The key challenge of remote learning is that it’s remote
The key challenge of remote learning is that it’s remote.
I know what you’re thinking…”I paid for this insight?” (Editor’s note—blog subscriptions are free.)
Here’s the slightly longer version of this analysis:
The key challenge of remote learning is that it relies on education technology, and technology-related instructional strategies—but the large majority of ed tech has been devised for, and envisioned for, use in mainstream, age-graded, time-constrained schools and classrooms. The technology platforms and online content being used to deliver instruction at a distance have always represented a small niche of interest and demand.
Many of the observers, think tanks, advocates, and “thought leaders” have consistently, over many years, been in the groove of envisioning school as a place, and learning as taking place within a prescribed time and location. Even with widespread remote learning taking place now, they are still stuck in that rut.
Some examples:
1. The Christensen Institute created a widely used taxonomy of blended learning many years ago. To their credit, they included examples that have fully online components. But the most widely discussed and adopted models are those under the “rotation” category, which are based on traditional classroom schedules. In our experience, the large majority of schools that say they adopted “blended learning” did so within the time and space confines of traditional schools. To be clear, this is not a criticism of Christensen, as they are not responsible for how their ideas are used.
2. Rick Hess, a thoughtful analyst and blogger, recently wrote a post titled “When Does Ed Tech Actually Help?” He lists four areas in which technology supports schools and/or students:
“It can make it possible to deliver standardized, quality content at scale.
It can facilitate the delivery of differentiated or individualized instruction.
It can provide students with additional opportunities for practice.
It can boost student engagement.”
These are all accurate but insufficient. Ask any students in online or hybrid schools about why they chose those schools, and they will list a variety of reasons that transcend any of these ideas listed by Hess. Students—especially at the high school level—talk about how they can pursue their own interests, address their own issues and opportunities, and have the level of agency that they expect in their college and/or career experience.
3. Larry Cuban, another thoughtful observer, similarly has many blog posts and books questioning the value of education technology. Most of his ideas are thought-provoking and a valuable antidote to mindless ed tech boosters. But much of his recent thinking, as with Hess, misunderstands the potential of online learning. Although I can’t know exactly what he is thinking, my read is that he is also firmly based in the confines of traditional school buildings and schedules. (This also became apparent to me in a conversation over coffee that I had with him many years ago.
The biggest failure of remote learning is a failure of imagination. Remote learning is being approached through the lens of “how do we replicate the classroom?,” often with the unspoken subtext of “and how soon can we get back into our traditional rooms and schedules?”
I don’t mean to dismiss the very real issues around the extent to which schools provide custodial care, meals, socialization, and other elements that are built around being physically together. But particularly with hybrid schools, these goals can co-exist with the benefits of freeing students from the constraints of school buildings and schedules.
I also don’t mean to suggest that the failure of imagination is all we are seeing. In fact, those of us involved with the Resilient Schools Project, and with Digital Learning Collaborative members, are hearing from educators who are using this crisis as an opportunity. Every day, it seems, we hear from someone who says “yes, we will be going back to school when the pandemic is over, but not just in the same ways as before. We are taking what we are experiencing in remote learning, and building on it, to create more options and opportunities for students and families.”
These educators are seeing a different way forward, post-pandemic. It’s about time that policymakers, reporters, advocates, and other “leaders” get on board, or get out of the way.