Online Education Takes More Than Technology

Online education is nothing new. Cyber high schools and post-secondary institutions deliver instruction online all the time. Personally, I completed part of my MEd and all of my K-12 Administation Certification online.

For a majority of elementary and secondary teachers, however, the demand to deliver online instruction caused by the spread of COVID-19 closing school buildings represents a new challenge in their academic careers.

Despite the perception that online instructors are lounging beach-side, the truth is the majority of teachers are streaming lessons from makeshift offices hurriedly assembled in some out-of-the-way corner of their homes. In smaller dwellings and apartments this might even be the dining room. For those with children, particularly younger children, there is the inevitable interruption for mommy’s/daddy’s attention, snacks, and potty breaks.

“Thrust into emergency triage, schools focused first on how to provide food and other basics,” according to EdWeek. “In recent days, they’ve pivoted to the far more difficult task of teaching children from afar. With minimal training, often while stuck at home and juggling their own family responsibilities, the country’s teachers and principals have sprung into action, distributing Chromebooks to students and sending Wi-Fi enabled school buses into their communities, teaching on Instagram Live and hosting virtual class discussions on Zoom—and calling students and parents on the telephone to make sure they’re OK.”

This reliance on technology has drawn attention to the drastic differences between wealthier and poorer school districts. For instance, in the Greater Philadelphia area, some school districts distributed laptops to every student. This comes with a heavy cost, not only for the computers but also for internet connection and any specific software that may be required. Cable TV giant Comcast’s founding family helped with a $5 million donation for the Philadelphia schools, which, in a 2019 survey reported that “only 45% of students in grades 3-5, 56% of students in grades 6-8 and 58% of students in grades 9-12 have access to the internet from a home computer,” according to NBC News in Philadelphia.

For neighbor city Camden there is an even greater need. “The digital divide is something we struggle with,” Katrina McCombs, superintendent in Camden, told the Philadelphia Inquirer, which reported that only “30% of families in the nearly 6,000-student district have internet access and electronic devices for each student.”

But there’s more to delivering online education than simply handing out computers. According to USA Today, online instruction must meet the legally mandated accommodations for students with special needs and English language learners just like in-classroom instruction.

And more importantly, all students — elementary and secondary — will be expected to display a greater sense of motivation and commitment. Learning online requires a significant amount of independent activities. There is more reading, more research, and more writing. This can be a significant hurdle for Career and Technical Education (CTE) classes; vocational training where actual hands-on projects (i.e., changing a car tire, welding, plumbing repair, etc.) usually replaces book work.

Students who struggle to stay on task in a structured school environment will now find themselves with more freedom. Those seduced by the lure of online gaming will now have a state-of-the-art Chromebook at their disposal. Adult prompting to “pay attention,” “get back to work,” and “where is your homework” will now fall on someone besides the teacher, and it’s likely that “someone” will be dealing with other issues caused by the virus quarantine.

This isn’t conventional “online” learning; it’s being called “emergency remote learning,” as educational author A.J. Juliani explains:

“It was not planned for. Most school’s curriculum was not crafted to be online or distance learning experiences. Most teachers and staff have not been trained in teaching online or through virtual tools. Most kids and families have not had the opportunity to be prepared for this change in learning.”

As teachers re-learn how to teach and students re-learn how to learn in this new environment there will be many successes along with many challenges. Technology is only as good as those using it, and this necessary push for online education will require motivation and commitment from both sides of the screen.