OLDaily

Don’t stop with broadband—build an infrastructure for supporting students
Julia Freeland Fisher, Christensen Institute, 2020/05/28

It's hard to imagine the Christensen Institute proposing any sort of government-led support, but that what seems to be the case here as it cites former Massachusetts commissioner of education Paul Reville in saying, “Establish systems of child development and education that meet children where they are … and provide them with what they need, inside and outside of school, in order to be successful.”  But we should be clear - this should be done in addition to real reforms that address poverty directly, not instead of them.Having said that - yes, I agree with the proposal; I remember in-school vaccination programs, nutrition programs, dental hygine and and more publicly-funded support (at least while I was in Montreal - a lot of this disappeared when we moved to rural Ontario in 1968).

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‘Student voice’ in lockdown
Helen Young, Lee Jerome, BERA Blog, 2020/05/28

According to the authors, "Lockdown and the concurrent dependence on technology for communication raises the danger of a further narrowing of student voice." I don't see why that should be the case, especially when we see that in technology everywhere has increased everyone's voice, sometimes to excess. Why should the opposite effect take hold in schools? Anyhow, Helen Young and Lee Jerome are concerned that the online student opinion would be collected mostly from surveys that promote a "narrow ‘consumer’ version of student voice" and areguer that it is important instead to encourage "dialogue among students and among students and staff in responding to the challenges." Of course, these academics could simply go to places like Reddit and Facebook and even Twitter, etc., where these dialogues are already taking place. True, the academics would lose control of the narrative. But that would be better than a survey, wouldn't it?

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The post-COVID school
Pierre Dillenbourg, Bold, 2020/05/28

For many this is a reasonable proposition: "If schools systematically combine digital and face-to-face activities, in the event of a crisis they will only have to adjust the relative amounts of in-person and distance learning, instead of having to implement radical changes." Quite so. What we need to be careful about is that, as we return some degree of face-to-face activities in schooling, that we don't recreate the inequalities and disadvantages that became so glaring over the last few weeks.

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Business as Unusual: The New Normal for Online Learning
BCcampus, 2020/05/28

This is a quick and breezy sampling of views related to the new online reality. Some of the best bits:

• From Sarah Van Borek: "For the past decade, as I’ve been moving between Canada and South Africa for my work and studies, I’ve imagined a north–south dialogue. Now, due to COVID-19, it’s happening organically."
• From Derek Turner: "Now there’s an opportunity for institutions to let the reins go and encourage creative and new approaches. It’s scary, but it’s also inspiring."
• From Clint Lalonde: "What surprised me was the resurgence of many of the zombie ideas about online learning creeping into the discussions, such as the idea that online learning isn’t as personal, or that you can’t have interactivity, or that it just doesn’t work."
• From Jesse Stommel"the pandemic has forced everyone to rethink what education is for, how they design their courses, and what kind of relationships they want to build with students."

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Higher-Ed Lobbying Group, Eyeing an In-Person Fall, Asks Congress for Liability Shields
Danielle McLean, Chronicle of Higher Education, 2020/05/28

It would obviously be really irresponsible to open college campuses in the U.S. this fall, particularly given the expected second wave of the pandemic. But many colleges are announcing that they're going to do it anyways. So of course they are taking the utmost precautions in order to... avoid lawsuits.

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Pedagogy of Care: Covid-19 Edition
Maha Bali, 2020/05/28

Some aspects of care, which I would argue can be practiced both online and off. From Maha Bali (quoted):

• Take time to know your students, face and name, individually or in small groups if the numbers allow it.
• Create a hospitable environment and open relationship that makes it easier for students to share with you.
• Empathize with students and imagine how those with preexisting depression and anxiety must be taking it harder.
• Respond. ... taking time to listen and finding ways to help out.

All of these are ways to behave better generally, not just as teachers, and all of these should characterize our online behaviour perhaps even more than offline.

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Five ways online university learning can be better than face-to-face teaching
Kyungmee Lee, The Conversation, 2020/05/28

Here are the five ways (quoted):

• Accessibility - Online learning is free from a range of physical restrictions that impede face-to-face teaching.
• Personalisation - it is possible to present multiple learning paths with different sets of resources and activities, allowing students to choose their own learning content and pace.
• Clarity - Every single idea and task, large or small, is explicitly and repeatedly explained in online settings.
• Flexibility - students will have diverse learning experiences which may be more challenging and stimulating than face-to-face lectures with little variation.
• Independence - it is ultimately students who need to regulate and direct their learning.

I find it interesting that it is often along these axes that criticisms of online learning take form, saying (for example) it is not accessible enough, it is not clear enough, etc., while leaving out the analagous criticism of traditional education.

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