by Ron Iannone
The COVID-19 has forced us to rethink how we deliver instruction in schools.
Distance learning has been the major model of instruction during this pandemic. Some people like New York Gov. Cuomo and Bill Gates and other educators feel it’s a good time to get away from the teacher standing in front of the classroom model of teaching. They suggest that this horrific virus may help us make schools better when they open again.
“The debate about which is better, face-to-face learning or online learning is fast becoming obsolete,” Jennifer Berghage of Penn State said.
Along with Zoom, other technological devices are also being used such as Facebook, Instagram, Skype, YouTube and the list goes on. Gates points out we are at a point in education where the technological platform is empowering teachers to move beyond the traditional classroom.
Harvard professor Clay Christensen, who has written on disruptive innovations, said, “I think that not only are we ready, but adoption is occurring at a faster rate than we had thought …”
But I don’t think this new love for technology and online courses is as true as being claimed. A few years ago, I wrote “School Ain’t No Way/Appalachian Consciousness” and “Alternatives to the Coming Death of Schooling.” In both books, I discussed a diversity of teaching styles in order to meet the different learning styles of students. Some models of teaching I discussed were activity centered learning, small group instruction and inquiry oriented teaching. For learning to be effective, the teaching model must match the students’ learning style.
There are some practical problems with distance learning, online courses, new and fancy technological devices. One major problem is wanting to replace the so-called traditional style of teaching with a digital model. There is no one single model of teaching that will meet the multitude of student learning styles.
A few years ago, I offered an online course to students in Charleston. Half the students loved it and another half of students missed the in-person teaching. I resolved the issue by sharing the content of the course over the internet for two weeks. For the other two weeks, I met with the students in person in a seminar setting where I probed them with questions that forced them to think critically of the issues.
Teaching is primarily concerned with human beings interacting with each other in a very human process. We also cannot forget students have social and emotional needs, and it’s difficult to meet those needs over a computer.
During this pandemic, teachers — like health workers — are our heroes, too. Teachers not only teach from home, they are also the mom and dad for their children and also help their own kids with school lessons. Many of the teachers I talked to feel, at times, they don’t have the training to be effective online instructors. On top of all this, teachers must meet state required goals and objectives.
School organizations in the future may look completely different after we open in the fall and are still dealing with the pandemic. We may find students only coming to school on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Or they may come to school on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The classrooms may have only 10 seats for small group instruction and computers scattered around, keeping the required six-foot distance. Besides this, schools will probably have extensive changes such as temperature checks at doors, deep cleanings and maybe having to wear face masks all the time.
Lastly, we must remember teachers and students are both involved in a shared activity called learning. The teacher is also a learner and the learner, on the other hand, is also a teacher.
Ron Iannone is a WVU professor emeritus in the College of Education and Human Services and the Founder of the West Virginia Public Theatre.
