This week, I had the opportunity to speak about the “The Shift to Distance Learning” on the program Reinventing School. The focus of this hour-long conversation was on distance learning, particularly in the time Covid-19.
This week, our topic is distance learning, a phenomenon that has suddenly captivated the world of school and education. Certainly, under the best of circumstances, with the most clever of professionals and parents, distance learning is an ideal short-term solution for students attempting to learn during this global mess. With second and third waves of coronavirus looming for later this year and 2021, along with the very large number of students for whom distance learning is a poor or otherwise unacceptable solution, there are big questions to be asked about how we learn, what we learn and why we learn. Host Howard Blumenthal welcomes Jessica Piotrowski, Associate Professor at The University of Amsterdam, in The Netherlands, and Director of the Center for Research on Children, Adolescents and the Media (CcaM); Monica Goyette, the Superintendent of Schools for the Mat-Su Borough School District in Palmer, Alaska in the U.S.; and David Weinberger, author of Everyday Chaos: Technology, Complexity, and How We’re Thriving in a New World of Possibility, and senior researcher at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. We will be joined by Aiden, a student from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
–Description of Program by Reinventing School
It was an interesting and lively conversation – highlighting the many layers to consider in this space, ranging from issues of digital access and digital skills (literacy) to opportunities for a future of personalized education. I look forward to continuing these conversations, and welcome your thoughts. You can view the entire conversation below.