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Educational Excellence

Perspectives of Online Teaching and

Learning: An Educational Project from

DKG Puerto Rico

By Evelyn Lugo-Morales

The Educational Excellence Committee (EEC) promotes programs and projects for
excellence in education, including programs of action that encourage the personal
well-being, intellectual growth, and global awareness of women educators. It
provides a platform to share strategies and experiences to expand the educational
excellence that is part of the mission of DKG. The goals of the EEC are based on
empowering members to build leadership skills and providing meaningful ways
to offer support to educators. The organization in Puerto Rico offers, on a yearly
basis, an educational project not only to support early-career educators but also to
promote best practices for teachers in general.
During the 2020–2021 academic year, online teaching and learning became a
priority in educating students at all academic levels. As a token of collaboration,
DKG Puerto Rican educators Dr. Nahomy Curet, Dr. Camille Echevarria, Professor
Nancy Torres, Professor Kimberly García, and their colleague, Dr. Jose Morales
Sousa, presented a series of videos entitled “Perspectives of Online Teaching and
Learning.” The purpose of this DKG Puerto Rico educational project was to share
the online teaching experiences from diverse disciplines ranging from elementary
to college level. Five questions guided the participants’ contributions in the project:
1. Which virtual teaching experiences could you share
with other educators who are teaching virtually as
well?
2. How did you maintain the enthusiasm of students in
your class?
3. How did you engage students in the virtual learning
modality?
4. Can you give examples of activities or strategies to
accomplish the objectives of the course?
5. How did you manage difficult situations that are
inherent to online teaching?
The presenters shared the experiences, strategies, and activities that worked for
them. They also offered recommendations to the many overwhelmed teachers who
were immersed in remote and online teaching. The educational videos were posted
every week from March to April 2021 on the DKG Puerto Rico Facebook page.

Torres
As an introduction to the series, Professor Nancy Torres outlined the challenges
and changes that online teaching presented to students, teachers, and parents.
Torres, a secondary-level biology and environmental sciences teacher at a private
school in San Juan, noted that participating in the project let her share and reflect

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