Hi there. In this education post, I cover the recent news that Toronto schools are moving back to full online (remote) learning. This move from the Toronto District School Board is in response to this announcement from the province of Ontario. The announcement on January 3, 2022 from the Ontario government mentions this:
TORONTO — In response to recent trends that show an alarming increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations, the Ontario government, in consultation with the Chief Medical Officer of Health, is temporarily moving the province into Step Two of its Roadmap to Reopen with modifications that take into account the province’s successful vaccination efforts. These time-limited measures will help blunt transmission and prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed as the province continues to accelerate its booster dose rollout. As part of the province’s response to the Omicron variant, starting January 5, students will pivot to remote learning with free emergency child care planned for school-aged children of health care and other eligible frontline workers.
Modified Courses
Because of this announcement both students and educators have to move from in-person to online learning. Courses may have to be modified for an online environment. No more science lab experiments in classrooms, and pretty much no more in-person music class practices. A lot of the learning materials online will be theoretical in nature.
The quality of online classes will depend on the teacher's ability to use technology as well as displaying information with software. A teacher can teach well in-person but could not do as well online. This can also be true the other way around where a teacher could be bad in-person but better with online tools.
Online Learning Pros & Cons
I do think that in-class learning and online learning are very different. One is not better than the other for all students.
Pros For Online Learning
- Less travel/commute time
- Comfortable learning at home
- Don't have to show yourself if you have a bad hair day.
- Camera can be off
- Learning documents as files
- Available online tools that are not available in classrooms.
Cons For Online Learning
- Camera off on students, teachers cannot tell if student is listening
- Students with multiple tabs, chat/text messaging
- No/little interaction between students
- Technology requirements in the form of internet speed, powerful enough computer
- Tech issues and troubleshooting can be a hassle
- Teacher & students could be bad with online classes, typing, mouse usage
- Too much screen watching, blue light
For strong students, they will most likely thrive regardless of the educational content delivery format. Online learning does require a little bit more independent learning and personal responsibility. Educators will most likely not want to spend much time fixing tech issues over teaching course material. This may not be favourable to students who lack discipline, skill, focus, grit and a strong work ethic. Some students may fall further behind unfortunately.
