Children, distance-learning, and COVID-19

"When can I go back to school?" asked my daughter.

I find it difficult to tell her that there will not be any school for her for the rest of this school year. She misses riding the yellow bus to and from her school. She misses her teachers and friends, like hundreds of millions of children across the world who are at home because they are under some kind of lockdown. My daughter's daily routine is in disarray.

The White House announced that Americans would have to stay at home until at least April 30. In our state, the governor has ordered a shelter-in-place until May 15. From what I am hearing, watching, and reading, I can safely say that there will most likely be no more school for our children this school year. They will lose a chunk of their normal childhood in the process, but then again, this is not exactly a normal time from any perspective. As a matter of fact, closing down schools is having an immensely positive impact on our effort to 'flatten the curve.'

My daughter's school moved to online instruction from March 31. I am still trying to get the hang of the virtual learning platform, Schoology, that is making distance-learning possible for our children. We are lucky that in the USA, there are ways by which students can continue to learn things, even when they are at home.

In the last one year, I came to know about digital learning tools and websites like DreamBox, BrainPOP, SpellingCity, and Reflex, which help children practice and hone their math or reading skills from anywhere in the world. Epic! on the other hand, is a digital library for children with over 40,000 books in its collection.

My daughter's assignments now arrive on Schoology, where her class teacher gives her math problems and writing activities; she instructs her to practice math on Reflex or DreamBox, draw, do small hands-on projects, or read certain books on Epic!

The teacher can remotely monitor all these activities, and track the progress of every single student. She can even grade the assignments, which parents upload to Schoology once their children complete them. Not only that, my daughter's class teacher also arranges virtual meetings with her students via Zoom, a remote conferencing service.

On weekday mornings, my daughter and I sit together to work on her daily assignments. Yes, it is not the same as face-to-face learning in a classroom setting where you can achieve a lot more, but in this time of crisis, this is the best we can do to keep our children from unlearning what they have learned.

Online learning has, however, made one thing clear; not every family can afford this method of learning. The problem of digital divide is very real.

Even here, in the world's wealthiest nation, there are so many low-income families with no access to computers and broadband internet. Public school districts are trying their best to provide these families with laptops, tablets, and free internet service. However, even this will not be enough, because not all adults are equipped with the education or technological knowledge to continuously teach their children from home. And last but not least, parents who still have to go to work in this pandemic, people whose jobs are essential in nature, do not have the luxury of staying at home to home-school their children.