Thread by @vishnu_agni

1/A ban on online classes doesn’t make sense. We’ve seen several positives in the 30+ courses we have conducted @GenWise_ so far- great peer discussions, the quietest students engaging with teachers on chat and even real world explorations! Examples later in this thread

2/As with anything else- the quality of the experience and the ‘quantity of consumption’ decides whether it is good or bad. The lower the age, the more wary we should be of screen time. Educating parents will work far better than regulating schools. #righttolearn @nimmasuresh

3/After all, it is the parent who is the systems integrator- he/ she knows how much time has been spent on phones, TV, computer screens etc., how much physical play has been there, the uniqueness of his child, and can make the best choice. #righttolearn @HRDMinistry @PMOIndia

4/Educating parents not a trivial matter because we don’t know enough yet about online classes and how kids respond to them; this is very early in the journey. Still enough clear and promising signs to incorporate digital tools and online courses into learning. Some examples..

5/A friend about her high functioning autistic child with severe LD- “She has social inhibitions. But with online those disappeared. It only became about the content...e.g. she started working on area and perimeter because she could 'see' what the others were doing on screen”

6/When working on a digital adaptive learning solution for Math many years ago, I noticed that a child had achieved the highest level of mastery in fractions, though it took him 4X the number of sums the average child in the school needed, to reach that level…

7/When I spoke to the principal, I found this child was dyslexic. He needed specific feedback and more practice with certain kinds of sums to internalize the concepts, which this tool provided. Can a human hope to do this? Especially when dealing with many kids. #righttolearn

8/Find a spot at a window, on your balcony, terrace etc.
Go back to that same spot 3 times a day starting tomorrow morning: early morning, afternoon and evening (before sunset)
Note your observations in your notebook.
You can write or draw… or write a poem even... NO PHOTOS

9/The assignment and submission were part of a/an

10/This was an online course and students were highly engaged throughout… This course helped them to become more closely aware of their surroundings, observe things carefully and ask more questions….paradoxical for an online course?

11/Kids have loved peer discussions in the zoom breakout rooms. A parent @SMahashur says- for the first time I also saw <my son> having so much fun with his peers. Some of those kids were older but were giving him ample chance to express himself... ...

12/...Though <my son> tries this often in school, this is not encouraged enough, and he is made fun of usually because that is way above the age group understanding. #righttolearn

13/@bseshadri in Chennai is teaching a fascinating course bit.ly/GWBadriKuttaka Marathi medium govt school kids in Mumbai have an opportunity to participate in the course via their parents’ phones, thanks to a volunteer in Pune who will help with Marathi. Possible only #Online

14/All this is not to say that digital tools and online courses are the panacea. Excessive screen time can be a serious issue. But we must escape the #tyrannyoftheor . Syncretic approaches are needed to provide the best learning to all #righttolearn

15/Parent education and govt. regulation have a role. As #RohiniNilekani says “Plan, do not ban”- regulation examples “guidelines on the size of the online class, the amount of screen time children should have, and the preferred methodologies for making the screen time engaging”

16/Let's enable better education together. Banning something is the easiest thing to do. @noorainee @sameeraroraedu @shwesharan @RadG_Dodo @HRDMinistry @nimmasuresh @GenWise_ #righttolearn

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