Hello!

Hello everyone! Welcome to my introduction blog for EC&I 834. My name is Sushmeet Kaur and I am an international student from India. Having completed my undergrad with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education from India, I went on to teach grades 3/4/5. This is my third semester towards my Master’s majoring in adult education and human resource development and my second Edtech course. I came to Regina last year, so this is my first time dealing with such harsh winters. As a person coming from a warm country, I am trying to adapt myself to the environment and weather. I have a small family- me, my mom and younger brother (both in India). I love working and being around kids and teaching them various things excites me. This is one of the reasons I chose teaching as a profession. Currently, I am working with a daycare facility in Regina and trying to understand the school system of Canada, which is quite different from where I came from. I want to broaden my horizons as well as learn about different teaching methodologies and working conditions, which led me to pursue a Master’s in Education program. I would love to share my own experiences with my colleagues this semester and learn from them.

My experience with blended learning started with many other teachers during Covid 2020. Unlike many other countries, Covid has had its effects for quite a long time in my country, and for the full two years, kids were learning online with no face-to-face interaction. Shifting to an online platform with no prior training made it challenging for students, teachers, and parents. Communication was one of the major concerns and addressing each parent individually and explaining to them the platform used for daily classes and assessments was a task in itself. During the initial months of online learning, many students could not attend the online sessions, either due to lack of access to a device or an internet connection. Because this was an emergency platform and not a planned platform, blended or online learning models did not seem beneficial. However, the amount of learning opportunities it provided was the bright side of this online experimental learning. My experience allowed me to become familiar with different online platforms that I continued to use even after moving to conventional mode of teaching.

I believe online learning is a platform that can benefit a wide range of learners and is an ocean of opportunities. Planning is however required for the process to work and overcome the challenges.