Fostering students’ self-efficacy in the new normal

“By focusing on mastery and identity, every learner (and teacher) can become an active achiever.”  We don’t want to foster identities of students who can and students who can’t.” Instead, we want to ‘help students see themselves progress.’ When you celebrate each student’s accumulated mastery, and use that progress to determine the next step in their individual path, you will encourage persistence and growth.” – David Dockterman, Harvard Graduate School of Education

THE coronavirus pandemic has spawned a consequent concern of our educational institutions to carry on their respective missions by providing on-line learning sessions. With this format, there are among our students who feel inadequate to attend to their assigned readings in their subjects. They have been used to their lecturers explain to them in more informal ways the website material. While there are apps to remedy these virtual class sessions, such as virtual interchange through chats or Zoom or Google classroom, these apps though available, are not always readily accessible because of the unevenness of internet accessibility. This problem has been repeatedly brought out in today’s conversations and in the media. However, besides innovative on-line activities we do for them, there is one other thing we can assist them with, that is, by fostering in them self-efficacy.