Online education has been part of our lives for the past decade or so with many colleges and universities providing online education and degrees to students. In U.S. more than 250,000 students are enrolled in K-12 education programme since 2011. For countries with poor infrastructure like Pakistan, education for children via online portal is being promoted since past few years as brick-and-mortar schools with qualified teachers are not possible in remote areas or they exceed government budgets. However, this pandemic has now brought all children under the online teaching platform and questions are being raised on its effectiveness for younger children.
Points of Concern for Parents of Young Children
There are various reasons why online teaching is being questioned for younger children. The main issues to be concerned about are related to how meaningful online and synchronous sessions can be for younger kids and who is more responsible among teachers and parents to allow the session to continue in that manner? Moreover, does online learning covers all aspects of childhood education? And lastly, what are the side effects of extended screen time for younger children?
In School of Tomorrow (SOT) virtual conference hosted by Beacon House School System, a parliamentary style debate was carried out by national and international speakers in favor of and against the online teaching platform for children under 7 years of age. There was also an online poll for the ineffectiveness of online education for younger children with majority being concerned about its value.
Pros of Online Education for Young Children
Computers are already a major part of education today with extensive use of ICT, Smartboards, Games and Online submissions at elementary levels. Fred O’Rourke, an Education Technology Specialist, during the SOT conference highlighted how modern computers and Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made online education so easy and adaptable even by younger children and how it can be further modified to build educational apps for younger kids.
There is a consensus among experts that children younger than 7 years have a tendency to lose focus even in traditional class settings which is mainly due to their age and inherent nature of exploration and risk taking. Dr. Aisha Idris, a clinical psychologist during her interview with educational roundup, highlighted how younger kids cannot be expected to follow traditional seat arrangement or online class without face to face interaction. Dr. Aisha also suggested that 20-25 minutes interactive video tutorials make more sense for kids younger than 7 years compared to online classes with teachers.
Fred O’Rourke during SOT session, shared his 20 years’ experience in interactive online games and apps and highlighted three pillars they sit on for young children: Interactivity, Personalization and Practicality. Rourke stressed that Digital software should be used as a future way of education for children until risk of COVID-19 goes away. He asserted that 3D graphics and stimulators can be easily scaled down to a child’s level while using body as input device.
Today AI has allowed us to recognize learning speed through touch screens, hand motions, speech and motor skills and based on those inputs, kids’ assessments can be made in educational apps. Moreover, games and apps adapt easily according to inputs of respondents and thus, difficulty levels of educational apps can be modified according to child’s ability. Lastly, personalization factor is embedded in educational apps which figures out progress of a child based on how quickly he/she found something, giving factual information to teachers and avoiding frustration in kids.
With educational software, children can learn through eye contact, interaction and group activity and education can go beyond traditional teaching methods. The Gamification of lessons using elements of appreciation like badges, stars, points can produce positive results compared to traditional class setups.
Cons of Online Education for Young Children
Ms. Nadine Murtaza, Executive Director and head of IB PYP program at Head Start School, shared her experience of observing online teaching at the school and how it affects learning process of younger kids. Ms. Murtaza argued that online learning or Gamification of education can only aid in learning process of children but can never replace traditional education set ups. Ms. Murtaza emphasized on the sensitivity of young age and how schools are struggling to create a wholesome environment for kids to prepare them for outer world.
One of the things that kids learn at school is resilience which comes from failures. Making software that makes everything so simple, adaptive and custom made cannot prepare children for real world. So the question arises that how online learning is preparing children for real life? We are facing one of the biggest existential change in our lives where sending children offline to schools is highly risky while keeping them stick to a screen can have other hazardous effects for their health. Children will be the future stewards of this planet and they need the element of reality to steer this earth. Kids learn from interaction, social groups, hands-on activities and conflict management.
By shifting towards educational apps, are parents implying that excessive screen time is acceptable for kids? Considering online education as a great solution raises another question about screen addiction which can become new norm and lead to increased dopamine levels. This in turn leads to high level of motor activity as well as impulsive behavior, attributes that were already a major concern for parents before online education came in play. Obesity is another factor that comes with sedentary lifestyle that COVID has brought in.
Solution?
The solution to the issue of online versus offline classes for younger children is multi-dimensional. As COVID-19 cases slowdown in Pakistan, and government is all geared up to open schools with specific SOPs, Ms. Murtaza along with other panelists, recommended Blended learning where project based approach can be used for both online and offline interaction between children and teachers. Use of blended learning can greatly address the issue of interaction and screen time for young kids who have just begun to explore the world. The blended learning should be a teacher based model where teachers, on basis of performance of children, can design modules for the curriculum.
Moreover, teachers can prepare assignments where children have to step away from computers to complete the projects. That’s where parents can come in for younger kids as they need more supervision. Currently, with online education, the job of parents has also become a burden with other household chores and day jobs.
