Making Sense of Classroom Learning and Remote (Distance) Learning

Library of Celsus in Ephesus, Asia Minor (Present-day Turkey)

I am writing this series of articles as part of my intention, that during this difficult times, stakeholders will have a fuller grasp of what is at stake.

In this article, I would like to make a distinction between “classroom learning” and “remote learning,” which is also known as “distance learning.”

Before I proceed, I would like to express my gratitude to my readers from the United States, Canada, India, China, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and parts of Europe like Italy, Luxembourg, France, Norway, Sweden, and Germany.

I hope I will be able to get my message across despite the differences in our cultures and contexts since I am writing from the Philippine setting.

Two years ago, I was motivated to learn how to make my content available to as many people as possible. This was in relation to my work in the Diocesan Commission on Bible Apostolate.

Furthermore, some priests were asking me to conduct Bible Studies in their parishes. Of course, I cannot go to every parish in the Diocese and lead Bible studies.

So, I came up with the idea of having a website with a Learning Management System (LMS) offering free online courses. After several attempts and a few failures, this present website https://cblecourses.wpcomstaging.com was created.

As preparation for launching my website, I tried to familiarize myself with the various modes of learning delivery. I took several courses on this topic ranging from how to prepare the design and how to evaluate learning outcomes as well as familiarization with the available online platforms.

What I noticed is that there is disagreement among experts on the number of “non-classroom” or remote learning delivery modes or their combinations.

Some professors claimed that bottom-line there are only three or four modes while other professors would list up to twelve ways and some even more!

This simply shows that education is not an exact science.

Demand that Educators Speak Plainly

Unfortunately, some “technocrats” and “experts” would amazed outsiders with their jargon like synchronous and asynchronous learning, blended learning, flipped classroom, rotational lab classroom, flex blended, inside-out blended, or outside-in blended learning among many other terms.

In the end, you are either amazed by their erudition or disgusted by their insensitivity.

I think we should do away with experts who speak to the public in their arcane language.

When educators start speaking in language that shows of their so-called “expertise,” there is a need to call them out and demand that they speak plainly.

The kinds of experts that we need during this time are those who can communicate in a clear and easy to comprehend manner what the people are supposed to understand.

Gone are the days of “know-it-all” experts!

After all, you can just Google information anytime.

No one has a monopoly of information in this time and age. I am disgusted when there are “experts” who always act as if they have all the information.

In fact, since the start of the lock-downs, I was trying to tune in to webinars conducted by Textbooks Publishing Houses and prestigious Business Schools in the Philippines through their respective social media.

I was frustrated because they are not saying anything new at all. Instead, listeners are bombarded with jargon and intricate patterns that complicate rather than simplify.

I think what is important is not a show of your erudition but the effective implementation of plans.

So, when you hear educators who are speaking in jargon, tell them to speak plainly. You deserve to understand.

Classroom Learning and Remote Learning

Let us attempt to make a distinction between classroom learning and remote (distance) learning.

Classroom learning is the usual mode of learning delivery that we are familiar with. The students and the teachers are gathered to study in a place, specifically the classroom, but not exclusively in it as it may be a hall, a lab, or even under a shed or a tree.

Face-to-face interactions happen most of the time in classroom learning.

Remote learning (Distance Learning) happens when the teachers and the learners are separated by distance and time. They are not confined to the same learning environment.

Remote learning can be both low-tech or high-tech.

Remote learning is not necessarily online learning that uses various Learning Management Systems.

Online learning is just one of the many ways by which remote learning can happen.

Online learning, for the sake of simplicity, is mostly web-based or uses internet-connected platforms. Thus, to access this, you need to have an internet connection, gadgets, and subscriptions with the provider. This is costly.

Yet, remote learning can also happen when a student, for example, learns through “correspondence” method, or using workbooks in a learning environment (like the home) other than the classroom.

I remember my mother way back in the 1970s, who studied Interior Design with the International Correspondence School in Pennsylvania. The school would send her learning materials through the post office, which she would study at home. After completing the lessons and assignments, she would mail these materials back to her school, which would, in turn, check her works and send her new learning materials. This cycle is repeated until she finished her entire course. It is a bit slow but still innovative at that time, remember it was way back in the 1970s.

Responding to the Challenges of COVID-19

Parents are justified in their fears that having face-to-face interactions in the classroom among teachers and students might increase the possibility of having their children get infected with COVID-19.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools are preparing to utilize remote learning delivery because face-to-face classes are still ruled out (as of May 30, 2020).

This remote learning comes in various forms and combinations, which we will discuss in the next article.

Remote learning, in the common understanding, has become synonymous with online learning delivery, which is partly correct but not exact.

You can have remote learning delivery that is without a face-to-face component, even if it is not “online.” It does not need to be high-tech.

An example of this is almost similar to the correspondence learning mode that my mother experienced, as mentioned above.

Students, through their parents or guardians, can get from their schools, printed learning materials, which they will tackle in their homes.

After studying the materials, they submit these back to their teachers for evaluation and feedback.

At the same time, their learning experience can be enriched through lessons delivered through radio or television. This is an example of remote learning without the use of online materials.

Or if the school has no access to a local radio or television station, a minimal online component can be use like having some discussions or lessons on Facebook (FB) Live.

There are many other options and combinations of learning delivery modes that do not need the use of expensive online materials, which helps more the Publishing Houses to survive rather than genuinely help students and parents undergoing financial difficulties.

I am convinced that there is no need to subscribe to expensive online materials or the need to have internet connections, which many of the students in rural areas do not have.

Online Learning is Not the Only Option

Online learning is not the only feasible means of responding to the demands of education during this pandemic. Particularly in those areas that do not have internet connections and those who cannot afford to provide gadgets for each student.

Online learning as an option is very good if the parents can afford it and there are reliable internet connections in the area.

But, for students who are marginalized and are studying in private schools because they are recipients of government subsidies, making them subscribe to these online learning options provided by Publishing Houses is not fair.

It is in fact, unjust and makes education another divide between the rich and the poor.

The School’s Responsibility to Innovate

It is the responsibility of schools to provide options for those who are economically-challenged. So, if there are parents who preferred online learning, then let it be.

But for those who cannot afford online learning, the school has to design a remote learning delivery method, like the one I mentioned above without loss or prejudice to quality in either delivery modes.

What is needed nowadays is that schools innovate their learning delivery, without being overly dependent on whatever Publishing Houses provide.

Textbooks Publishing houses are so eager to make schools use their own Learning Management System for the sake of their “advocacy” to help schools in these dire times, but I think there is more to it than just good intentions.

Yes, you read it right since books are no longer viable at this time, so what should these publishing houses do so as not to go bankrupt? Create the next feasible products, namely e-books and online Learning Management Systems.

Parents should ask hard questions from educators and school administrators whenever they are being sold online products by “sales representatives” of Textbooks Publishing Houses.

It is the task of schools to innovate and be creative, given the financial difficulties that we are experiencing.

Please do not get me wrong or misunderstand me. I have nothing against publishing houses. I am just stating the obvious it is a business. Maybe Textbooks Publishing House is business with a mission (or even with a heart), but still, it is business all the same.

TO BE CONTINUED…

In the next part of this series, we will discuss “Blended Learning.”

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