Enforced remote learning has shocked the educational system. There have been many gains, but it has also highlighted weaknesses in our education systems.

This blog looks at lessons we need to learn as we glimpse a new educational world just over the horizon. This blog is based on papers by Lance King - I am very grateful for his ideas.

This is how Lance King pictures the future:

“How long do you think it will be before we have full Virtual and Augmented Reality operating in the educational field? How long will it be before your children, wherever they are, will be able to use haptic feedback gloves and 3D goggles, not for a game, but in order to be fully immersed in an educational experience? Imagine learning Chemistry by being able to manipulate atoms of different elements in your hands and watch as atoms split apart and reform in chemical reactions, or learn a language by full VR immersion in the culture and activities of a different culture or learn History by being there when Howard Carter opened Tutankhamun’s tomb, or Armstrong walked on the moon. Imagine being able to have a real time conversation with Lao Tsu or Socrates, Archimedes or Confucius.  Imagine what that would be like.

It might be powerful enough to generate understanding and learning instantly, much quicker and at a deeper level than any classroom experience could possibly do. At that point what do we need teachers, classrooms, and schools for? That is the redundancy point that every forward-looking educational institution and school system, is planning right now how to deal with.”

Are we maximizing the use of technology to help students learn?

Remote learning was forced on both students and teachers at the beginning of school lockdown. Whilst many schools acknowledge significant progress in using educational technology tools, this does not detract from the fact that many students were poorly prepared to fully manage their own learning – remotely. As one parent commented:

“Even in lockdown they still seem to have almost 24/7 connection with their friends on their devices, but the idea of using that connection to work together on schoolwork just doesn’t seem to occur to them. They don’t seem to have been taught how to form teams remotely, how to collaborate and work together in the digital environment independent of teachers.”

“Now that the pandemic is behind us and children are back at school, the biggest change in their schooling needs to be a major reorientation towards the self-management of learning as a prioritised goal. We need to shift the focus of school-based learning from teacher as ‘all knowing expert’ to teacher as ‘designer of engaging, remote-learning opportunities’ that can be completed either in a classroom setting or remotely.” (Lance King)

Dr. Jennifer Chang Wathall has produced this helpful graphic to suggest how educators could incorporate new learnings as they return to school. It can be found in her paper How have we Redefined Blended Learning? April 2020