2023 Volume 15 Pages 8-12
Despite the hectic which COVID-19 created since 2020, it indeed promoted great advancement in teaching and learning. Over the years, educators were working together in making lessons interesting and achievable by learners, especially those in rural areas. Somehow, due to many constraints like location, finance, transportation, accessibility and facilities, the effort seemed not rewarding as it was planned. In 2020 and 2021, schools were in lockdown, resulting in the mushroomed of virtual classes. In Malaysia, led by the Ministry of Education, followed by the District Education Departments, schools, educators and other partners, various materials for virtual classes were enhanced and developed. This seemed to facilitate a borderless classroom, especially for biology lessons. Biology teachers collaborated in conducting borderless classroom with Professional Learning Community (PLC). Biology students benefited through attending lessons guided by a few teachers which was totally different from the normal way of teaching and learning. Teachers too learned from each other through PLC to enhance their content knowledge and teaching methods. On top of that, individuals or organisations also reached out to teachers to assist in conducting virtual lesson. Joining hands of individuals and organisations from different levels, students were equipped with the knowledge and skills needed for biology. The limitations in reaching to more learners seemed broken. Further research is needed to develop a better model of virtual classroom and a feasible virtual assessment method. Perhaps, a hybrid form of classroom could be introduced in near future for biology lessons.
