Online education is inadequate for reasons we have long known
Why does online education always fall so short of its promise? Partly because our expectations from it are too high. Often these hopes are buoyed by the commercial interests of some, or faith in technology mixed with an inadequate appreciation of social-human matters. But even those whose judgement is unsullied by these forces eventually realize the vast gap between their expectations and reality.
This point needs no emphasis, given the tragic failures of online education during the covid pandemic, even earlier. But we must try to understand why it happens. Why does online education fall short? The answers lie at the very core of what education is and how learning happens.
Education is about developing three kinds of things in the learner. So we have three sorts of educational goals. Capacities: such as reading, critical thinking, team work, self-discipline.
Values and dispositions: for example, empathy, non-discrimination, respect for others. Knowledge: of calculus, magnetism, history, etc. These three kinds of goals are often intertwined, and the processes through which their learning happens cannot be neatly separated.
Some of the specific goals are achieved mostly by social interaction and cultural immersion. Most values are learnt this way and also many capacities. Even the biggest champions of online education usually do not claim that it can develop values and fundamental capacities, so this piece focuses on goals that are to do with knowledge and some directly related capacities, such as critical thinking.
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