Foreword: Written in May/June of 2020, this is one of 3 essays I wrote for Global Perspectives, meant to be submitted as coursework. Ultimately I sent in another essay to be examined, and this has been sitting in the background for (nearly) the last 2 years.
To what extent is learning with the digital world beneficial for us?
We have been trying to make technology a part of education for a long time, from radio programs in the 1960s for students in the Australian outback to the One Laptop Per Child project started in 2007 (Kalan). Lately, schools have been introducing more and more of the digital world into our education, such as access to computers from school, and online learning programs becoming readily available, making it easier to educate everyone. As we continue making education a goal for everyone to have, it is estimated by 2025, eighty million more people will require higher education (Mulder). If we were to build concrete schools, it would have to take time, money and resources to accommodate all of the students (Mulder). So what if we all switched to online learning? There have been concerns about whether it would be beneficial for us, as well as how it would differentiate from being on campus. And even if we were on campus, would technology have a positive or negative impact on our learning? From all of this, the question I ask is to what extent is learning with the digital world beneficial for us? Some view technology as being beneficial, but others feel they have no choice, even if it may be detrimental to their learning.
Technology is slowly becoming increasingly implemented into many school systems, and with COVID-19 shutting down schools and most of the education sector around the world, we now have the opportunity to migrate to online learning to continue with the curriculum. However, this has continued to widen the gap between social classes, those who are more privileged have better access to online learning, versus those without. Take Hong Kong as an example. The country went into lockdown in response to the pandemic in February 2020 and the Society of Community Organization in Hong Kong did a survey out of five hundred and eighty-two pupils, all under eighteen years of age from lower-income families, in which more than ninety-six percent of the students had problems with online learning, from not having any computers, or no internet connection (Chan). Parents would also not be able to help these students, as they are the ones most likely having to work, as their jobs may not be able to be done through a computer, as well as students with unstable family backgrounds (Yglesias). Even those with the ability to participate in classes online also think that learning is not the same anymore. “We may understand the theory, but we will still miss out on the experiments,” says Alex Leung Man-fung, a Form 2 student in Hong Kong (cited in Chan). The students want to be able to have an interactive experience with the more hands-on parts of the lessons, and not being able to do that makes them feel restricted from what they could have a better understanding of. Linking back to my question, the extent that they are going to get an education is extreme, as they are completely relying on technology to help them learn. They also believe that it would not be as beneficial as physically going to school, as they are restricted by technology problems, or the ability to have interactive lessons.
In 2003, Kenya introduced the Free Primary Education Program, or FPE, which allowed kids to be able to get a primary education for free (BBC News). It caused almost one hundred percent enrollment of all primary kids, but as of 2014, a primary school kid was having less than one-third of the necessary math and reading skills for their level (Kalan). From this, Nivi Mukherjee, the founder of eLimu created eLimu tablets, intended to increase the quality of education in Kenya using technology (Kalan). Before the tablets were used at Amaf School, Headmaster Peter Lalo Outa has said that his students think going to school feels “like punishment”, because of how education is compulsory in Kenya (cited in Kalan). I decided to use quotes from educational systems which are just starting to use technology with their normal curriculum, to understand the initial impact that the digital world has on their educational system. The students didn’t feel motivated enough to learn and felt that school didn’t have a purpose. After implementing eLimu tablets for four months in 2014, science test scores increased by fifteen percent, from fifty-eight to seventy-three percent (Kalan), which has shown that it has increased the learning potential of primary students. The FPE was praised by the UN, in supporting its millennium development goals (BBC News), but because primary education was made compulsory, the rapid increase in student population made it harder to give proper quality education. This has significantly lowered the academic standards of Kenya and proves that education simply cannot be about going to a classroom. Outa believes that continuing with the tablets will benefit the students even more than books, saying that the tablets can, “go beyond – with photos, videos and more practical learning” (cited in Kalan). The eLimu tablets have benefitted the students in going beyond the classroom to learn about the practical parts of academics, but compared to students in the pandemic, the tablets are an accessory to their learning. They are learning with technology, but they are also still engaging with face-to-face interactions in class.
For those who can’t have access to traditional schools, online learning may only be what they have. Because of that, they believe that online learning has been more beneficial to them as opposed to not having an education at all. It is commonly believed that online learning limits your social capabilities, but they give people something that they have in common with, says Amy Woodgate from the University of Edinburgh, “so build up good relationships” (cited in Page). Universities in the UK have been implementing distance learning, the term used for those doing university courses from home, into their curriculum, for those unable to attend school and work at the same time. I have chosen to use articles outlining the lives of distance learners, as they are the ones who are possibly helping to start the next step to education for all. Distance learners believe that education is important to further their careers but feel restricted due to financial instability if they do not have a job. Distance learning has become the best option for them, as it is more flexible when it comes to time and space to learn (Page). About his experiences with distance learners, James Derounian says that because they want to do well in their studies, they want to do their best, and therefore when they get marks that are around sixty percent, it feels, “underwhelming” for them (Derounian). Because they are choosing to use their time to earn their degrees, they want to make the most out of the learning experience. This makes them more committed and resilient with their studies, as most distance learners have experienced setbacks which put them in the distance learning program in the first place (Derounian). The extent that they are using the digital world to help with their education is similar to students’ usage during the pandemic, as they feel they have no other option of getting a higher education. However, distance learning is mainly for students seeking higher education, whereas COVID-19 has affected the learning for students of all ages.
One of the problems that seem to come up is the idea of needing proper social interaction to succeed with online learning, and that the biggest problem that online learning faces is isolation. Lisa, whose name was changed, explained the distance isolation as, “You feel as though you are working in a vacuum,” (cited in Vonberg). Steve Mills from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, also argues that. “A big part of the student experience is meeting new people, making friends, joining societies and having social events” (cited in Page). Because they can’t do that in an online learning environment, online learning becomes more academic, which is only part of the whole school experience, which makes them feel more isolated from one another. Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen is using distance learning for its students, and they have said that giving the students support is the most important thing, to not feel alone (Page). To do that they have to provide helplines and web forums as systems of support, allowing them to not feel as isolated, but rather feel more connected through technology. This kind of support has had varying results. On one hand, students at the University of Gloucestershire can self-initiate work amongst themselves and staff through the online learning platform “Moodle” (Derounian), but others like Vivienne Dunstan, who has access to these support platforms and want to interact with others cannot, as there was no one else to interact with, so she, “eventually gave up” (cited in Vonberg). If there is going to be online support for distance learners to have a similar kind of interaction that they would normally get on campus, there needs to be a system in which there is twenty-four-hour support, from other students, as well as support staff, for all students to not feel the isolation from no social interaction with others.
Having experienced online learning for the past two months as a result of the circuit breaker measures in Singapore, I have been able to experience first hand what it means to learn from home. Before the measures came into place, I believed that it would be harder for me to be able to do online learning, and that my self-initiative would prove to be the hardest part of online learning. But the thing I found the most difficult was not being able to do what I would normally do on campus, even though I had access to many resources just from my computer. While I do think that the future of education is online learning, we still have to figure out how to implement other parts of our education to our benefit, such as the interactive parts that can only be done in person, or if we are willing to sacrifice it for the sake of widespread education. If we were to sacrifice the interactive parts and made the switch to total online learning, would we eventually forget what it felt like to go to an actual school? I think that eventually, we would forget, since we, as human beings, have proven to be able to adapt fairly easily to change. The digital world has helped us increase our potential of getting knowledge, as well as making more resources easily available to us at all times, and not making full use of the knowledge that we can get online would be a barrier to our learning progress. Therefore, I believe that the extent that we should be learning with the digital world is not online learning, nor a traditional school completely disconnected from the digital world. We should be using the digital world to help us with our learning, but we should only implement online learning when it becomes our only option.