Constants and online education

The market dictates the speed of development. In a pandemic world our needs for protection spark innovation in education. But what stays the same? What are the invisible constants that tie all this disruptive reality together?

The constants in an ever-changing online educational environment can be: patience, attention, care, courage, trust, etc. The learning process had this in a form or another in it since the beginning. The master-apprentice, teacher-pupil, trainer-participant relationships have these constants embedded in their very fabric. The skills of the trainer had always been to wilder the tools in his or her disposal, to create this magic medium where the learning happens. But with the world changing so fast it’s sometimes hard to see the constant and update it.

So how do these constants look in 2021?

Well, patience can happen when it takes more time than usual to figure out how the features of the on-line software work; when things take longer than usual to get done; or when people don’t open their cameras and you can’t make that visual connection.

Attention can sometimes require you, as a trainer, to really look at your participants for those details that tell you when and what to ask from them.

And it takes courage to let the silence speak sometimes and not be anxious in those moments when nobody wants to answer. Realize that they are like you – there to learn but sometimes comfortable as spectators. To know how to interpret the silence and give the learning process that time to happen is truly on of the gifted teachers attributes we all aim for.

            How can apps integrate these ancient needs of the trainer in their features? These are some well-needed questions for the digital realm to evolve and us with it.