Bridging disparity in online classroom amid Coronavirus crisis

Coronavirus is affecting educational institutions around the world.

Apr 21, 2020

Bridging disparity in online classroom amid Coronavirus crisis

Contents

Singapore, disparity in Full Homebased learning South Korea, “no child should be left alone at home”Fostering interaction in a remote learning environment

Coronavirus is affecting educational institutions around the world. Many countries are adopting measures to shift to an online classroom to prevent further spreading of the virus.

In this unprecedented move towards a full-on online classroom, many schools are quickly adopting necessary infrastructure and devices to conduct an online classroom, including devices such as laptops, tablets, as well as software like Zoom, Google hangout for live conferencing.

While these measures can provide an immediate solution to keeping the ‘classroom in operation’, whether ‘equal learning opportunity is ensured’ is in question.

Singapore, disparity in Full Homebased learning

Schools in Singapore have been conducting Home-Based Learning(HBL), a mix of online and offline learning, starting April 8th. Schools are to provide support for those who require digital devices or internet access.

However, Straitstimes points out in its article “How home-based learning shows up inequality in Singapore — a look at three homes” that the disparity of learning environment could lead to disparity in the quality of education that students receive.

Professor Lim Sun Sun, who teaches communication and technology at Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) remarked that;

For example, a child who has his own room may find it easier to concentrate on HBL, while three children sharing one laptop in the living room may have more difficulty focusing on the assignments.

Dr. Stephanie Chok, assistant director of research and programme development at Beyond Social Services, also remarked that

“Inequalities will likely widen since work in low-paid sectors, such as the service sector, has been badly affected.”

Salmiah Salam (third from left) and her four children, (from left) Muhammad Zulkarnain Hasim, Muhammad Hadiputra Hashim, Muhammad Handika Hashim and Siti Zubaidah Hashim tackle HBL projects in their flat in Lengkok Bahru on April 14, 2020. ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN, Straitstimes.com

South Korea, “no child should be left alone at home”

South Korea has a large population of families with double income. Therefore, many such families are facing a predicament of having to leave their child at home alone after they are off to the workplace, which inevitably would lead to a compromised learning quality.

As a result, schools are implementing a policy of ‘Urgent Care Class.’ Under this policy, students can come to school to receive an online lecture in the morning, and be under the guidance of teachers present at school in the afternoon. As of now, around 100,000 elementary school students are under the UCC.

Image source : http://news.khan.co.kr/kh_news/khan_art_view.html?art_id=202003202107005

Fostering interaction in a remote learning environment

Equipment and devices only provide a minimum viable condition for simple knowledge-transfer, which is a most rudimentary objective for learning according to Bloom’s Taxonomy. While establishing this basic condition for HBL should be taken care of by leaders of states and educational institutions, pondering on the question of “how to make sure that students actually learn, instead of just passively receive information streamed from a laptop in HBL environment” should be the key responsibility of each educator.

One of the most effective ways to learn is via interaction with peers and teachers. When teachers and students are present in the same classroom, some form of interaction is bound to happen one way or the other. However, in this remote learning environment, it is very easy for a student to remain absolutely silent for the entire class session, yet having their attendance acknowledged.

How to foster such interaction in a remote learning environment is at the heart of these challenging times. One approach taken by many universities and educational institutions in Korea are relying on communication tools such as CLASSUM, to take on this challenge. CLASSUM is a service that provides a classroom-like user interface where teachers and students can exchange questions and opinions in a collective manner. Many schools are finding CLASSUM highly helpful to bring out more interactions among students while watching lectures online.