e-Learning is powerful but difficult

For now and the near future, we cannot teach in the regular classroom at the university.  Everyone is scrambling and learning to teach using some form of e-Learning.  Given that e-Learning has been around for decades, and the rapid advancement of technology, one might think that it is not too difficult.  In reality it is nothing but easy.  

For better results, we aim to make it interactive.  When all the students are online, from home, you get dozens of talking heads on your screen.  It requires a different skill to monitor the class, compared to the usual classroom.  When we are speaking to the class, we have to refer to the slides that we are using, which may be in a different window on the screen, or a different screen/computer altogether.  We have to watch the reaction of the students - you are lucky if you get any. Many students may also refuse to turn on their camera, so you end up staring at a blank window instead of a talking head.  You also have to monitor the chatroom where the students may be raising questions.  Of course, you can decide whether or when to allow them to use the chatroom - yet another decision. You may wish to draw a diagram or write some text on some “whiteboard”.   Then you have to switch from showing the slides to showing the electronic white board, back and forth.  All of these have to happen on one or more screens, with limited space.  There is so much to do that it is impossible to do it all by yourself - unless you are my colleague Dr. G.  For mere mortals like me, you really need an army to help you.  

When it works, it can be very powerful.  Your students can be anywhere. at home, eat school, at a coffee shop, in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Indonesia, USA, wearing pyjamas (or not), lying in bed (or not), eating noodles (or not).  You can still lecture them, question them, split them into groups for discussions or assignments, make them report, mix them up again whichever way you want, put someone on spot, …

To do it well, however, the professors as well as the university have to put in a lot of effort, and resources - in the form of technology, training, technical support.  All of that takes time and investment.  And takes them away from doing research.  Many professors are hired, promoted and given tenure based more on their research performance rather than teaching performance.  Naturally they are reluctant to invest a lot of time and effort in teaching in general, and in learning to teach using e-Learning specifically.  

Herein lies the challenge.  Exactly when we need to teach, and teach well, using e-Learning, the professors are finding it difficult.  The universities are also finding it difficult to support, motivate, monitor, and reward the professors in teaching well with e-Learning.  In normal days many have found a way to muddle through mediocre teaching.  Challenges like this make the deficiencies much more obvious.  How is ti going to turn out?  How a university handles this tells us a lot whether it truly cares about teaching.