Online teaching during COVID-19: the triple imperatives

Since the onset of the COVID-19, online learning has taken centre stage across the world as authorities have been pushed to close educational institutes to contain and manage the pandemic. The effect of the abruptness of the switch to full-fledged online learning has been disruptive for educators and students alike. In particular, educators are torn between different goals such as effectiveness (i.e., trying to emulate in-person classes online and cover the same material), inclusiveness (i.e., no student is excluded from the learning process), and equity (i.e., trying to ensure that no students are left behind). Matters are made more serious by the fact that we are in the midst of the worst pandemic in the last 100 years with students locked inside their homes with their siblings and family members in stressful situations (which makes paying attention and engaging in learning very difficult). In this paper, we highlight the importance of keeping a learner-centric focus in which there is an explicit effort on the triple imperatives of online learning, i.e., to develop online classrooms that are at the same time, equitable, inclusive, and effective.