What did we learn from virtual learning?
With every experience, we have the opportunity to learn something. What we do with the insight that we gain from an experience is up to us. As I walk past classrooms of students typing away on their devices, I often wonder what we took away from the virtual learning experience. During virtual learning, our devices were our life-line. We needed to utilize digital tools to connect with, instruct, and assess our students. As a math teacher, tools like Delta Math, Desmos, Flipgrid and Whiteboard.fi helped me to engage my students in learning and to assess their understanding. I am grateful that I was able to easily adapt to the virtual environment. I still utilize those tools in my face-to-face classroom, but I don’t depend on them in the same way.
The key lesson that I learned from virtual learning was that learning is a social process. Students and teachers need to see each other, interact with each other, and speak to each other. A teacher learns so much more from a few seconds looking over a student’s shoulder than they could ever learn from a digital assessment. Students need to be given the time and space to collaborate with each other and discuss what they are learning. When we sit students in front of their devices, they disconnect from each other and from us. Yes, in some cases, it is easier to grade digital assignments and some digital activities are still engaging in person, but I would much rather have a classroom buzzing with debate than a room filled with the sound of fingertips on keyboards.
Using technology is great when it is purposeful and used in moderation. For example, I often have students watch a flipped video as an introduction to an upcoming lesson. We all know that sometimes hearing something from a different person in a different way can help students better understand a difficult concept. Videos can be utilized to provide that additional voice, but they should not be the sole method of instruction. Students still need to hear their teacher and practice with their teacher’s support. The same is true for all the digital tools that we used during virtual learning. If digital tool can add to the lesson and be used to get students thinking, discussing, and collaborating, then use it, but don’t just sit the students in front of devices because it is easier.
Your students need you to connect with them and know them. They need you to challenge them to think and support them when they are struggling. They also need you to joke, laugh, and make learning fun. They need you to encourage them to talk to each other. They need to experience failure and success with your support and encouragement. So, use technology to help students discover, explore, collaborate, create, and share ideas. Bring the technology into the social process of learning.
