I would like to preface this post with a shout out to Unsplash for providing amazing photos that I can use for these posts. It is so convenient and definitely provides better quality photos than most Google searches comes up with.
Last week we talked about modality in education. We discussed the differences between remote learning, online learning, emergency remote learning, and in person learning. I learned that we are actually participating in emergency remote learning, which I guess I should have realized earlier à la pandemic but the word “emergency” was really jarring to me. It begs the question, is this learning I’m doing necessary if we’re in a state of emergency? I would argue yes, just because of the program that I am in. With the drastic shift in learning and education throughout this pandemic, teachers’ jobs have changed in the sense that they have to completely shift to online modes and they have to learn completely different ways of teaching and interacting with students. As teachers are often a key adult within students’ lives, they’ve also taken on the role of counselor and have to monitor mental health in some ways. So I would say it’s super important for us as future teachers to continue/complete our program. It’s also interesting to see who is really “essential” during these times considering how often teaching as a profession can be overlooked.
As a student, the remote learning has actually been fairly good for me. I find the pros outweigh the cons in my personal experience. I am definitely more comfortable learning from home in that I’m in an environment that I know well. It also saves a heck of a lot of time in my day because I’m not bussing to and from school an hour each way, and because of that I’m able to work a little bit more and also spend more time on homework and studying. It would also be easier for me to visit my family as I wouldn’t have to miss class because I can take class with me!
There are of course cons, as well. The biggest con is the lack of social involvement, except even with that most of the students in this program are so willing to meet up and chat outside of class. My eyes and back always hurt now from sitting in front of a computer for so long. I’m also way more distracted in class than I normally would be. For example, my cat’s scratch post is right beside my computer desk so he’s always jumping up and down or trying to run to the window. I know there’s a couple students in our program who aren’t able to attend the Wednesday school visits are as it is right now, the time we have for that class isn’t really accessible to those learners because we just have them on Zoom. There have been a couple times where they were forgotten and never entered the Zoom meeting or they simply can’t hear anything that the rest of the physical class is talking about. I can only imagine how frustrating that is. So in a sense, there is a lack of accessibility as well.
I also feel like the pros and cons list of remote learning will change depending on the program that you’re in. My brother just started his first year at UVIC and is having a really hard time adjusting because his classes are so large that there isn’t really space or time to get help. At least in our program the classes are smaller so we have the luxury of being able to ask for help.
There’s obviously a lot of opinions about remote learning and especially in our current situation, but to be quite honest if there were to be an option to finish the program in the same fashion (or at least blended learning mode) I would choose that option just for the accessibility aspect.
