Thread by @DanikaTipping

I’ve taught oine courses for 10+ years. Want my hot take on why mandatory elearning for all students is a bad idea? No? I’ll give it to you anyway:
#threadalert #osstf #onted

1) It’s really easy for students to pretend their online course doesn’t exist. They don’t have to walk into a classroom every day and have attendance taken and look their teacher in the eye. So unless they’re disciplined, they put it off.

2) If they pretend it doesn’t exist for long enough, they end up with a huge backlog of work to complete, feel overwhelmed, and put if off some more because it causes them anxiety.

3) The anxiety causes them to not email me, or respond to my emails until I contact parents/guidance but by then it can perceive it to be too late.

4) Many students take elearning because they think it will save them time. So instead of reading/listening to/watching the lesson, they skip right to the assignment. And inevitably they don’t understand it and do poorly.

5) In a face to face class, I can see if a kid is not engaging/understanding the lesson. I can’t do that online to the same degree.

6) Classes are asynchronous, meaning a kid may be working at midnight while my elearning period is at 9am. If they have a question, they may have to wait 24 hrs for a response. It also means it’s hard to get them to interact in meaningful ways with each other.

7) It takes a lot longer and it’s a lot harder to get to know kids. Some I get to know better than my f2f students but... it takes longer. And those connections are essential.

8) Some students do not have access to reliable technology. They are relying on old chromebooks they borrow and can only use at school. I have seen this happen at my school. This is not good enough.

9) In closing, elearning can be great for some students if they have are motivated, self-directed learners who are good at problem solving. But many kids I teach—great kids—don’t fit that profile. And now, time to eat my lunch.

Since this kind of blew up I want to add a couple points of clarification:
1) I can only speak to the way elearning currently exists in Ontario.

2) I don’t think elearning is bad. I think it is great—for some students. But I definitely have ideas about how it could be improved.

3) None of those ideas would happen if elearning were made mandatory because they would require additional funding.

A couple more things to add: sorry for the typos I’m just noticing now!
And in addition to being an experienced elearning teacher, I have also written elearning curricula and studied digital tech in education and instructional design. Not an expert but I’m well-versed. ;)