Internet connectivity is one of the aspects that might influence online learning. Everyone might have experience internet connection problems due to various reasons which most of the times are uncontrollable. When dealing with uncontrollable events, most of the times it is common to feel shocked and hopeless if we do not anticipate that to happen and we do not have any back up plan to rectify the problem that we are facing.
Firstly, do not panic. It is easier said than done but try to keep ourselves calm is crucial to think about how to react to that particular situations.
Secondly, it is might be time consuming to think about several options. This is a bit tricky but just trust your instinct and act.
Thirdly, try to visualise such problems and possible solutions before the problems happen. This is also another tricky thing. Normally, we are so complacent with existing situations and thus, do not feel the need to think about possible problems and solutions that we can use to overcome such problems. However, it is just a matter of thinking outside the box and changing our current habit. Since COVID-19 last year and experiences of having internet problems due to stolen cables (true story!), I start to explore several options of platforms that I could use other than WebEx. So, I push myself to learn to use Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and such. Some students are more than willing to be the guinea pig when I want to try out new platform. Normally, my postgraduate students will be the first choice. Thanks to them, I learn new things that I would never even bother to explore before COVID-19.
