Webinar on “Reviving Educational Practices Post COVID-19 Pandemic”

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A Webinar on ‘Reviving Educational Practices Post Covid-19 Pandemic’ was organized by University of Mumbai, Thane Sub Campus in association with MES’s PCER, Chembur on 27th, 28th and 29th April, 2020.

Day 1: Dr. Gargi Roy and Adv. Neeta Kedia covered the topic ‘Enrich Behavioral Management Strategies.’ Dr. Gargi Roy is the Founder and Director of Indian Academy for Clinical and Dental Genetics R (IACDG) and Director, KORYNAS Pvt. Ltd. To combat the stress and anxiety during this pandemic, she gave strategy pointers to cultivate and strengthen mindfulness like:

  • Be informed with only reliable sources
  • Break the chain of unauthentic and unreliable messages
  • A healthy mind resides in a sound body
  • Reach out to others and support people around you
  • Keeping in touch with your friends and family may ease the stress caused by COVID-19
  • Choose your hope

Adv. Neeta Bipin Kedia is a practicing advocate and mediator in the family court. And she stated that no strategy will have a magic effect. We need to have a lot of practice and be surrounded with good friends who are non judgemental.

Ms. Kedia stressed on the fact that we need to have an attitude of gratitude at this difficult time and that it is normal to be anxious and stressed sometimes and that one must not compare one’s emotions with anybody else. She advised everyone to be committed towards their own well-being and suggested activities such as yoga, dance etc to energise ourselves.

Both the speakers had a great impact on the viewers mind as they spoke straight from their heart. Their experience and expertise helped to illustrate their points with practical examples.

Day 2: Dr. Seeja K.R and Ms. Simrit Kanoonga threw light on ‘Innovative Classroom Management Techniques.’ Dr. Seeja K.R, Assistant Professor at SNM Training College, Ernakulam, Kerala said, “Learning is not a passive activity. It is not about absorbing learning from source rather it is a process of processing of information.” Dr. Seeja elaborated the difference between an activity oriented classroom and an active learning classroom. In an active learning classroom, the learners are responsible for all the learning activities that gives them the opportunity to solve the problems regarding their learning which then leads to self

regulated learning. Thus, an active learning classroom starts with an activity and goes beyond it. Dr. Seeja explained different strategies which cater to active learning viz. think pair share, KWL and One Minute papers. She elaborated all the three strategies and how to use it effectively in the classroom to provide meaningful learning experiences

Ms. Simrit Kanoonga is an educator at JBCN Mumbai . She explained the role as an educator in today’s classrooms. While introducing the topic she said, with the changing dynamics that we have today it is very important to have different role perspectives for our teachers. She believes that her role as a teacher has completely changed, it is all about creating positiveness among the students with the kind of changing dynamics as of now. Ms. Simrit focussed on various classroom management techniques and she believes that the emotional and personal connection with the learners have a major impact on their learning. She said that giving real life examples rather than the hypothetical situations while teaching is an impactful strategy to retain student’s attention. Simrit also said that teachers should take a backseat and everything should revolve around the students and teachers should not bombard them with so much information. She urged everyone to keep a work life balance, as working from home and work at home is a major challenge during these days.

Day 3: Ms. Juhi Pandey and Mr. Nasser Ali gave their insights on ‘Create interactive educational resources’. Mr. Nasserali, Assistant Professor, Aligarh Muslim University, Kerala, shared his experiences of empowering teachers with the necessary skills, positive attitude and building confidence among teachers through use of webinars and workshops he conducted online during this pandemic period. He emphasized on 5C’s which are very much essential for a successful teacher which he listed as Commitment, Communication, Collaboration, Continuous Assessment and Contentment. He shared that we could use simple google apps which are inbuilt in android phones to connect with our students with just a click of a button.

Ms. Juhi Pandey, Corporate and Life Skills Trainer, Psychologist and HR professional spoke on behaviour management. She began her session by explaining the current situation of how people are undergoing a lot of stress, anxiety and trauma due to the prevailing COVID19 pandemic. She spoke on the strategies which could be used to overcome this current anxiety and trauma through use of FLUID where

F-Fear meaning the fear of catching the virus, carrying it home and spreading it.
L-Loss of physical freedom, space,
U-Uncertainty, a period of uncertainty where we are not sure when and how we will come out of this present crisis,
I-Insecurity of losing a job,
D-Death- losing oneself or loved ones.

She explained how each one of us react biologically through Sympathetic and the Parasympathetic nervous systems. She encouraged the use of four coping strategies i) Minimise media exposure to COVID19 news which will develop negativity as our brain often gets conditioned to what we see and hear. ii) Acknowledge all our feelings. iii) Mindfulness- develop awareness of oneself and iv) Self Discipline- Chalk down a routine. She also asked to use Psychological First Aid as a coping strategy in which she mentioned about the following points:
Safety- Following instructions given by WHO to keep ourselves safe from COVD19. Be Calm: Face the current situation with a lot of calmness and face the truth that we all are sailing in the same boat. Connect: Follow social distancing not social isolation. Self Help: Control negative recurring thoughts, understand what we can control like following instructions given by WHO and which is beyond our control i.e., the present COVID19 crisis. Hope: Equip ourselves with positive thoughts and positive actions that this too will pass.

Link 1st Day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOldoi7bfNk&pbj
Link 2nd Day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmsxCm08_jw
Link 3rd Day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXYvlLkrJAs