Is eLearning working? Not really!

The pandemic has forced most schools to close, all over the world, from kindergarten to university.  Many, perhaps most, have asked their teachers to teach online.  Is it working?  The short answer has to be NO. 

For some schools, it is working more or less successfully.  Typically these are universities and wealthy schools who have the hardware and software, the teachers with eLearning experience prior to the pandemic or least are learning through it, the technical support needed, and most importantly, whose students also have the requisite resources and skills to benefit.  

For example, I am involved in teaching service-learning online at PolyU.  We have a strong teaching team, with a couple of professors experienced in teaching online in various ways for some years even before the pandemic.  We are supported by a team of assistants with strong information technology skills and passionate about what we do.  We experiment with many different modes of teaching: lecture, small group discussions, group projects, game-based teaching, mix of virtual with tangible artefacts, …  We experiment with different setups suitable for different modes of teaching: placement of cameras & microphones, augmented reality, virtual reality, tools, software, …  

While the professors teach, the assistants manage the students, help them with technical problems such as installation of software, logging into and switching from system to system, solving problems with the audio and visual signals, etc., to smooth out the frustration with the technology.  We teach the students to set up their own environment for the best result.  We use a variety of methods, encouraging, persuading, pushing, coercing, rewarding, …, to keep the students engaged.  We use a lot of tangible artefacts: robotic and scientific kits, virtual reality viewers, 3D cameras, …, to make the learning engaging and physical.  

We search for game-like tools for students to post their responses to questions, brainstorm on projects, and collaborate on projects.  We link up our university students from Hong Kong with those from USA and South Africa, high school and primary school students from Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Rwanda and South Africa. We are using the technology to learn and to serve.  

We are able to do things online that is not possible in person.  We can reach the poor in the poorer parts of Asia and even Africa almost just as easily as we reach those in Hong Kong, without actually travelling.  We have seen how kids in Hong Kong, Cambodia, Vietnam, Rwanda and South Africa lit up with joy when that happen.  

But those of us who have the relevant experience, access to resources, plus a technically-adept and passionate support team, are in a privileged position.  Such cannot be said about many university professors, who are in other disciplines, with different prior experiences, and different access to resources.  Let alone most secondary school teachers.  Most primary school teachers can barely manage using common video conferencing software to deliver a 20 minute, one-way, lecture.  Many primary schools have one technical person supporting dozens of teachers.  Most students, from primary to university, do not show their face during the online class.  Teachers are often at a loss.  Many teachers do not even show their own face themselves.  Many do not care whether their students show their faces, or have no clue how to encourage their students to engage. The delivery is mostly one way.  No interaction, no feedback to speak of.  Students find it difficult to follow what is being said.  Even the diligent students find online learning boring.  This is because what they are being fed is boring, not necessarily because online learning is boring by nature.  It is not their fault.  

And this is true for those who are privileged to have the means to follow the online classes.  Many students simply don’t have the hardware, the necessary Internet bandwidth, the home environment and the needed support to attend online classes properly.  In many countries and communities, the Internet infrastructure is simply not there to make online teaching work.  When there is no electricity or Internet access at home, what is a student to do?   When the teachers themselves don’t have computers, how can they conduct online classes?

The digital world is available to those who can afford it.  The best-resourced schools and students may be thriving and driving its development.  Many schools, on the other hand, have effectively shut down completely.  The poorly-resourced students have learned practically nothing in the pandemic.  They have lost more than a year of learning, and will continue to lose more.  The digital divide, if anything, is widening in the face of the pandemic.  A tremendous amount of human potential is unfulfilled, wasting away.  The world cannot afford to continue to do that.  It is grossly unfair and the world will be poorer because of it.  It is up to those of us who have access to the technology, skills and the will to reach out, to share, to help to realise that potential.  We will all be better because of it.  But do we have the will to do it?