Understanding Distance Learning Andrew Thomas B.Ed (Hons) M.Phil NPHQ Principal - Al Ain English Speaking School
“We want live lessons!
candles being replaced by light bulbs, the concept remains the same. This is not flippancy, for whilst I acknowledge the curriculum has changed with the development of pedagogy too, we do not see a seismic shift in the fundamentals of how children are engaged with their learning: If it’s not broken, why fix it? It would be like trying to make your own homemade tomato ketchup when most of our favourite brands can be purchased and cannot be beaten after 151 years of production.
“I have 3 children and only 1 computer. Only 1 child can do live lessons at a time!” “Stop asking us to print out materials for our children!” “Please provide more materials for us to support our children!” “There is too much work!”
So overnight, we are asking children to sit in front of a computer and log on to a screen to engage in their lessons. This is a ground-breaking shift and suddenly, we require the children to be attentive and disciplined in a newfound way, and we need them to not only focus, but download, read and interact with materials without the beady eye or physical support of a teacher. For our children, computers in the main mean surfing, gaming and video streaming: fun, not learning and we must be careful that as educators we don’t fall into the trap of making our lessons solely “fun” with lessons that are purely ‘Edutainment’ or ‘Technotainment’ in value.
“There is not enough work!” These are some of the main points myself and my fellow Principals have heard from parents over the past few weeks. So, what is Distance Learning and how can we ensure the very best for our children during these unprecedented times? Not even during the Second World War did all schools shut down in the UK, so for this global closure of education establishments to be taking place, we have to accept the severity of the Covid-19 Pandemic we all face, and come together as one, supporting each other to maintain learning as best we can.
I have read how some teachers are being asked by students to upload lessons on ‘Tik Tok’ or their ‘Insta’ account; words and phrases that too many teachers of a certain generation are alien to. There is a clash of generations with students placing value in technology, which is informal and bitesize in nature, whereas teachers require them to use it formally and increase their attention span. Currently Tik Tok and Instagram are not being used by AAESS so that lessons are not trivialised.
Technology has been around for many years now, yet never in its entirety has it superseded the need for teachers. If you look at how children were taught in the 1800’s, you will find they sat in rows at desks, facing the teacher and a chalkboard. Today, we sit the children at their desks facing whiteboards. Whilst technology is now found in the classroom with The Source
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