Interview on the use of virtual educational space and the introduction of online learning and instruction
“We were not so behind” - a digital curriculum through the eyes of an education researcher from Szeged
As the risk of coronavirus and infection reached Hungary, all schools were closed. In order not to stop learning completely, teachers and students switched to online distance learning. We asked an internationally renowned digital education researcher, Dr. István Thékes from Szeged, about how the use of virtual space works and why it is important to get to know online teaching and learning.
István, an associate professor and education researcher at Gál Ferenc College, says he has been researching online education for a long time, which has been at the forefront of language teaching. He also gave a lecture on the subject at the University of Cambridge. He is also a language teacher himself and has seen from experience that digital learning has long appeared in the field of language teaching. He believes that the goal should be to maximize the experience of developing in cyberspace for students. For example, he tests students in a playful way through various applications. An example of such an application is Kahoot!.
We’ve learned that teachers can even create a virtual classroom through Google, where they can submit and pass on learning material to students. In today’s modern digital education, there is already room for evaluation. Dr. István Thékes also worked on the development of his own application and also participated in the production of measuring devices.
In his opinion, we are not so lagging behind, we can distinguish three forms of educators:
1) they have not used the digital world in education so far
2) they haven’t used it but opened it
3) believers who have been practicing online education for 5-10 years
In the third category, he mentioned Prof. Dr. Gyöngyvért Molnár, who is the number one researcher of new information and communication technologies in education in Szeged. In other words, we can filter that the concept of distance learning is not new to everyone. Several are also involved in its development.
István Thékes is also a father, he knows that in the current situation, parents also have a role to play at home. However, he sees parents not complaining, trying to find out in this world they are not yet familiar with.
Finally, it is worth watching a video in István's presentation, which explains in detail how the customs of 21st century society have changed compared to the 20th century and how dominant the online world is today. In his view, there will be professions, even pedagogical ones, that will disappear completely due to the development of the digital world. And if that happens, it can help us to get to know and practice the use of virtual space right now, in this forced situation, and to be open to improvements.
The interview was published on Szeged 365 newssite on 25th March, 2020.
Source Szeged 365
