Headline from the Wall Street Journal article from Tawnell D Hobbs and Lee Hawkins says it all really but it really is worth a read. The question is surely ‘Is anyone surprised”. As with many things COVID-19 related the sad fact remains that ‘we’ were unprepared for Remote Learning as with many other things.
Facts are we had the technology in place (look how quickly we were able to set it up), we had a tech savvy user base (all ages have proven they are adept enough with technology when they benefit form it), but we lacked two key ingredients: content was not already uploaded and available for online use, and we had not tried it it out and integrated into into the ‘way we do things’.
This last issue is a key one for me as my recent experiences with the education world in the UK is that they are extremely reluctant to embrace change, and whilst time is certainly a limiting factor for all school staff, the overriding position is ‘we don’t do it that way’ when anything new is suggested.
Remote working does work, and if integrated permanently into the way we teach our children at all ages it will ensure we are not caught out again, but more importantly it will make education more fun and more accessible for many many more students who struggle for one reason or another with classrooms and the traditional methods.