So much of the talk is about what students won’t have access to… a carefully scheduled timetable, a teacher on hand at every second of their 6-hour school day, materials, internet and so on. But a compelling thought is that so many factors that are important for learning have not disappeared… agency, curiosity, goal setting, interesting questions, learning about things that are personally meaningful, feedback from teachers, peers and relatives, a genuine audience. They just look a little different.
Emily Fintelman reflects on the move to remote learning. For her school the focus has been on guiding learners, rather than delivering lessons. This has included the creation of a ‘learning menu’ with a balance of open-ended tasks, problems worth solving, investigations, personal inquiries, games and tasks. Student contact therefore is centred around well-being, and the maintaining a emotional, social and psychological safe space.
