What does it mean to be a future-ready teacher post-COVID?

EDUA 6378 – Integration of Technology into the Curriculum

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the teaching profession in ways that can be seen from two perspectives: unfavorable or a saving grace for educators. Educators are resilient, intelligent, passionate, and flexible; they must be because of the many demands placed on them, even before the pandemic.

According to Barron et al. (2021) in the article “The Changing Role of Teachers and Technologies amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: Key Findings from A Cross-Country Study,” post-COVID, teachers realize that “Despite the overwhelming consequences of the pandemic, this is an extraordinary time for learning.” Still, it is not without its many challenges. As communicated in the article “Education in the Post-Covid World: 6 Ways Tech Could Transform How We Teach and Learn” (2020), the lack of resources to build the necessary infrastructure, challenges in deploying technology on a greater scale, and resistance to change are factors preventing the global education industry from fully entering the digital age.

Despite these significant challenges, technology is transforming the classroom and how teachers see themselves as educators. Innovative digital platforms like the Learning Management Systems (LMS) is a tool that teachers use to “Deliver online lessons, share reading materials, and grade assignments.” as specified in the article “Education in The Post-Covid World: 6 Ways Tech Could Transform How We Teach and Learn,” (2020) EdTech companies worldwide have stepped up and filled the void of and assisted in supplementing the unpreparedness of most educational systems. Of course, COVID was an unexpected tragedy that no one expected, and most industries and governments had to adjust and learn how to manage and operate in this new post-COVID environment.

The early challenges educators faced adjusting to new methods and strategies for teaching only accelerated the need for schools to develop or acquire creative teaching approaches or platforms to assist teachers in doing their jobs more effectively. The Internet Society for Technology in Education (ISTE, n.d.) provides Educators with standards to ensure that technology is used effectively for learning, resulting in high-impact learning experiences for all learners. These standards can help teachers be future-ready and students become empowered learners.

All students have different abilities to learn, and with all this new EdTech, educators have a tremendous opportunity to assess students and determine the most effective strategies to teach and interact with students. The sky is the limit in education, and teachers must constantly reinvent themselves in ways they never imagined before.

Although most teachers were not prepared for this new post-COVID world, the ones that will survive are those that have traditionally embraced change and are curious, motivated, and demonstrate an unending passion for their profession and their students. Most teachers will bridge that great divide and reinvent themselves in the likeness of how to be better teachers more effectively. Policymakers, school administrators, and the powers to be needed to adapt with the same commitment and passion teachers demonstrate. They are tasked to find solutions for setting up the infrastructures that will generate the tools for teachers to utilize and create classrooms that can be expanded exponentially outward and bring the world into their student’s classrooms.

References

Barron, M., Cobo, C., Munoz-Najar, A. & Sanchez Ciarrusta, I. (2021, February 18). The changing role of teachers and technologies amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: Key findings from a cross-country study. World Bank Blogs. https://blogs.worldbank.org/education/changing-role-teachers-and-technologies-amidst-covid-19-pandemic-key-findings-cross#

Covid & post-pandemic education: 6 ways tech could transform how we teach & learn. (2020, October 2). CB Insights Research. https://www.cbinsights.com/research/back-to-school-tech-transforming-education-learning-post-covid-19/

Iste. (n.d.). ISTE. https://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards-for-teachers