Although the Exeter College sites are closed to the majority of learners, exceptional learning continues remotely for our students. 

Thanks to our innovative teaching staff, hard working students and college-wide adoption of digital learning technologies, students are being supported with interactive study sessions as home, as well as independent activities to continue their education. 

We decided to catch up with Rob Casey, Programme Leader for English Languages and International Baccalaureate, to see how our teaching staff have found the transition to digitally educating. Here’s what he had to say…  

There’s an old proverb I rather like, which states that ‘necessity is the mother of invention’. In other words, nothing drives creativity quite as much as need. This is certainly something I identify with. 

As a creative writer, the one thing that guarantees I’ll produce something new and to a professional standard is when I’m given a deadline, such as for publications or an upcoming gig.  

Teaching is no different, with its timetable and the rhythms of the academic year. And as anyone in the profession will be able to tell you, the best laid lesson plans are often dashed by forces beyond our control. Whether it’s a fire alarm, a power-cut, internet problems, snow, or, in the current situation, a major global pandemic, the main skill required in teaching is adaptability. The lessons must go on wherever possible, and often in completely different ways.  

The aim now, therefore, is to continue to provide high quality learning opportunities but without the one thing that has always seemed most central to the experience: a classroom, designed for face-to-face interaction. 

It would be easy to take a defeatist approach and accept that remote learning could never replace the ‘live’ experience of a buzzing lesson, with quick questions, group work, and the ability to pick up on students’ non-verbal cues that perhaps my jokes aren’t as funny as I imagine them in my head. But just as certain things are lost amongst this change, many others are gained. 

I ended one week dashing between classrooms with my different folders and a pocketful of pens, then started the next Monday morning juggling between online platforms (Moodle, Microsoft Teams, email, Zoom, Skype) whilst sitting in my study with a monitor full of USB sticks. 

We have had lots of training to help us adapt to online learning but there’s nothing quite as motivating to embrace new technology as to suddenly find it’s the only way to carry on. So even when I get back in the classroom, I will seek to maintain many of the benefits that have come from this experience. 

Remote learning inevitably puts more emphasis on the student, as it becomes more about what they do than what we tell them. It’s an opportunity to promote independence, to take a more differentiated approach and to provide much more targeted support. Freed from having to sit and listen to my witty anecdotes for half the lesson, the class can get on with what they do best: not just learning but also learning how to learn.  

Yes, it is a struggle, and there are many who lack the resources to suddenly change their way of working, and they will need even more support when classroom learning resumes. But I am also confident that lockdown learning will equip a generation to better manage the realities of the workplace, and certainly university level study, building their resilience and ability to deal with different circumstances and to problem solve when faced with uncertainty.  

I welcome a return to the classroom when it comes. It’s where I belong and where the students learn best. However, remote teaching and learning has been a lesson for me too. There is always a place for technology in education and lockdown life has helped to put a new perspective on all aspects of society, as well as education. And the way I teach from now on will be different as a result. Through necessity I have had to invent new styles and approaches, embracing new platforms and enabling new ways of supporting learners. 

Change can be a challenge, but also an opportunity. And often the best opportunities are not those we intended. 

If you would like to share how your remote learning is going, email us on marketing@exe-coll.ac.uk, or tag us in your posts using #ExeCollTogether.  

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