This week in class we had a discussion about online learning. This was not the first time I’ve participated in this type of discussion and it was interesting to hear a whole host of new and familiar perspectives on people’s experiences learning online. Personally, I found online learning challenging. I found that I really missed the social connections that came with being at school in person and I found it really difficult to separate my school life from the rest of my life at home. On the other hand, I was also able to live outside of Victoria for the majority of the pandemic, which is something I am grateful to have had the opportunity to do.

Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash

In addition to learning online, I was also facilitating programs for youth in a rural community. Being a simultaneous online learner and facilitator was a really interesting experience, and I feel that I learned a lot about how online learning can be really useful in certain circumstances. In particular, I learned a lot about making learning more accessible and some of the ways technology can work online and in-person to increase accessibility (e.g. adding closed captioning).

Summary of Discussion

Below I’ve made a table of pros and cons that came up in our discussion of online learning. Although I don’t think it’s ‘future of education’ (or at least hope not), I do think that online-everything that occurred during the pandemic provided an opportunity for reflection about all sorts of aspects of education.

Pros

  • Accessible from anywhere in the world where there is internet
  • Closed captioning is available for lectures
  • Classes can be recorded and watched later if you have other commitments (e.g. work) or if you are unable to attend class (e.g. if you’re sick)
  • You have more time for other things because you don’t have to commute
  • Can be more affordable depending on program
  • Connecting with guest speakers around the world!

Cons

  • Less social connection
  • Harder to build relationships with fellow students
  • Hard to separate school and personal life when working/living in one space all the time
  • Can create inequities depending on people’s technology access
  • So much screen time!
  • Instructors were not always prepared or given the tools they needed to succeed in an online environment
  • It can be quite a bit of work to move a class that is usually run in-person to an online environment