Support for remote learning

A photo of an advertisement from the 1918 flu pandemic caught my eye when I read an article published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The ad stated in part, “Be a nurse, learn at home.”

The ad shows that adjusting to a severe health crisis is something we had done in the past. Our survival as a civilization very much depends on how soon we can adjust to each major challenge. If we are still having a hard time flattening the curve of the pandemic, the reason could be our seeming inability to accept the situation and adjust. Despite the science, many citizens including those in government still either consciously or subconsciously cling to the old normal.

We’ve been repeatedly telling ourselves to wear masks and avoid the 3Cs because of the risk of getting the coronavirus in these settings – closed spaces without natural ventilation, crowded places with many people nearby, and close-contact settings like close-range conversations. But then there are old habits and lifestyles, and these are hard to change. We’ve been talking to each other in close range nearly all our lives. We’ve been working and transacting in closed spaces of air-conditioned offices, classrooms, and shops. Commingling in a group setting, enjoying life or getting things done, is very much part of our lifestyle.

We can defeat this virus sooner if we all learn how to give up those habits, at least for the time being. It is an awful strategy to hinge our plans on a vaccine that may or may never come into mass production later this year or next year. As we wait, millions of people are falling through the cracks in the economic recession.

In the education sector in particular, if we freeze the academic calendar for a year in the hope that a vaccine will be available by next year, it will have a domino effect on several sectors. Delay by a couple of months in the opening of classes is acceptable. But we now must start working on our plans for remote or distance learning.

There is a critical demand for qualified workers in the primary sectors such as healthcare and pharmaceuticals. Likewise, we are continually in need of qualified workforce for other major industries like food, agriculture, information technology, media, research and development, real estate and housing, education, finance, and manufacturing.

Remote learning may have its new set of challenges, but experts say that the pandemic has actually just accelerated a trend that was already taking shape in education prior to the pandemic. I’ve attended discussions and workshops as early as 2016 pertaining to what we call “blended learning” that will eventually replace the predominantly lecture-based type of learning. With the pandemic, we are now in the thick of retooling and making course packs and multimedia course materials for blended distance learning.

In remote or distance learning, the teacher and learners are geographically separated from each other. Online learning is one of its methods but in areas where online learning is difficult to implement because of technical or economic constraints, remote learning may be delivered through activity and assignment guides in the course packs stored in USB flash drives or as printed material.

Contrary to some misconceptions that remote learning may be of lower standard to that of face-to-face classroom learning, teaching in a remote learning context strictly requires a systematic instructional design which covers areas on how to deliver content effectively, how to engage learners, how to enable interaction and dialogue, and how to assess learning.

There are two principles that guide effective remote learning. One is the seminal work of Terry Anderson in 2003, or what is known as Anderson’s Equivalency Theorem. The theorem states that deep and meaningful formal learning is supported as long as one of the three forms of interaction (student-teacher, student-student, student-content) is at high level. “The other two may be offered at minimal levels, or even eliminated, without degrading the educational experience.”

The other is the principle of inclusive instructional design. It calls for the recognition of differences in access to technology and for schools to address these differences. In this regard, schools must be ready to provide differentiated instruction and content in multiple formats in order to make sure that no student is left behind.

Remote learning, in other words, is not some frantic rush to the unknown amid the demands of the pandemic.