Korean Job Discussion Forums

globusmonkey · Joined: 19 Aug 2011 Location: Seoul

Hi everybody! So, tonight we were told that our academy is going to start using an internet based video chat system to do online teaching with our current elementary classes (groups of students, not one-on-one), in addition to their regular classes. In typical fashion, there was very little thought as to the who, what, when, and most particularly why before this decision, so I am curious if anyone has video chat based instruction at their school. If so, how is it working?

It's hard to get a search that doesn't include hundreds of online teaching job postings, so I thought I'd take to the boards. Personally, I think it's going to be an unusually large disaster, given the increased time and effort required for online teaching, to say nothing of class management for Korean elementary school students in a distance environment. What say you?

Dodge7 · Joined: 21 Oct 2011

It's a train wreck waiting to happen from a classroom management standpoint.
I do recall not too long ago a guy was having difficulties doing this internet teaching. Behavior and getting them to pay attention was his concerns. It'd be hilarious to try to watch a waegookin control a bunch of elem or middle school kids from 6,000 miles away. Oh, the sight that would be.

Koreans are willing to try anything to cut down on the need to use us in the classrooms--from robots to internet teaching--and it will (and has already) fail miserably. Don't know why they're still trying to push these ineffective methods. Learning a new language just isn't accomplished like that.

globusmonkey · Joined: 19 Aug 2011 Location: Seoul

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. I'm trying to get a list of reasons that I can present to the owner to show why it's a bad idea, which is why I'm looking for specifics, but I honestly don't think it'll help. I think he's already started paying for it. Which means, it's gonna happen. I've seen a few train wrecks in my day, but I've never been in one. Time to buckle up! (and by buckling up I mean updating my resume...)

PatrickGHBusan · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 8:59 am Post subject:

First of all, online teaching requires a crap load of preparation (more so than in-classroom in many ways) otherwise it will end up being a train wreck.

However, online teaching can be great and can be very effective either as a complement to classroom teaching or as a stand alone.

Distance becomes irrelevant IF and only IF the lessons are well prepared and the students are prepped before hand and ready to try this way of learning.

I have attended some online classes in Korea (where students would interact with an North American Teacher on a screen) and it was fantastic.

I have also seen unprepared online lessons where the teacher has no clue what online teaching requires and where the classroom was badly organized for that type of learning and that was a disaster.

So, this may be a great thing or it may fall flat on its face and you along with it. It is not however all bad.

globusmonkey · Joined: 19 Aug 2011 Location: Seoul

Thanks, Patrick. I do recognize the benefits of proper online instruction, but here's the situation (which is pointing solidly towards the trainwreck outcome). The owner decided on a whim to sign up for some internet service because he heard another school in the franchise had one. No more details than that. The head teacher presents the idea as "having our own TV station", which shows that she doesn't understand the demands of online instruction. The idea is to teach an entire class, anywhere from 4-15 students, at once while they are at home after academy classes are over (9:15-10 at night). That part made me laugh when she said it. Furthermore, the person who will be setting up the whole thing is not very realistic about these kinds of "school improvement projects", and past ideas usually go south quickly. None of the teachers know anything about the project, other than we will create all the materials and do all the work. Oh, and it goes live on October 15th. They start notifying the parents next week.

Anyway, the specifics of my situation are less important than what other people have seen/heard/done. I recently quit smoking, so venting here is helping me not want to light up and prank call my head teacher at 2:30 AM. If others have any more info or stories to share, it is appreciated, thanks!

PatrickGHBusan · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 10:09 am Post subject:

Well, unless you have actual online education expertise to bring to the table or unless they (employers) have some people with such expertise, under the conditions you presented odds are this will fail miserably!

What can you do?

You either try to teach it or you try to refuse to teach it. Not many other choices I think!

If you want tips on online teaching, shoot me a pm and I can put you in touch with a friend who has been teaching online classes for nearly 7 years.

Cheers.