Distance “Education”

We all are beginning to learn the meaning of distance. The most impressionable commentary about ‘social distancing’ for me has come from a recent Instagram post by Brian Zahnd — a pastor and author in the US. He mused that we shouldn’t call this social distancing, rather physical distancing. He’s right. The catchphrase that everyone from politicians, health officials right down to your friend next door is using does imply we shouldn’t be in our regular social modes. It doesn’t accurately describe many of our interactions this week.

I’ve used technology to meet “face to face” with people who I usually would have texted, called on the phone or sent an email to. We are physically distant, but socially, we are connected — more than we’ve been in a while. A common set of sentiments this week could be summed up in this paraphrase. “We should do this FaceTime thing more often — and wow, you can turn the phone horizontal for a better view of the folks on the other end?? I am learning so much about meeting online!”

Distant yes! Are you socially connected? For the moment, perhaps more purposeful than ever.

A month ago, a meeting of educators discussing technology would have no doubt involved a discussion about how much screen time is too much. I often begin my workshops with an article that challenges teachers to reflect on how technology is rewiring their students’ brains or how directly deploying a tech tool isn’t going to solve a pedagogical challenge necessarily. My aim in using these articles is to highlight that technology needs to be seen as a helper and a tool in a complex process, a process that they need to continue to be vigilant over and that needs THEM and their expertise to make good choices. It is with this frame of mind that we then dive into learning some new technology tools. The desired outcome is for them to find the most appropriate fit for the technology they are learning with me. So, would this workshop now change? Would I put those articles away and dive headfirst into a long list of APPS designed to fill the gap in our students’ learning that they will miss while not in school? NO — I would not.

None of my reasons for using these as opening discussion thoughts have changed. Technology should not replace the teacher. Distance learning isn’t a ‘switch’ you can flip. Distance learning is HARD WORK. It’s hard to develop meaningful lessons online, it’s hard to evaluate student progress and it requires motivation and dedication on the part of the learner to want to dig in and learn something new without the teacher in the room gently prodding them on. I am a true believer that distance learning should be part of a BLENDED approach. Students need a social connection to their teacher and to classmates. That connection is more comfortable to achieve and maintain in a classroom. The Fins have relationship entrenched in their education system. All master educators that I know realize how vital building relationship is and that without it motivating students to learn is a monumental task.

Why in this crisis is the focus on building curriculum packages and helping the parents of our scholars turn their homes into distance learning pods? I have seen edTech companies falling over each other in my email to offer schools FREE access to their learning platforms. I have witnessed teachers sharing lengthy lists of websites for parents to choose from to help their little ones learn to read. I have been asked how best to construct an online delivery environment, and what the new things are that we need to purchase to get this going fast. I have NEVER seen the desire to learn how to use conferencing software burn so furiously as in the past week! All this miracle tech has been around for a long time. We in edTech have been trying to get you to see how to integrate it into your learning toolset. Ironically it takes a ‘virus’ to motivate people to learn the platform. But please take a PAUSE and don’t just roll it out to fulfill the mandate of “learning now must be rolled out at a distance.”

I believe that now is not the time to push new curricular goals forward. This physical distance will end, and when classrooms resume, this experience will change them. What will not change however, is that learning in a room with peers and a skilled teacher is indeed the best environment for many. The key to leveraging this social connection is strong relationships. So, in this time of physical distance, we need to find ways to nurture those relationships.

The online learning you need to build must work at keeping that connection alive. We are lucky that this didn’t happen at the beginning of the year! Call up a random person on FaceTime and instantly strike up a socially connected conversation with them. Now, do the same thing with a person who you’ve known for years. I am willing to bet the ‘social’ connection is markedly different. Your online conversations will be more profound with the people you know. You can more easily talk about the past, the present and project to the future with someone with whom you are connected. Your students are not that excited about your LA worksheets or math games. They want to feel connected and know you are still there for them. You have the luxury of already having some social connection with them — leverage it.

This doesn’t have to be overly complicated. You don’t have to try and replicate your classroom environment online and get everyone in a ZOOM call. You can just record a video of you being real. Read something to them, show them how to bake buns, take them for one of your lonely walks and show them some pictures of things you haven’t really noticed before in your neighbourhood. Encourage them to send back ‘evidence’ of them finding cool ways to wait out this period of staying home. Take some time to write, record or create something personal to each student. Never before have you had the luxury of time to do that. Your digital notes could include gentle encouragement and a curated list of selected suggestions of online things they might consider exploring. You are the teacher — don’t flood them with options; instead, give them a specific set of supplies and a roadmap to start them on their adventure. Challenge them to share a learning journey back to you in a way that works for them.

We are distant. But we are not asked to stop being social. We have exciting technology options to maintain our connections. The real “education” piece we can develop is figuring out how to maintain our relationships. I challenge you to be creative with the form that this takes. It’s ok if it takes time — you’ve got a bit on your hands now.

Distance “Education” was originally published in edTech-coach on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.