The downsides of online learning | Opinion - mySA

Rafael Castillo, who teaches English and humanities at Palo Alto College writes, Individualized learning at home is clearly a convenience for students, but actual learning occurs between social negotiation, doing problem-solving in small groups, and navigating interpersonal life-skills.  

Online kindergarten readiness programs are pitched as ways to close the achievement gap, even as wealthier families place their children in play-based early childhood settings with limited screen time.
Photo: KIM RAFF /NYT

One of the paradoxical issues with online classes is the majority of students learn in isolation when they should be learning collaboratively.

Just the click of a mouse and a visual display of technicolor patterns and lists of intriguing questions takes the learner through a maze of obstacles without face-to-face contact or verbal communication. But it’s a fallacy to assume online classes are for everyone.

The national proliferation of online degrees should give parents pause to reflect: “Do I really want Muffy viewing the latest brouhaha between cosmetic kingpin James Charles versus Tati Westbrook on her cell phone, while she’s doing her math online?” Of course not...

Screen-Free Parenting, an internet site for savvy parents, points out, “We have started to see a shift in the conversations about the digital divide in the United States.” It also cites a “Screenagers documentary” making the rounds among parenting circles warning, “when those shiny laptops head home, children’s grades in reading and math go down. When high-speed internet access is provided to an area that previously did not have it, research shows the same thing: academic achievement declines.”
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Source: mySA