I'm not surprised that the nation-wide experiment in online learning isn't going well. I've developed a lot of educational media in my career. The one thing all projects have in common is MINIMAL FUNDING.
There are lots of other common problems:

-Poor UI/UX is tolerated & perpetuated by behemoths like Blackboard.
-Everything is purpose built for a single subject, and then discarded.
-There's not enough experimentation, testing, & iteration. (goes back to funding)
There's also a tendency to mimic traditional teaching & learning techniques. How often have you run into:

-Class lecture BUT IT'S A VIDEO!!
-Text book BUT IT'S ON A SCREEN!!
-Multiple choice BUT IT'S GRADED AUTOMATICALLY

Ok, I guess that last one is helpful.
I've built media using all three of those techniques. They're not inherently bad, but they're overused and limited.

In the case of video lectures, their a pale imitation of the real world. The speaker's physical presence is one of their greatest assets & is lost in video.
Contrast all this with progress in video game development. It's taken decades of trial-and-error for video games to become what they are now.

Compare an e-learning lesson from 2020 to one from 2010 and I doubt you can tell the difference.
Likewise, it will take a decade or more of increased funding, imagination, experimentation, and iteration for digital learning to become as effective as classroom learning.

That's what it takes for anything to advance.
And we have to solve other problems like:
-Inequality in access to devices and internet across classrooms
-How to engage kids in learning when they're at home
-How to coach parents in guiding their kids' education
-How to help teachers overcome the hurdles digital classes present
We need to get serious about it because digital and online learning will only become more prevalent. It's time to figure out how to do more than just put lessons online. It's time to learn how to TEACH online.
You can follow @MisterLudden.
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