Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic transformed the educational landscape overnight. Face-to-face instruction urgently gave its place to online teaching, forcing educators to adopt tools and techniques they had never used before and creating doubts regarding its effectiveness. However, it also improved teachers' and students' digital skills creating new perceptions towards technology-enhanced teaching. This study maps the use of technology in online FL teaching in Greek Primary Schools during the first COVID-19 lockdown. Using a mixed methods approach, an online questionnaire, and interviews, it records the tools and the ways they were used, the pedagogical choices made, the challenges and the factors that affected the quality of online teaching during the crisis. Based on the lessons learned and the literature, this chapter aims to contribute to sharing the knowledge gained and provide recommendations to the state, schools, and teachers for the preparation and delivery of quality online or blended learning in the future.
TopBackground
Online Learning
Online learning can be simply defined as “learning that takes place partially or entirely over the Internet” (Means et al., 2009, p. 9) either as an alternative to face-to-face learning or combined with it in a blended learning mode. It is not only the medium of delivery that changes, though. Online learning follows different principles from its face-to-face counterpart. It can be synchronous, resembling the conventional classroom with participants often following similar class routines and performing similar tasks, or asynchronous, not dependent on time or place, enabling students to access the materials provided by educators at their own convenience (Marsh et al., 2000). It can also be both.
Either way, online teaching and learning require the use of technology. Synchronous lessons are conducted through teleconferencing platforms often also referred to as web conferencing (Mavridis et al., 2011), e-conferencing (Shi & Morrow, 2006) or synchronous virtual classrooms (Martin & Parker, 2014). Asynchronous lessons are usually based on Learning Management Systems (LMSs), inclusive online learning environments that reinforce the educational process (Bradley, 2021) or Content Management Systems (CMSs), online platforms that provide a variety of features to enhance the exchange of information among students and teachers (Kim et al., 2012).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Artefact: A product made by a human. In educational contexts, a product of students’ work.
Blended Learning: A combination of online and classroom-based educational practices.
Student-Centred Approaches: Educational practices that focus on the student rather than the teacher.
Digital Divide: A social and educational gap created by the lack of access to digital tools and materials.
Constructivism: A learning theory that engages students in the construction of their own knowledge.
Pedagogy: A combination of theory and practices that constitute teachers’ educational choices.
Needs Analysis: The recording of the needs of a particular group of people.