Last December I took part in an online discussion about digital literacy. Amongst the many interesting questions posed by teachers, one question came up that I had never been asked before – Whose job is it to teach digital literacy?
As someone who teaches it as a subject, and also as part of my ELT lessons, I just assumed it was something any and all teachers should do. Which is pretty much the answer I gave at the time. However, the question came up several times. I feel my assumption is not held by everyone, so I’d like to use this opportunity to qualify my answer. Continue reading
Not only have classrooms around the world moved online, but professional development has too. So, when you’re not in the classroom, you’re now in a different online platform for your professional development as well. The amount of time we spend in virtual rooms and at our screen is higher than ever. We’re always online! But have all of those online professional development events been useful? Chances are you’ve spent as much time trying to find quality professional development as you’ve spent in the training itself! Have you attended webinars where the tech doesn’t work? Where the topic isn’t quite what you thought? Have you rushed from one virtual room, clicked the next link and sat there, bored or uninspired? Or perhaps the webinar was great, but you missed a lot of great points because you were so busy trying to take notes.
This year may have been difficult for everyone across the globe, but it has been especially challenging for teachers. They have had to transform their lessons into online sessions and adapt to rules and advice to keep their students safe and make sure they can continue learning. In this two-part blog series, we contacted 
We can safely say that, through the difficulties of 2020, English language teachers have grown accustomed to delivering online classes and learning to use new digital tools. Some teachers may face many weeks ahead of continuing such classes if high Covid-19 cases see a resurgence, their new academic year does not start until 2021, or they have become ‘online teachers’ on a semi-permanent basis.