Can Learning be "Virtual?"

Over the past few weeks I've been doing a lot of consulting work with several schools who are preparing for the fall semester. I've been doing some professional development for teachers, and helping school leaders think through some pedagogical and technological decision-making as they develop multiple options for what the fall might look like for their schools.

It's interesting to see what has been common experiences for many teachers in different parts of the U.S., and what is unique to particular places as well. Overall, I could summarize the online teaching experiences of teachers with whom I have interacted as challenging, exhausting, and not entirely pleasant. (And that might be putting it all very nicely, honestly!) Many educators have found the distance teaching adventure of Spring 2020 to be demanding, to say the least!

But one comment I heard from a teacher in one of these meetings really grabbed my attention. In fact, I paused to scribble it down right when this individual said it:

"Virtual learning has not been the same as 'real' learning. We didn't do summative assessments at all this spring, so we really don't know where students are."

This really struck me, and I didn't know how to respond in the moment.

I think I know what this teacher meant about "virtual learning"--so many people call anything online "virtual," right? But I want to push forward on this: I think that the online parts of our lives are just as "real" as anything else in our lives.

And, seriously...does this mean that "real" learning can only happen in a classroom? Does this mean that "real" learning can only happen when a student and teacher are physically in the same place? Does this mean that "real" learning can only happen when we are breathing the same air?

I know, I know...I'm just being unreasonable here. But I do want to push forward on this idea that face-to-face learning experiences are the gold standard against which all other learning must be measured. Carried to the extreme conclusion, this idea suggests that every face-to-face learning experience must be, by nature, superior to any online learning experience. And this is simply not true at all.

Come on...like you've never had a bad learning experience in a face-to-face course! I wish this were not true, but I am sadly confident that most everyone who might read this post has had some bad learning experience, even if you've never taken an online course. Not throwing stones here, because I know I was NOT A GOOD TEACHER when I started out. It's taken a lot of practice, and experimentation, and feedbacking from students and colleagues, and more practice, and training, and furthering my education, and still more practice to get better. I have gotten better at this arcane art of teaching things to other people, through this time. But it's worth noting that I still have off days in my teaching, even after 20-some years as a professional educator!

I think we should just be clear about this: teaching online does demand some re-imagining if all you've experienced is face-to-face teaching. Because the truth is, almost all of us who serve as professional educators were prepared for face-to-face teaching. We've practiced face-to-face teaching. We've been supported, equipped, and resourced for face-to-face teaching. So it shouldn't be any wonder that if we have to suddenly switch to a different classroom, we should expect to have to re-imagine things a bit. I've been teaching online for 10 years now, and here too, I've been practicing, and experimenting, and benefitted from additional training and support. But I've gotten better at it over time. And a big part of it has been learning to re-imagine my teaching practice from "what I've always done" in my face-to-face classrooms. Some of what I've done in my in-person teaching translates really well to my online teaching. Some of it doesn't. And learning to see what works well in teaching at a distance vs. teaching in person is the crux of the issue, I think. We have to be willing to re-imagine what we are doing.

The analogy I've been using with groups of educators I've been working with these past few weeks is to imagine that you are the Kindergarten teacher in your school. You are suddenly told that for the next year, you will have to teach your kindergarteners in the high school science lab. I suspect that this would mean you would have to re-imagine at least a few things about your teaching practice to have the same quality of instruction, and you would probably want some additional resources and supports to thrive and feel successful in your work! (The reverse of this situation is probably equally true, if you were the high school science teacher who suddenly had to teach in a Kindergarten classroom for next year.) The point of all of this? Teaching online is like being required to teach in a different classroom, one with different constraints and affordances than the one you are perhaps most accustomed to using. But to suggest that learning in the online classroom is somehow not "real learning" is akin to saying kindergarteners couldn't learn anything if you moved their class to a different learning space. Would it be more challenging for you as the teacher? Almost certainly--and perhaps you would not choose it.

Here's the thing: courses designed for online are not the same thing as "virtual learning," in my estimation. The comment from this teacher about not knowing where students are because they didn't do any summative assessments is troubling to me. Yes, we might have to reimagine our assessment practices a bit, but to just throw up our hands and say, "It can't be done just the way I am used to doing things, so I won't do it"--is that acceptable? When courses are designed to take advantage of the online learning environment, very real, rich, compelling learning can definitely still happen, and should happen, and will happen. Does it feel the same to the teacher who has been prepared and resourced for teaching face-to-face for his or her entire career? Likely not! But I suspect that most educators who are looking down their nose at online learning calling it "virtual" might benefit from some thoughtful, careful introspection about what is driving that impulse. 

My suspicion? It's probably fear in the drivers' seat.

Fear that we might have to change something about what we are doing.

Fear that we might look foolish.

Fear that we might be less effective somehow.

Fear that we might not have the tools in our pedagogical toolbox to successfully navigate a new classroom.

Fear that we might have do the hard work of revising our curriculum, instruction, and assessment habits beyond what we have found to be our comfortable "normal."

Fear that we might have to admit that we can cover up weak pedagogy through the sheer force of personality we wield in the classroom. (Okay, this one might just be me...but I know I've been here before...)

I don't think that learning can be "virtual." Either learning happens, or it doesn't happen. And our role as educators is to provide every opportunity we can to ensure that our students have every likelihood possible to learn the content for our courses. 

Photo by Sergey Zolkin on Unsplash