The Elephant in the Cloud: Equity and Remote Learning — #learningpathmakers

Discussions of education equity and remote learning are ignoring the elephant in the room — or rather “the elephant in the cloud” of the internet.

Schools risk exacerbating inequity by simply delivering through the internet instructional content and approaches that were created for in-person school. Students with the greatest challenges will get left even further behind. They are the ones that most need differentiated instruction, encouragement, and extra supports.

If we are serious about equity, schools should revise their goals and expectations for what they can do with this sudden shift to remote learning. The most inequitable thing we can do is just plow ahead with watered down curriculum plans hoping that the students on the other end of the videoconference connection are keeping up.

We need to double-down on student engagement, which has taken a back seat to curriculum standards and testing for way too long. We are finding that there is no such thing as “Just-in-time” relationship building with parents and we should make investments that embrace families as equal partners in teaching and learning.

It’s time for a Copernican Shift in education, where we recognize that schools are not the center of the learning universe — students are. True student-centered learning spans across school, home, community, and online environments.

This means accepting an education mission beyond in-school instruction. We need teachers and other school staff who can guide student learning experiences that value and engage the contributions of others in the learning ecosystem. So much of of this can be done in different ways remotely with the help of technology.