and tricks you would like to share with student teachers who might one day have to teach regularly through this online format?


I suspect that teaching online will be a norm now and will all need to learn how to do it. I had a really steep learning curve when NTU and NIE announced that we will need to teach online. The advantage I had was that I did not have to go online without first knowing my class. This meant that my class and I had already established a working relationship, before we had to convert to online teaching. And I think this teacher-student relationship (TSR) is critical in facilitating learning online.

So, my advice to all student teachers is to first take care of the learning environment and students’ well-being by establishing a good TSR. Then, we can think of how to go about conducting an effective online lesson.


When the announcement regarding school closure was made, I texted some of my colleagues and former student teachers who are in schools, telling them to get hold of the contact number or emails of their students and their students’ parents. This was to ensure that they could stay connected with the students and their parents. The idea is not to check if students have done their homework, but to first check on their well-being. It is also for the purpose of checking in with students’ parents if they need additional support.


I think if we can get this fundamental priority right, then students can follow you anywhere, be it in an online environment or a physical classroom, and still learn effectively.



Would you like to continue with this work-from-home arrangement?


There are many aspects of working from home that I like and enjoy. The greatest joy is spending time with my wife and daughter. Those times are really precious to me.

However, working from home would also mean more video conferences, especially if the work involves a team. And video conferences can be very draining because you are spending a lot of your mental capacity looking at people’s facial expressions and using extra energy to listen hard to one another. I prefer to teach face-to-face, where I can more effectively facilitate learning with my tone of voice, gestures and interactions with the student teachers.


I would say a mixed arrangement that’s flexible and customisable will be good!


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