Thread by @championswimmer

The concept of "live" classes exist only because we keep trying to emulate physical interactions into digital ones.

Companies that have worked for years remotely know that you cannot replace 10 physical meetings with 10 zoom meetings. You need more asynchronous communication.

When you move from physical offices to digitally connected remote ones. You need to invest into good project management tools (Trello, Jira, Basecamp, Asana... something), good documentation repository and create an email thread culture rather than Zoom culture.

Same in edtech

The reasons are same. Networks get disrupted, not seeing each others face and body language hinders communication and speeds of delivery of information and absorption of it do not match. The loudest voice is the one with best internet.

The solution is to reduce "live" events.

I love teaching live online classes, and the few students who are able to turn in for them, like them too.

But in general, (the numbers at @CodingBlocksIn backs it up), recorded content with notes and quizzes is preferred far far more.

And the reasons are exactly what I said

People find it difficult to take out dedicated 2-3 hour time slots consistently on a daily/weekly basis. Recorded content can be consumed at their own pace.

Network disruptions means instructor goes ahead, and you cannot catchup with that class anymore.

Also, whenever you have live events (meetings, classes), they are often recorded. And automatically many people start thinking "its ok, I'll catch it from the recording"
That adds to attention deficit in live sessions.

In a physical meeting harder to get distracted, in general

The value a recorded event adds, is immense.
Many tools including YouTube automatically add subtitles to recorded content (very few systems, none free, can do live running subtitles). That makes it accessible.

The ability to pause for, rewind 10 sec is a superpower for learning

When you have a meeting in an industrial/academic setting, the attendees have left their homes, travelled all the way here, turned their phones off.

No distractions. No power cuts. Everyone is 100% here.

In online live events, disruptions affect the less privileged more.

Babies cry for young moms.
Internet is slow for people in remote areas.
Not everyone can afford power backup.

All this tilts the balance of participation towards more privileged people, and hence not fair.

The future of work and the future of education isn't only remote and online, but it is also far far more asynchronous than it is now.

50 people sitting in a synchronised setup doing something linearly in the same speed could never have been the best way right?

But all of this means, you need to arm yourself with different skills.

In a physically close world, in a live world, your "presense" is often you turning on your video. Wearing good clothes, looking sharp, and raising your hand often and speaking.

In an asynchronous world, your best ammunition is words.

Written communication. The ability to write down your question or the answer to someone's question, in detailed, crisp, unentangled words is a CRUCIAL skill, a SURPRISING number of people lack.

Your presence in a more and more asynchronous world is your presence in written text. More of your words in documentation. More of yours posts in the discussion forums. More of your questions in the class thread.

That's how you make yourself "felt present".