Why does online learning not work, the younger the child is, & less supported at home?

Teacher cannot

1. Check for understanding
2. Hold child to account.

Parent has to get child to focus, check the learning & do what the teacher normally does in the classroom 1/10 THREAD 👇🏼

It works well with highly motivated Sixth Formers.

They are mature and ambitious enough to make use of the teacher’s knowledge to further their own ambitions.

But even at Sixth Form it cannot work with kids who need teacher to do what teachers normally do! 2/10
What do teachers do in classrooms?

They don’t just lecture! Not if they are good teachers.

They constantly pepper questions to check for understanding.

They test knowledge retention to judge whether something needs reteaching.

This cannot be done on Zoom. 3/10
Why can’t it be done on Zoom?

Kids have answers in front of them. So teacher can’t test.

With a challenging intake, audio from kids undermines teacher’s authority and allows one child to derail entire lesson.

Kids turn off video and then disappear- not hearing a word! 4/10
Why do we think it can be done on Zoom?

1. We mistakenly think kids are like adults and can lead their own learning & behaviour. They can’t.

2. We imagine parents are able to support at home. Many cannot, won’t, do not know how

3. We want to believe there is a solution. 5/10
Why does government love Zoom lessons?

1. They aren’t teachers.
2. They want to feel they have done something.
3. Andrew Adonis campaigned for Zoom lessons
4. They don’t have the experience of using zoom and then when you see the kids next, realise they have learned little 6/10
Are we helping the poor by spending millions on laptops?

1. Not if Zoom is being used. If Google Classroom, yes they can access the work set.

2. BUT, laptops also give access to Instagram/Snapchat

3. Kids spend 15+ hours on SM a day

4. Internet use needs supervision! 7/10
Why are we all pretending about efficacy of Zoom?

1. Government say bad teachers/schools if you don’t use Zoom

2. Schools pretend to use it or stay quiet about not using it

3. We all want to believe there is a solution

4. Tech is a red herring in pursuit of learning 8/10
What should we do?

1. Set work on Google classroom
2. Hold kids to account by having teachers ring home at least once a week
3. Only do Zoom for Sixth Form, possibly year 11, depending on intake
4. If selective intake, parental support, then can zoom with all.
5. Be honest 9/10
Am I bonkers?

I just like telling the truth and am happy to take the hit for doing so.

I am tired of the lie that online learning works. It doesn’t.

It is high time we admitted it.

Be brave!

Be honest!

Speak truth to power!

And set yourselves free!✊🏾

10/10

More from Education

When the university starts sending out teaching evaluation reminders, I tell all my classes about bias in teaching evals, with links to the evidence. Here's a version of the email I send, in case anyone else wants to poach from it.

1/16


When I say "anyone": needless to say, the people who are benefitting from the bias (like me) are the ones who should helping to correct it. Men in math, this is your job! Of course, it should also be dealt with at the institutional level, not just ad hoc.
OK, on to my email:
2/16

"You may have received automated reminders about course evals this fall. I encourage you to fill the evals out. I'd be particularly grateful for written feedback about what worked for you in the class, what was difficult, & how you ultimately spent your time for this class.

3/16

However, I don't feel comfortable just sending you an email saying: "please take the time to evaluate me". I do think student evaluations of teachers can be valuable: I have made changes to my teaching style as a direct result of comments from student teaching evaluations.
4/16

But teaching evaluations have a weakness: they are not an unbiased estimator of teaching quality. There is strong evidence that teaching evals tend to favour men over women, and that teaching evals tend to favour white instructors over non-white instructors.
5/16
Working on a newsletter edition about deliberate practice.

Deliberate practice is crucial if you want to reach expert level in any skill, but what is it, and how can it help you learn more precisely?

A thread based on @augustbradley's conversation with the late Anders Ericsson.

You can find my complete notes from the conversation in my public Roam graph:
https://t.co/Z5bXHsg3oc

The entire conversation is on

The 10,000-hour 'rule' was based on Ericsson's research, but simple practice is not enough for mastery.

We need teachers and coaches to give us feedback on how we're doing to adjust our actions effectively. Technology can help us by providing short feedback loops.

There's purposeful and deliberate practice.

In purposeful practice, you gain breakthroughs by trying out different techniques you find on your own.

In deliberate practice, an expert tells you what to improve on and how to do it, and then you do that (while getting feedback).

It's possible to come to powerful techniques through purposeful practice, but it's always a gamble.

Deliberate practice is possible with a map of the domain and a recommended way to move through it. This makes success more likely.

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#தினம்_ஒரு_திருவாசகம்
தொல்லை இரும்பிறவிச் சூழும் தளை நீக்கி
அல்லல் அறுத்து ஆனந்தம் ஆக்கியதே – எல்லை
மருவா நெறியளிக்கும் வாதவூர் எங்கோன்
திருவாசகம் என்னும் தேன்

பொருள்:
1.எப்போது ஆரம்பித்தது என அறியப்படமுடியாத தொலை காலமாக (தொல்லை)

2. இருந்து வரும் (இரும்)


3.பிறவிப் பயணத்திலே ஆழ்த்துகின்ற (பிறவி சூழும்)

4.அறியாமையாகிய இடரை (தளை)

5.அகற்றி (நீக்கி),

6.அதன் விளைவால் சுகதுக்கமெனும் துயரங்கள் விலக (அல்லல் அறுத்து),

7.முழுநிறைவாய்த் தன்னுளே இறைவனை உணர்த்துவதே (ஆனந்த மாக்கியதே),

8.பிறந்து இறக்கும் காலவெளிகளில் (எல்லை)

9.பிணைக்காமல் (மருவா)

10.காக்கும் மெய்யறிவினைத் தருகின்ற (நெறியளிக்கும்),

11.என் தலைவனான மாணிக்க வாசகரின் (வாதவூரெங்கோன்)

12.திருவாசகம் எனும் தேன் (திருவா சகமென்னுந் தேன்)

முதல்வரி: பிறவி என்பது முன்வினை விதையால் முளைப்பதோர் பெருமரம். அந்த ‘முன்வினை’ எங்கு ஆரம்பித்தது எனச் சொல்ல இயலாது. ஆனால் ‘அறியாமை’ ஒன்றே ஆசைக்கும்,, அச்சத்துக்கும் காரணம் என்பதால், அவையே வினைகளை விளைவிப்பன என்பதால், தொடர்ந்து வரும் பிறவிகளுக்கு, ‘அறியாமையே’ காரணம்

அறியாமைக்கு ஆரம்பம் கிடையாது. நமக்கு ஒரு பொருளைப் பற்றிய அறிவு எப்போதிருந்து இல்லை? அதைச் சொல்ல முடியாது. அதனாலேதான் முதலடியில், ஆரம்பமில்லாத அஞ்ஞானத்தை பிறவிகளுக்குக் காரணமாகச் சொல்லியது. ஆனால் அறியாமை, அறிவின் எழுச்சியால், அப்போதே முடிந்து விடும்.