DISTANCE LEARNING - THE NEW NORM....

[ShotoJuku]

The concept of Distance Learning (DL) is certainly not new.  From the advent of the first correspondence courses to what many of you currently have experienced in the pursuit of your degrees, DL has in the last several years become a more accepted practice and now appears to be on the doorstep of becoming the new norm.  Well at least a viable option for campus based education.

With the vast majority of universities and colleges closing their campus classroom doors due to the Covid-19 epidemic students are now required to complete these courses via a variety of DL models and options.  Reflecting over my own DL experiences I took a variety of classes not only from my own home but being delivered from several differing schools in many states around the country all in the pursuit of 4 academic degrees.

Some have scoffed at the concept of DL as not being "real" and a poor substitute for real learning.  Now that the shoe is on the other foot I suspect that the DL option will now garner a new appreciation and thus in the end an enhanced level of respect too.

When this whole Covid-19 thing is over and classrooms are opened once again throughout the country I don't expect them to remain empty however given the strains and pains many students, and teachers alike are currently experiencing but finding relief through DL options and perhaps become the new norm for many.

[bjcheung77]

Yeah, we are on spring break and the schools are going to be closed indefinitely right after, my guess is that school will be open just in time for summer school. I'm just going to homeschool the kids for now, searching for some DL (distance/distributed learning) providers to see what is viable for them. For the last few days, it's been all Youtube and I want them to do something more productive than just Youtube.

[dfrecore]

My teens are doing DL, not thrilled with it, but we will survive. Some platforms are better than others, some are better for different types of learners.

- Physics (Khan Academy) is not going to be a lot of fun w/o labs. But, the teacher wasn't great, so this is a good time to find new ways to get the learning in, he'll probably learn more this month than he has for the whole school year.

- Math will be good (Khan Academy) because he has lots of holes due to switching curriculum/schools: switched from homeschooling traditional path (curriculum 1) to a non-common-core traditional path in 7th/8th (curriculum 2) to a common-core path that is wacky in 9th/10th (curriculum 3). This is a great chance to start from scratch and fill in holes and gaps in knowledge. Also spending time on Geometry Proofs, because he is weak there for sure.

- English 101 through ASU/Earned Admission - only opens 1 module per week, so it will be slow going, sure would be nice to have self-paced...

- AP Euro History will be done through Cracking the AP Euro History book we ordered. He will REALLY miss this excellent teacher and the great classroom discussions they had. One upside to high school classes with great teachers is that you have 2 semesters with the teacher and class and have time to get to know each other like you won't in a 1-semester college course, or an online course of any kind. It's just not the same.

So a mixed bag for sure. I think he'll be much more likely to try online courses for things he is not as interested in going forward, and want to continue with butt-in-seat courses for those where the teacher is good and the course is something he enjoys, and that lends itself to classroom discussion.