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Coronavirus Education: Learning and Teaching from the Margins

The coronavirus student, a species brought forth in the world of education by a pandemic that has killed over 450,000 people in the United States and 100,000 in the United Kingdom, is a troubled creature. When universities and schools across the globe were given varying and often contradictory messages on the safety of continuing in class teaching and participation, the seeds of confusion and fear were sown. The broadest, most acceptable solution, at least in terms of safety, was moving learning to an online format.

One evident issue, notably in higher education, is the attractions offered by remote or virtual learning. Finally, those championing cost saving measures by physically exiling the teacher from the classroom in favour of stale, pre-recorded sessions of lifeless content, had a pretext. In consulting the literature on what is banally called “E-learning,” the following article in Quantity and Quantity suggests what it consists of: “technology-based learning through websites, learning portals, video conferencing, YouTube, mobile apps, and thousand [sic] type of free available websites for blended learning tools.”

All these platforms have undeniable uses. A multifaceted technological environment contaminated by Google, YouTube and social media has found a way into pedagogical technique and learning. But the tool so fashioned is never the complete human; true learning must have, on some level, a flesh and blood contact if it involves other humans, a connection by which the cerebral cortex can be stimulated and thrilled.

Without realising it, those who arrived at terms such as “remote learning” were accurate to a fault: learning in remote fashion is emotionally stripping and estranging, a learning experience forged on the dark side of the moon. Glacial and discouragingly distant, the impression is one of being left abandoned in a garage without an understanding of the tools at hand and how they might best be used. The poor abandoned sod is left to seek inspiration from elsewhere, in the process enriching the already obscenely wealthy tech giants of Silicon Valley.

Student responses to this change of learning circumstances have varied. Anxiety and stress remain central, hindering any adaption to online education. Nor is this helped by the unevenness of technological access of the global student population, occasioned by the often ridiculous assumption that each member of the human race is plugged into the weirdly wonderful Internet. “Although these inequalities existed earlier,” observe the authors of a study of student responses to online learning in an Indian university, the Netaji Subhas University of Technology, “the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed this digital divide.”

The response to online learning also varies depending on which authority you wish to consult. But the impressiveness of learning in a physically tangible environment is clear. The survey study of opinions from 358 students at the Netaji Subhas University of Technology found that 65.9% thought in-class learning more rewarding. Some 68.1% of students did concede that academics had improved their online teaching abilities since the beginning of the pandemic, while 77.9% found it useful.

A more personal touch is offered by a highly sanitised student account in the University of Queensland’s Contact Magazine. Such material should always be treated with due care, given the publishing outlet and the manicured, lipstick rich enthusiasm of the student. But even here, the Bachelor of Engineering honours candidate can admit to “personal challenges around remaining motivated and up to date now that my schedule is more fluid.” There was also the temptation to spend more time watching Netflix. “Unfortunately,” she concedes, “many of my courses had a large practical component to them, which are no longer available.”

While forms of online learning have distinct advantages in, for instance, coping with COVID-19 restrictions and mitigating the risks of transmission, a bigger picture is always at play in the world of organisational management. Motives are multiple, and rarely do they centre with absolute certainty upon protecting student welfare.

One driving motivation behind moving educational institutions to the online world is the replication of management even as teaching staff are reduced. Academics have been made redundant as student enrolments fall, coaxed into providing recordings and content that can be endlessly reused. There are threats of departmental amalgamation and a cancellation of courses. But there is always more room for the addition of COVID-19 bureaucrats. As ever, more individuals otherwise unconnected to the actual process of teaching and research will find a way to louse up matters. These good sorts, with a brief of faux compassion, are charged with not inconsiderable surveillance and direction powers. Their role is to keep a good wide eye on staff and students to ensure they are observing hygiene practices, undertaking re-education modules on how best to teach and learn in a “COVID-19 safe” way, and root out the deviants.

There are other, telling implications. The pandemic crisis has been productive to aspiring razor gangs obsessed with trimming budgetary expenditure across entire entities. The property paladins have been smacking their lips, keen to snap up more space needlessly occupied by instructors and their students.

What many institutions are doing is delivering an emaciated model of teaching and learning while keeping the costs of taking the subjects at the same, pre-coronavirus level. The modern learning institution has become the clearing house for glorified correspondence courses. By the time the vaccination drive has parked most of the world’s population into appropriate spots of security, the learning environment will have a permanently cold and mechanical sense to it. Students of the future will be none the wiser.

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4 comments

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  1. Charles

    Yes Binoy, “property paladins have been smacking their lips, keen to snap up more space needlessly occupied by instructors and their students”. Pesky people are students and teachers, occupying all that valuable public property for only 8 hours each day. Begone I* say.
    Much learning can happen online but that will come at a cost. IQs will drop like a rock as humans learn best in social settings and zoom chats or staring at screens are a poor substitute for face to face interactions.
    I* = Aust equivalent of USA Blackrock, private developers selected by govt to snap up firesale opportunities.
    If the PM can engage the services of an Anna Bligh he might unload public schools for a song. Her QLD govt swapped 16 hectares of land for $1 to benefit a private hospital. Bargain. Why not do it again with all schools? https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-19/secret-bligh-deal-with-mater-on-qld-childrens-hospital/5270694
    “A secret deal struck by the former Bligh government means the land underneath the Queensland Children’s Hospital (QCH) will be offered to the neighbouring Mater Hospital for a dollar. The Mater stands to gain 16 hectares of land, according to a confidential memorandum of understanding (MOU).”

  2. wam

    A great read, Dr Kampmark, For an old bloke who spent ten years hiding in a deputy principle’s(haha freudian slip) principal’s office dealing with the student-parent-teacher problems and material development issues, the truest part is: “What many institutions are doing is delivering an emaciated model of teaching and learning while keeping the costs of taking the subjects at the same, pre-coronavirus level” Followed by the danger of teachers being unaware of lowering their involvement with some students and increasing involvement with others. The observed reality is students, who succeeded by remote learning, were usually very successful at university because of self discipline, self-reliance and enhanced research skills developed during high school. They are used to marrying mental and physical activities by working on assignments and helping on the station.
    ps what a giggle charles heard of land grabs by churches who onsell to colworths

  3. Charles

    wam, “land grabs by churches who onsell to colworths”, wouldn’t surprise me. The press keeps the general public dumbed down via misinfo and distraction allowing the 3 shell game to be played out. They justify anything as being for the public good – SOLD. Where will Aus sit in the international PISA rating system in a decade I wonder?

  4. Lilian

    In the times of covid-19, there are more and more distance learning courses every day. For example, these online courses by ied forward.

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