To ensure learning continues during this unprecedented time with the Covid-19 outbreak, Taylor’s academics adopted various educational technologies and virtual learning environment (VLE) to mitigate the risk of interruptions to daily teaching and learning activities. For instance, ZOOM, a popular synchronous or real-time web collaboration platform is used by Associate Professor Dr. Kandappan to engage and interact with his post-graduate students of Master in International Hospitality Management programme, School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events, Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management, Taylor’s University.
Beyond the usual teaching pedagogy, Dr. Kandappan used the breakout rooms and screen sharing features for group discussion, as well as video recording tool to record the session and share it with his students in the university’s Learning Management System (LMS) to ensure the attainment of learning outcomes among his students. Students found it easy to use, the session was relaxed, and they enjoyed their first online learning session. They commented that the learning was excellent as they were able to interact with peers and instructor in real time. They actively used the chat option to post questions during the group presentation as part of the peer-evaluation exercise. Moving forward, Dr. Kandappan plans to prepare more learning activities in the Zoom breakup room, to allow more spaces for student to interact among the peers and faculty in a collaborative manner.
