Students logging on at 3am
GEOGRAPHY and History teacher Keith Henry has said though technology is great for continuing education amid the Covid-19 pandemic, a class setting cannot be replaced.
The former Fianna Fáil councillor now sees himself receiving queries from students regarding class work at 2am or 3am.
“You have to take into account that not all households have three or four devices. There’s maybe only one computer in the house. It’s a round the clock job to keep up with the work. I know some parents are finding it difficult,” said the Carrick-on-Shannon Community School teacher.
Empathising with parents during this time, Keith said parents cannot be expected to be an expert in every subject and are often attempting to juggle their own work from home.
Speaking of the decision to close schools, Henry believes it was the correct decision but was somewhat critical of its timing.
“It was the correct decision but maybe calling it while people were within the school created a bit of panic. We were preparing for a couple of days in advance, getting things online, but we were expecting that we would see out the end of the week, but events superseded it.”
He added, “The kids were all excited, going on their holidays, but they weren’t long finding out that everything would be postponed and cinemas would be closed. It was the correct decision.”
Even though Keith is a former Fianna Fáil councillor, he believes the current FG led caretaker government is doing a good job.
Commenting on the recent decision to cancel all oral Leaving Certificate exams, he said many language teachers were surprised.
“It came as a surprise to a llot of language teachers. ThThey thought they might move to Skype to do them.”th
In his own subjects, students have research projects to complete.
“They haven’t been cancelled they’ve just been kicked out to May 15 th. It seems to be one standard for oral and practical and another for written.
“It will probably mean the written exam will be marked an awful lot harder, there’ ll always be a bell curve or differentiation.”
He added, “If everyone comes out with 500/600 points the colleges will have a huge job on their hands.”
Though engagement from students has been surprisingly good, Keith said the online system cannot replace ‘ the teacher at the top of the class’.
Another issue he sees about online learning is poor broadband access, something he can confirm firsthand.
“I’m studying myself in NUI Galway and lectures have been getting cut off, I see it from the teacher’s side and the student’s point of view.”
In terms of the Leaving Cert exams, the Ballymote native said a date for exams will all depend on what universities will decide to do.
“If the universities and the colleges decide to delay the start of semester one, you could see the timetable change for the Leaving Cert.”
Although recognising its importance, the secondary school teacher said he could see a move to shelve the Junior Cert in order to facilitate social distancing during Leaving Certificate exams.
“If you had to run the Leaving Cert you would have a smaller number of students in a room.”
Keith believes this is a decision that may not come until after Easter