Education in the Era of Coronavirus

As we enter month 2 of the coronavirus, kids are having toe learn from home, making moms and dads partners in teaching with the teachers who are on line.  Perhaps this will be a good thing in the long run – bringing parents back into success of their kids as opposed to leaving this totally to teachers.  In the 1960s/70s, and may be more earlier and later, parents were more involved than they are today.  As a result, the parents today are less connected to their kids’ education which causes some kids to devalue the experience.  That leads to long-term challenges for the kids in an economy where education is important to future job prospects and success.

We use WebEx at FAU to hold office hours and classes.  The kids all have phones or computers so we can do a class from home.  It is not the same as in person (most or my student want the in-person experience) but webex is way better that video or fully on-line per my students.  The students want a connection to their professor.  They want to talk to them, bounce ideas off, build relationships of the future.  That cannot be done on-line (I have taught on-line also).  The students want to see me also – so a camera is a must.  That enhances the connection.

Face-to-face – cannot be substituted with online, texts, emails, etc.  The experience in school is in person.  That means the current environment will be a challenge to students until the coronavirus situation is under control.