In Crisis comes OPPORTUNITY. COVID19 and Learning Design
As schools across the country and the world are opening their virtual and physical doors, it’s apparent to all, that the landscape in which they operate has changed significantly. Up is down and down is up for many students, parents and teachers as they all try to find balance with the risks and benefits of facilitating learning under very challenging conditions.
I empathize deeply with the teachers in this situation having been one myself and continuing to work with teachers during this time. Nothing is quite as frustrating as having the rules of the game changed after you’ve mastered them, without your consent and in ways you didn’t expect or prepare for. Things that teachers have done for years no longer work or require modification, adding significant Cognitive Load to an already exhausting exercise; interacting with human beings whom you are responsible for, All. Day Long.
Even though I empathize deeply with the teachers, I feel even more badly for the students who are being robbed of powerful learning experiences once again, this time without the companionship of friends, the relief of lunch breaks, recesses, and conversations between classes. The learning part is just as disinteresting as it ever was, but now they are forced to endure it mostly alone, at home and without their support squad or even a change of scenery. Sure, Facetime and zooming helps, kind of.
Sadly, for most participants of formal learning programs in any context, is that they are caught in a system that they didn’t build, don’t really understand, and as they do in all aspects of life, they continue blindly trusting the people who run it to be able to provide them what they need. Unfortunately, what they and most people don’t realize is that changing the medium of learning from in person interaction to online though seemingly a disastrous inconvenience, is actually a tremendous opportunity to reimagine school in ways that serve everyone better. The only problem is that this requires completely rethinking the way we do teaching and learning and right now people are largely in emotional response mode, depriving their brains of deeper more thoughtful observations and connections. .
Though the impact of covid-19 on schools has been and will continue to be disruptive and difficult, therein lies an opportunity for us for significant educational reforms. This will take time however and a lot of work. It will take design and practice and failure as in all things, but there exists a tremendous amount of academic literature, and experienced learning designers with knowledge of what makes a strong digital learning environment and learning experience. We do not have to turn our computer on and stare at a blank Google doc in the hopes that we will somehow magically figure out what we are supposed to do.
Ultimately, we must abandon the idea the traditional School structure was adequate to begin with, and leverage this opportunity to develop a new way of learning which is better aligned to both what is known about human behavior and cognitive architecture as well as that which leverages the tools and affordances of networks which have come to be so impactful.
Now is the time to invest in developing learning programs and courses that acknowledge that knowledge transfer of information that learners aren’t interested in takes too much time and money, and yields minimal results.
Instead let’s build learning that:
- Leverage technologies to create strong, authentic learning experiences, not replicate the classroom environment.
- Develop learner-centered curriculum that helps leverage student interest and passions to learn
- Helps students develop 21st century, skills and practices that will prepare them for the unknown future
- Focus on mentoring good thinking, good practice and experiences that promote future learning.
It’s not that hard, and now is the time. Let me know if you or your organization needs help!
