I'm always look for new resources to keep students engaged

She is interested in various educational platforms and recommends them to the teachers of her educational institution - this is what Olha Kasian does and she notes that she loves her job very much. Olha works as the head of the educational and methodological office of the Kyiv Vocational College of Maritime and River Fleet and Transport Technologies of the State University of Infrastructure and Technology. Olha also teaches English to students of various specialities there. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, she has been interested in and started taking American English courses on the Coursera platform, as she was forced to move to the United States. This helped her to adapt quickly. Now Olha is back and continues to do what she loves. She currently has more than 10 certificates that she has received on the Coursera platform and continues to look for new opportunities to improve students' English language skills and to improve the skills of teachers. Read in this interview how she teaches and learns, what courses she recommends, and what advantages and disadvantages of the Coursera platform she notes. 

How is your work related to educational platforms? 

I have been the head of the college's teaching and methodological office for over 10 years. My main task is to introduce teachers to new and interesting platforms, digital resources and educational innovations so that they can improve their skills with high quality and pleasure. I love my job very much, I am interested in different platforms, and I try to participate in order to advise my colleagues on the best. Every time I carefully review the structure of each entity that provides educational services in the field of professional development.

When did you start taking courses on your own? 

When the war broke out, I saw an announcement that Coursera was providing educational institutions with free access to training on the platform. Then I started actively advising my colleagues to do so. I myself have taken more than 10 courses on Coursera from various educational institutions around the world.

What kind of courses were they?

I teach English at a college, so I took courses in this area. I was interested in American English courses, which at that time were a necessity, given the circumstances. The Coursera platform was perfect for improving my knowledge. I enjoyed taking such courses as "Teach English Now! Teaching English online", "Tricky English Grammar", "Speak English Professionally: In Person, Online & On the Phone", "Tricky American English Pronunciation", "The Pronunciation of American English", "The Pronunciation of American English Project", "English for Media Literacy", "The Music of American English Pronunciation", "Consonants of American English Pronunciation", "Vowels of American English Pronunciation". These are courses from such world-class universities as the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of California, Arizona State University, the University of Pennsylvania, and others.

What did you like about studying on Coursera?

The courses on the platform are structured, clear, accessible and of high quality. I liked the diverse assignments, because for a teacher who wants to improve his or her professional level, tests are not enough. I was surprised and somewhat pleased that after listening to the material from the lecturer, you need to record your voice and send the task as a file. Teachers or students evaluate how well and correctly you prepared and recorded your voice. I think this is a great task. It allows you to listen to others and pay attention to your shortcomings. I have never seen such tasks on any of the platforms.

After completing the course, it is very convenient that you can automatically share your certificate on various social networks: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp (or send it by email). Everything is accessible, everything is structured: download to your computer, save, share. 

Another plus is that the platform offers to set deadlines for completing tasks. This is motivating. You know that you need to complete the material in a week, and you understand how much time you need to allocate per day. Another useful feature is to see your results as a percentage. 

The next advantage is that you can choose a variety of topics to study, because Coursera does not limit your choice. There's programming, English, humanities, social sciences, and engineering. The choice is very wide.

What are the disadvantages of the Coursera platform? 

For personal development of teachers, Coursera is a great option. But there is one caveat. When a teacher takes courses on any educational platform, it is important not only to obtain the certificate itself, but also a certain list of requirements that the entity providing educational services must meet. First of all, it is not just the name of the instructor, the name of the university and the date of the course that must be indicated on the certificate. It must also contain information such as the number of ECTS hours and/or credits, the serial number of the certificate, and the professional skills acquired by the teacher, etc. Unfortunately, this is not yet available on Coursera. Therefore, this somewhat discourages teachers from taking courses on the platform. However, I want to emphasise that the platform is ideal for improving one's professional and professional competences, as it has other advantages. 

Do you think free courses can reduce motivation to learn? 

On the one hand, it can reduce motivation, because by not taking the course, we seem to lose nothing. But the reality is that both students and teachers want to do everything faster and without involving any resources. And yet, on Coursera, you still need to spend four or six weeks to get the certificate you want. Paid course or not, you also need to be motivated to take into account how much free time you will spend. Unfortunately, my experience and the experience of other colleagues shows a tendency that teachers, as well as students, are not motivated to pursue non-formal education. 

What platforms do you use when teaching students?

The teachers of our college are now using a free resource for educational institutions - Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), namely Google Meet and Google Class. There you can see all the assignments published by the teacher, create Google forms, which students complete with great pleasure. There are also deadline and grading functions, which is very convenient.

When choosing resources, I always try to adapt to the students' wishes and their level of knowledge. I cannot use just one resource that is convenient for me, I am constantly looking for something new, modern, interactive to interest and motivate students. I need to develop along with them.

Do you think that Ukrainian teachers can create content on Coursera? What do they need to do so?

I think they can. It would be very good, because since 2019, probably every Ukrainian teacher has their own digital achievements, such as lectures, video lessons, quizzes and tests, manuals or other resources. I believe that every educational institution will have a teacher who is ready to share their experience, best practices, and even create an author's course. Of course, this requires a lot of motivation, or at least a monetary reward from the platform.