Sustainable Online Teaching and Learning

On 19-20 April 2020, IATEFL held a Global online Get-together 2020, a two day professional development web conference for the English language teaching community.  The webinar platform used was Adobe Connect. This was a comprehensive weekend of webinars put together in a relatively short space of time to make up for the deferment of the conference in Manchester, which would have taken place at that time.

Two of the sessions on Sunday 19 April involved two members of the LTSIG committee. The first was a panel session on Sustainable Online Teaching and Learning. A recording of this session, along with all the other sessions of the two day event are available to IATEFL members only, via the ‘Resources’ section of the main website. A Q&A that come out of this panel session has been created and is available to view or download below. Just click on the link.

Abstract: As a profession with varying degrees of online teaching and learning familiarity, we have needed to adapt quickly over the past several weeks. For some, it’s been a formidable transition; for others, it’s been trying to stay afloat; for all of us, it’s a move that has highlighted both insights and challenges. Now that this initial phase has happened, our focus can shift towards sustainability. This moderated panel brings together advice and collaborative discussion from the perspectives of digital learning pedagogy, management, teacher development, and learner autonomy.

Andy Hockley is the Coordinator of LAMSIG. He has been involved in ELT (as teacher, trainer, manager, and management trainer) for over 30 years and is co-author of From Teacher to Manager (CUP, 2008) and Managing Education in the Digital Age (The Round, 2014). He lives in deepest Transylvania.

Cecilia Lemos is a member of the TDSIG committee and has been in ELT since 1993, as a teacher, trainer and writer. A strong believer in continuous professional development, her main interests are assessment, feedback, and lesson observation. She is currently the academic manager for Richmond in Brazil.

Sophia Mavridi is the Coordinator of LTSIG. She is a digital learning specialist & EAP lecturer and researcher. She is currently teaching in UK higher education as well as providing in-service training for institutions around the world. Her latest co-edited books are Digital Innovations & Research in Language Learning (IATEFL LTSIG, 2020) and English for 21st Century Skills (Express Publishing, 2020).

Lawrie Moore is Joint Coordinator of LASIG. Originally from the US, Lawrie has been living and working in Vienna, Austria for over 20 years. She is an ESP/EAP lecturer at the tertiary level and a teacher trainer who enjoys supporting new EFL teachers in creating learner-centered classes and empowering their learners.

Tyson Seburn is the Coordinator of TDSIG, but for this panel discussion, will serve solely as moderator.

The final panel session on Moving to Online Teaching included the LTSIG online events organiser and outgoing IATEFL Digicom member, Heike Philp. She was heavily involved, along with Shaun Wilden and others, in managing the webinar platform for the whole weekend. The recording of this is publicly available on the IATEFL Talks You Tube channel.

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Abstract:
Recent events have led to a seismic shift in the amount of language training being delivered online. In this panel discussion we will look at the strengths and weaknesses of online delivery and the inherent challenges schools have faced pivoting from face-to-face delivery to online virtual classrooms. Answering as many of your questions as possible, we will also consider the longer-term implications of COVID-19 on the EFL and wider training industry.

Moderator: Andy Johnson
Panel: Andy Johnson, Heike Philp, Joshua Underwood, Sandy Millin