Before Covid-19 struck, some in education were ambivalent and even dubious about the value of remote and digital learning, seeingit perhaps as the thin end of a wedge in which computers replace teachers and educators.
However, the value of ”” -the combination of home and school-based learning which will become the norm after the summer -is demonstrated amply by(e-School), the remote teaching ecosystemfor pupils in rural communities scattered across Scotland’s Western Isles (including Barra, pictured).
Uptake by pupils - often without prompting from their own teachers - has been remarkable.
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E-Sgoil’s most recentis fully subscribed;so, too, is a parallel programme of professional development for teachers. While parents were being bombarded with websites that could help, these partners in e-Sgoil recognised the need for learner structure, within a timetabled, real-time teachingexperience.
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From a standing start and at very little additional costs, a new school was created for Scotland, and wasoversubscribed in some classes within a week. By 6 May, 15,364 young learners aged 5 to 18, from all 32 local authorities in Scotland, had been involved in this new school;almost 500 were on a waiting list, and just over 300 teachers were enrolled for professional development.
There are four lessons can we draw from examples likee-Sgoil:
1. Education systems withan embedded digital culture make the transition more smoothly
It’s less effectivewherethe transition from traditional learning is an. Other examples of good practice, aside from e-Sgoil, includein Uruguay.
2. There is no need to spend time and effort developing bespoke content and platforms
High-quality educational resources are widely available on digital and broadcast channels such as. Excellent virtual learning tools such as,andare easy to adapt to local context and curriculum, and connectivity solutions can always be found and need not be digital, asexamples in countries such asand Uzbekistanshow.
3. Partnership is crucial
See, for example,the Scottish government’s commitment to e-Sgoil. This helps freee-Sgoil’s small staff team to focus their energy on developing the teaching methods and equipping teachers and pupils with the skills needed to operate in a remote-learning environment.Whilesome sourceshighlight concerns, e-Sgoil has identified somekey points of guidancefor effective remote teaching.
4. Good management and timetable coordination are essential
Teachers operating in the “new normal”havecommented onhow the balance of their workload has changed and on the importance of effective communicationwith parents and pupils, especially in areas of high deprivation and when supporting the most vulnerable pupils. There are opportunities for efficiency, though, by ensuring that pupils all use the same online platform. For example, use of(Scotland’snational digital learning platform) was found to be patchy across Scotland, and this had to be addressed for pupils outside the Western Isles accessing e-Sgoil.Coordinated timetabling is essential for remote teaching across multiple schools, as is technical back-up in the first few course lessons, when human error can have a damaging impact on the learning experience.
Traditional education systems have evolved over decades, if not centuries, andare generally poor at coping with emergencies.It is very likely that in many global educational systems the “new normal”will be around for many months - andone positive legacyof Covid-19 couldbe an acceptance of a new form of learning that is less wedded to the physical classroom.
*This is an edited version of an articlethat originally appeared as a .
is a former director of education and a visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland.is director of ,international consultants who advise on long-term strategic planning
