What Is Quarantined Education Teaching Us? Part 1

After two of my students emailed me to say that they were being more productive during their time of e-learning, I became curious.  These were not the highest performing students in class, and their comments came unsolicited.  One even admitted that he tended to distract other people and that other people distracted him at school, hence the greater productivity at home.  My curiosity led me to ask my AP students during one of our Zoom sessions, and they had a variety of thoughts on what was working well, what was not, and why.  It was time, I decided, to dig a little deeper.

For one week my students had access to a survey in which they responded to a range of questions about e-learning and in-person instruction.  Then came the fun part of thinking through their responses, both on my own and with colleagues.  What follows are the questions I asked and some initial thoughts and conclusions.  There will undoubtedly be more as I continue to discuss this with other educators.

Survey Questions

1.  Which grade are you currently in?

2.  Which class is working best for you during e-learning days?

• Math

• English

• World Language

• Humanities

• Science

• Performing Arts

• Art

• Other (please specify)

3.  What is working well in this particular class?

4.  Which class is working least well during e-learning?

• Math

• English

• World Language

• Humanities

• Science

• Performing Arts

• Art

• Other (please specify)

5.  What is not working well in this class?

6.  If there is a class that is working better for you as an e-learning class than an in-person class, which class is that and why?

7.  If there is a class that works better for you as an in-person class than an e-learning class, which class is that and why?

8.  Do you find yourself more or less productive during e-learning than in traditional, in-person learning?  Why do you think that is?

9.  Please share any other comments about e-learning that you think would be helpful to teachers and administrators.

Although I had been prompted to study the e-learning experiences of my students by two emails that spoke of greater productivity at home, their experience was not indicative of the whole.  Of those who felt strongly one way or the other, 73% said they were less productive at home, whereas 35% said they were more productive.

We must be careful about attempting to draw too firm a conclusion about anything from an unscientific survey such as this, but its results can direct us to further questions and reasonable speculation by those with long experience and a background of deep study in education.  One such person is my wife, Melissa Perkins, who holds both bachelor's and master's degrees in education and has spent thirty years as a teacher and administrator in K-12 public and private schools.  She observed that those who felt less productive during e-learning at home had not been sufficiently prepared for that level of independent learning.  This, she suggested, stemmed from an increasingly scripted and routinized learning experience in our schools, and I agreed.

And why should that not be the case?  With the increased emphasis on testing in all forms and for all reasons, testing that includes A.P. tests, I.B. tests, end-of-course assessments, state-mandated exams, and more, and with the close linking of student performance on exams with teacher pay, it is unlikely and unreasonable to expect that adults will entrust their livelihood and that of their families to the vagaries of independent learning.  The outline and the study packet become unquestioned necessities.  Many colleagues and I have remarked on the anxiety-filled question we receive more and more at the end of a semester, "When will we get our study guide?"

We have an unprecedented opportunity to study the nature of education and how and why we do it.  We also have a chance to explore new ways of leading students on that shared journey of discovery.  Already ideas are beginning to surface, and I will explore some of those in the next part of this series.