People in the open community are talking about the trending thing, the issues that are affecting our society currently. Having checked several social media accounts, there is one theme that is emerging, which is even rocking the headlines on the news as of July 28, 2020. This is the coronavirus pandemic and the many societal issues that it is affecting. I have checked the several Twitter handles and checking the posts and retweets in the past 24 hours, over half of these posts are dominated by COVID-19 pandemic themes. For instance, I have checked the handle of Christine Ho Younghusband (@ChristineYH) and she has tweeted and retweeted about coronavirus pandemic more than once in the past 24 hours as of July 28, 2020. Therefore, the theme is about how coronavirus has affected our society especially the education system, which is related to my profession.
Corona Virus has disrupted learning in the United States and across the world such that some education systems have been brought to a standstill. In this case, some schools have been forced to operate online entirely and those that do not have such resources have been forced to close. This is because the coronavirus is an airborne disease and it will spread quickly in places where people stay too close to each other like in gatherings of schools. Therefore, to minimize this impact, most schools have been shut down, which is why the trending issue is coronavirus. Coronavirus is on the news almost on a daily basis with the numbers in the USA surging higher than anywhere else in the world in terms of total number of infections and deaths. The issue of people dropping dead due to coronavirus is a major concern that has led to physical schools being closed up until the disease dies down completely or when it is brought under control.
Incorporating the idea of coronavirus and its effect on education system into my profession will be a great benefit of preparing for challenges. This coronavirus pandemic has shown that educational professionals should not always rely on physical classroom as a way to teaching but also try to use the online teaching and assessments. In fact, schools that had been using online teaching and perfected are now currently doing well because their classes are in progress regardless of the surrounding situation. Therefore, the idea of this pandemic can be used as a challenge. I take it as a challenge to acquaint myself with both physical teaching in classrooms and delivering learning via online classes. This means that I will be flexible enough to provide teachings both on online platforms and classroom-based education. I have to be better in both modes of teachings so that I can deliver education even in such difficult times. I have also learnt that preparing for such a calamity is not just the task of the individual teachers but also the institutions that provide learnings. These institutions have to ensure that they have facilitated online classes, the class readings, the online assignments and the exam so that the teachers can have an easy time to continue with the teaching program.