How Effective is Digital Learning in the Time of Coronavirus Pandemic?
We are globally facing a whole new situation. Most of the society has shut down and people everywhere are working remotely from home whenever possible. Naturally, this applies to most schools as well. The sudden change to distance learning has raised concerns about the quality of education, and these concerns are often valid. The digital readiness of teachers and students varies quite a lot, and the knowledge of available tools and methodologies is not always up to date. Moreover, there are challenges with infrastructure as not all families (or teachers) are equipped with suitable devices to keep up with the digital demands.
The effectiveness of digital learning is heavily dependent on the selected tools. Whatever tools are used, they should provide a solid support for the teachers’ own pedagogical choices. Naturally, this also includes the full support for curriculum: the topics taught should not be dependent on the tool selected. Good quality learning analytics is also a key factor here. With no daily eye to eye contact with the students, the tools used should provide up-to-date knowledge about students’ progress and possible difficulties in different areas.
One of the real challenges of digital learning is to keep up the motivation of students. Digital learning games and the whole scenario of distance learning may seem appealing at first, but after the first crush is over, the motivation can lower quickly. Gamification has been proven as an excellent tool for engaging students, as long as it is properly integrated into the tool. Another important thing is feedback: the students should receive as much feedback from their work all the time as possible. In addition to good quality automated feedback, students should have a quick and easy channel for contacting the teacher (and vice versa) whenever they feel like they need more assistance.
All in all, the effectiveness of digital education is highly dependent on the same factors than the effectiveness of any education. That is why the tools used should support the principles the teachers have found effective in their normal teaching flow. It is perfectly possible to keep up the quality of teaching and learning while doing it remotely, but you definitely need to select the right tools for the job. If possible, selecting the ones that are based on solid pedagogical foundation and with solid evidence of good learning results is definitely your best bet. Overall, it is a difficult situation, but our childrens’ future is something that should not be compromised.
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