Zooming out in a time of Covid

Abstract

All schools and higher education institutions are closed over here in Malta. All our teaching is done online from home. This is a new adventure for many of us. We use Zoom for the most part and one-to-one dissertation interaction on Skype, though other platforms are used by teachers and students alike. I gave my first class online last Tuesday and it went well. Actually, I felt it was more focused and tight than in the face-to-face sessions. I found this a most rewarding experience. Too early to gather whether students, especially international ones, feel comfortable with speaking freely online. We were told late in the day that sessions are recorded for the benefit of those who could not participate in real time and want to catch up. I do not doubt the genuine nature of the motive behind this recording. However, it remains to be seen whether awareness of being recorded makes students less free to express themselves. They may perceive this as another surveillance mechanism. You never know who gets hold of these recordings and I mean internationally. A number of academics are used to and prepared for online interaction, and our university offers courses in this mode of delivery. Others are not. I wonder whether this sudden widespread online teaching experience will lead to more university courses online internationally, post Covid-19. The institution might see this as an attractive and lucrative proposition. The worst-case scenario is that they will go the whole hog and continue to take higher education down the business route. Now I am not rejecting new digitally mediated learning platforms, far from it: I recognise great possibilities. I would tread warily, however, in to what for some is a ‘brave new world’.