As the pandemic continues, how effective are online classes? While convenient for IISJ students, faculty may not feel the same. However, with time and experience, IISJ teachers have adapted and embraced this new normal.

“It was not easy to adapt to online teaching as I could not feel connected to all the students at the same time,” said Ms. Lata Sharma, who teaches science to elementary and middle school students. It is a sentiment echoed by many teachers. Ms. Shruti Goel, who teaches social science and history, said that it was hard for her because of the lack of face to face communication, as well as continued disruptions from background noises. 

But with time and experience, IISJ teachers have learned to master online teaching and in fact, are able to harness the power of the internet to enhance their classes. 

”There are plenty of tools that are user-friendly to make online teaching more effective,” said Mr. Ranil Fernando, who teaches English to students in middle and high school. Math teacher Ms. Deepa Maheswaran agreed. The tools “are convenient to show a lot of references to the topic instantly,” she said.

 To assist them with this new way of teaching, many IISJ teachers enrolled in a 6-week professional development workshop series that focused on online teaching. It finetuned their online teaching methods and also introduced additional technology to complement their Zoom classes. The results were pretty instant. 

“Online teaching allows me to incorporate different Apps to create a fun teaching/learning environment, and results of the same are visible then and there,” said Ms. Smita Dua, who teaches high school English. 

To ensure students are listening and paying attention, teachers use different websites and software to keep them engaged. These range from creating breakout rooms on Zoom and having students solve quizzes on Kahoot to creating movies and presentations. 

The technology has allowed faculty to cover the CBSE curriculum at a faster pace, with “minute by minute planning and perfect execution,” added Ms. Dua.

But how have IISJ students reacted to this new way of teaching? 

“A good surprise is the adaptability of the students to the new method of teaching,” said Ms. Reshmy Pillai, who teaches middle and high school computer science. A byproduct of online teaching is that it has enabled all students, especially the quiet ones, to ask questions through the private chat facility on Zoom, she added. 

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