The idea of a “normal student life”
The first thing to disappear was the idea of a “normal student life”. Study arenas became unstable and unpredictable. Some students followed the teaching from their homes, from the street, tents or bomb shelters – if there was electricity and if it was possible to connect to the internet. I could no longer take for granted that they were able to work on assignments from day to day.
A very special kind of flexibility
Basic prerequisites such as a place to be, electricity, internet access and time to study were simply not available to them in any predictable way. This forced a special kind of flexibility. I had to adapt to when the students actually had the opportunity to be students. I wanted to be available when they had the opportunity. With this in mind, I started making short and concise videos with academic content, no more than 15–20 minutes, and uploaded them to YouTube.
The videos had to be short enough to be watched during a brief period of access to electricity and the internet, before the connection disappeared. I would often also upload the lecture text in digital form so that those who lost internet access could read the text wherever they were, perhaps on a mobile phone with poor coverage.
Asmaa N. Abusamra and flexible education
- Asmaa N. Abusamra is an associate professor in educational leadership, a researcher and a specialist in higher education reforms.
- She is currently working as a researcher in Norway and has previously held academic leadership positions at the University College of Applied Sciences in Gaza, where she led strategic educational initiatives and international collaborations.
- Her research focuses, among other things, on higher education reforms, organizational change, AI driven leadership and curriculum innovation.
- Abusamra is one of several researchers affiliated with the newly established education group HybriFlex.
- Here, teachers in higher education collaborate to explore and further develop the quality of hybrid and flexible forms of teaching, with impact both locally and globally.
“Stop – do something – resume”
Over time I developed a simple structure that I used with the videos: “STOP – do something – resume.” The students could pause the video, do a short task at their own pace, reflect individually or together with others if they had fellow students nearby, and then start the video again. This rhythm made it possible to work academically even in extremely turbulent environments – between sirens, power cuts and constant interruptions.
Belonging in times of war
“I realized that flexibility was not only about time and technology, but also about relationships and belonging.
The students carried trauma, loss and fear. Before I could think about learning objectives and assessment, I had to create a safe framework – as safe as it is possible to achieve in a war situation. I felt an interpersonal responsibility: to see them as human beings before I saw them as students, and to design the teaching in such a way that they could feel a sense of belonging, both to each other and to the learning community, even when they were physically scattered.
To build this community, I used tools such as WhatsApp groups and Google Classroom. In WhatsApp they could share small glimpses of their everyday life, short reflections and questions to each other. Sometimes even just a sign of life.
Flexibility became crucial
At the same time, I facilitated digital meetings when it was possible, but they had to be short, focused and extremely flexible. I never knew how long the power or internet connection would be available. Faced with this reality, one question became more important than all others: “What is easiest for you?”
Instead of expecting the students to adapt to my plan, I had to adapt the teaching to their actual situation and psychological strain. Flexibility became a prerequisite for education to be possible at all.
Challenging assessment
Assessment turned out to be one of the greatest challenges. Traditional forms of assessment presupposed stability: time, calm, technical infrastructure. I had to think differently about how students could show what they had learned. In many cases, written exams or larger, planned submissions were simply not possible.
Instead, I designed and initiated short digital meetings with clear learning goals, where the students could demonstrate relevant competence in just a few minutes.
Sometimes they sent me videos where they demonstrated what they had learned in their own practice – in an improvised classroom, in a home or in a tent.
Every assessment situation had to be tailored to what was actually possible.
Co-creation under unstable conditions
To support the students’ engagement and co creation, I used several digital tools such as Mentimeter, Padlet, Quizlet and Edpuzzle. These tools made it possible to vary the activities and allowed the students to contribute even if they only had brief, sporadic opportunities to be online. In this way, I tried to facilitate effective co creation in teaching, even under the most unstable conditions.
Through all of this, I was constantly reminded that the context the students are in is crucial for how we can and should teach. In war zones, flexibility is not just a question of pedagogical method, but an adaptation to the fact that students’ lives are disrupted by unforeseen events, loss and fear.
The flexibility I have had to develop is about:
- letting go of control over fixed times and spaces
- being available when the students actually have the opportunity
- asking “What is easiest for you?” and letting the answer determine the teaching
- design striving for socio emotional safety
- thinking creatively about assessment and documentation of competence in a chaotic reality
This story about teaching in Gaza is therefore not only a story about digital tools and alternative teaching methods, but about a fundamental restructuring of the teacher’s role – from managing a predictable teaching situation, to following the students into a reality marked by war, and still trying to create space for learning, mastery and belonging.
Other languages
This news story is also available in a Norwegian version.