Remote in more ways than one

“Remote” learning is sometimes equated with online learning. We often push back against that conflation. But in a different sense, digital learning educators may want to consider another way in which our field is “remote”—and address that issue as well. Because “remote” can mean “distant” in ways unrelated to geography, as in a “remote relative”—someone who is not well known, regardless of where they reside.
 
I was reminded of this fact in a recent article regarding, of all things, the death of the Unabomber. For those too young to instantly recall the details, Ted Kaczynski was a terrorist who mailed explosive packages to random recipients for decades prior to his capture in 1996.  He was found, according to the article, “in an area so remote that during an 18-day stakeout, one agent saw a cougar kill a deer.”
 
Wow, that must be crazily remote, a place where cougars kill deer. Except…that also happens in my neighborhood in Durango, Colorado. And all over the western United States. Are we really all that remote? I can walk from my house to coffee shops and breweries (being careful to dodge the mountain lions.)
 
When New York City was engulfed in wildfire smoke, a friend from there asked me “Have you experienced anything like this?” My answer (“we call that ‘summer’”) was a bit flippant, because it doesn’t happen every summer. But sadly, it was only a mild exaggeration as fires are becoming more and more common.
 
Much of the US population doesn’t understand the intermountain West. It’s not that we’re quite flyover country, because plenty of people visit here for skiing and national parks and festivals. But they tend to stay for a short time and then go back to where they’re more comfortable.
 
So “remote” doesn’t just mean far away, it can also mean “not well understood.”
 
And remote learning, including online learning, also isn’t well understood.
 
If you live in the West, it can be easy to forget that many people aren’t familiar with predators, or with the concept that following your GPS can get you into real trouble.
 
Just like if you work in an online or hybrid school it can be easy to forget that most people don’t understand digital learning. Post-pandemic, they have a better, if hazy, sense that remote learning exists. Kind of like they usually believe that Idaho exists, even if they haven’t seen it.
 
Sometimes it can be annoying to have to explain where we live to people who don’t understand it. But a more useful response is to educate them patiently.
 
Don’t forget that we still have to do that with digital learning too.