The emergence of technological tools in the education sector.

COVID-19 impacted greatly on the way the education system has evolved in Mauritius. From the traditional classroom to working from home, all teachers started to adapt to this new way of teaching. Fortunately, most of them were able to learn about how to use the various technological tools which were freely available online. However, some senior teachers encountered certain difficulties as they were not much acquainted to the use of latest teaching and learning software.

My experience of teaching mathematics online proved to be quite enriching. I learned a lot about various features that video conferencing and social media apps have to offer.

Throughout the process of teaching online, I came across Zoom, Microsoft Teams, GeoGebra and Google Sheets.

While working from home, I used to keep in touch with my students and colleagues through WhatsApp in case there was important information to be communicated or reports to be sent. It was important for me to create WhatsApp groups for all my classes as well as one group to obtain feedback from colleagues and submit reports. In order to avoid burnout or being disturbed each and every time, I made sure to put all my groups related to work in an archive folder. In this way, I could manage my personal and professional life properly.

To keep track of the attendance of students during online teaching, I made use of Google Sheets. This software allowed me to have a proper record of the school work that was being carried out at home. Whenever a report had to be submitted to seniors, I just had to screenshot the duly updated sheet.

Most of the time before starting my classes online, I would watch and select different educational videos on YouTube that could help my students to easily understand a certain topic. Those videos would be sent to them via WhatsApp. In addition, I found it interesting to use Microsoft Teams or Zoom as video conferencing tools during online lessons. I could film whatever mathematical workings I had to present to the young adolescents on the whiteboard or on paper. There were also features which were quite helpful – for instance, the “share screen” option. It allowed me to play YouTube videos during classes while simultaneously explaining various mathematical definitions and concepts to students. I could record my online lessons too through MS Teams.

Last but not least, in order to encourage the young people to learn about drawing linear and quadratic graphs and also to master geometric transformations at Grade 11 level, I found GeoGebra to be the perfect software.

While discussing graphs, we had the opportunity to relate whatever workings that were being done on paper to that on GeoGebra.

While discussing graphs, we had the opportunity to relate whatever workings that were being done on paper to that on GeoGebra.They could grasp the topic better as they were able to demonstrate a good understanding of how to determine the y-intercept and axis-coordinates of graphs. Moreover, it was easier for me to teach ‘Transformations’ (reflection, enlargement and rotation) to my Grade 11 students via GeoGebra as they were able to follow well my step-by-step instructions. The user-friendly features of the software allowed me to deliver the lessons efficiently.

Moreover, it was easier for me to teach ‘Transformations’ (reflection, enlargement and rotation) to my Grade 11 students via GeoGebra as they were able to follow well my step-by-step instructions. The user-friendly features of the software allowed me to deliver the lessons efficiently.

Apart from the fact of sometimes experiencing glitches or internet problem issues, technological tools and online teaching proved to be very helpful for students during the COVID-19 pandemic.