Covid-19, Distance Learning, and Education

At the beginning of the New Year, the United States was hit with a pandemic the likes of which we have not seen in generations. Now well into spring, the new norm around much of the country is spending time indoors hoping to avoid getting infected with this coronavirus (Covid-19). The new normal is anything but. Our lives have been altered in ways we might not have imagined and there is no guarantee that when we are able to return to our regular routines that they will be same as before this disaster.  Amidst all of this something truly amazing happened, all across the country (with less than a week’s notice) schools everywhere were asked to transition completely to “distance learning,” and they did.

To truly understand the difficulty of this task, let’s first discuss what distance learning is. In its simplest terms, it is 100% online classes (we can get bogged down with the intricacies and variations of it, but that isn’t the purpose of this entry). You are far more likely to see this type of instruction on the college level as most schools now offer a significant amount of classes online and even offer complete degree programs that never require an in person session (we have all seen the commercials). On the secondary school level, it is not a common occurrence. What is more likely to be seen is “blended learning” which is a mixture of online and in person content, but again it is not common. So schools were asked to adopt a model that they had little to no experience with, and do it on a timeline that would make any manager cringe. Wait, it gets worse.

Technology and education should be intrinsically tied together, and we are getting there, but we have a long way to go. There are several major problems, but two to focus on here are teacher familiarity and access to resources. You may think that part of the teaching profession is familiarity with all of the available technology to enhance your classroom (and I would agree), but this simply isn’t the case. As with any group of people, comfort with technology varies from person to person. For every teacher that loves exploring the world of technology there is one that loves a pencil and paper and is hesitant to shift. Schools do a good job providing training and encouragement to all teachers and end up accomplishing a happy medium.

Then there is the issue of access to technology. This disparity here is significantly greater than comfort with technology, simply put there are too many schools with inadequate access to technology. I have visited schools that had more technology than an Apple store, and I have visited schools that had decades old PCs that defied logic that they were still operational. How can we possibly expect schools to prepare its students and teachers for digital instruction when they are lacking the digital component? This is only considering the school side, what about the students? You simply cannot assume that every home has stable internet access and a computer; that would be to ignore the fact that about 14% of this country’s population lives below the poverty level. Even those that are not living in poverty, we cannot assume that every family has chosen to embrace technology in their homes.

In spite of all these challenges, you have seen the majority of students across the country are now engaged in distance learning. Don’t get me wrong, there are as many cases of it being implemented successfully as it being a complete failure, but the fact that there are as many success stories as there are is simply amazing. Teachers spend significant amounts of time planning out their curriculums and lesson plans and then were simply asked to shift them all online. It doesn’t work like that, you can’t simply port instruction to a different medium, teachers had to completely rethink their approach to instruction and come up with new plans on the fly.

That is what this entry is about, acknowledging what teachers and schools have accomplished. Teachers do not get enough credit for the jobs they do regularly, but now being asked to do the impossible, largely they did it. Asking anybody to change how they work is difficult, but to understand the challenges that had to be overcome to make this possible should make us all proud of our teachers and schools. It is truly uplifting to see what can be done during such a difficult time.

Until next entry,

Chris.