Can COVID-19 kick-start long-distance learning?

[rooster59]

Can COVID-19 kick-start long-distance learning?

 

 

The debate over when Thailand’s schools should reopen has become highly politicized, but it has also led to an intriguing question of whether Thai students are prepared for an increase in “distance learning”.

 

The debate was triggered by the Government’s decision to start the new semester on July 1st, giving almost ten million students an extra month of school break, due to the spread of COVID-19.

 

Nattakorn Devakula, a news presenter on Voice TV, strongly criticized the decision, because the number of daily new infections has been steadily decreasing, according to the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA). He insists that the country’s educational institutions should open sooner.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/can-covid-19-kick-start-long-distance-learning/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2020-05-16

 

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[graemeaylward]

Many schools already practice "distance learning" whereby the teacher sets the students work to do in class and then disappears to run another business!  This has happened in 2 schools that my daughter attended.

[DrTuner]

That macbook in the photo isn't available for 90% of Thai schoolkids due to costs. And that's the problem. The equipment and internet connectivity aren't for free, so the poorest will suffer.

[chrisinth]

1 hour ago, DrTuner said:

That macbook in the photo isn't available for 90% of Thai schoolkids due to costs. And that's the problem. The equipment and internet connectivity aren't for free, so the poorest will suffer.

Agreed. Possibly do-able as long as the student has the right hardware & software, access to the internet and a power supply. I mention power supply as the additional electricity used may even be too much in some cases for the monthly budget; no joke for the poorer students at all.

 

How would a household with multiple children of different ages be able to manage that on a shoe string?

 

Edit: Just for clarity, I'm not involved with the teaching world over here; there may well be simple solutions. But would like to hear them.

 

 

Edited May 16, 2020 by chrisinth

[ParkerN]

 I think that turning diversity into triumph is a wonderful and awe-inspiring thing.

 

I just fear that's not what they're doing.

 

Other places maybe, but not Thailand. Definitely not Thailand. In Thailand, with their already-under-performing educational system, an extra month's holiday is just that - an extra month with nothing useful to do. Great!

[dinsdale]

Same all over the world. This is for the those who can afford it. It's called the digital divide. Apart from that schools are an essential part of not just learning but socialisation. Schools are always and have always been a hot bead for spreading viruses. Never safe from infection. I'm a teacher and I would like to know the true situation. The junta govt just wants to look good. Open schools wait for infections/deaths then close again? Keep hearing children aren't affected as much or as severely but they can still get infected and transmit the virus. Social distancing in schools. Maybe international and private schools but not public. How will this work in a small classroom with 40+ students. Lunch time with hundreds or thousands of kids sitting around some of which could be asymptomatic carriers. 

[Cake Monster]

If there is one big plus to he argument over " Distance Learning " in Thailand, its that he KIds will be safe from the Sexual Predators, Violent Abusers , and general Bullying from so called " Teachers " and Administrators in the Schools.

These so called Teachers Etc , are rife in Thai Schools, and they need to be found out and dealt with. There is barely a day goes by, when there is not some bad news of some poor child being attacked in their School ( a place  where they should be safe ), and it something that the Government should hang their heads in shame over.

 

[prism]

I totally agree with Nattakorn Devakula's criticism. Delaying the opening of schools all the way to July 1st creates an unnecessary hardship to the students, parents and the teachers. Distance learning is a poor replacement to being in the classroom, plus many students in Thailand can't afford the basic tools for online learning. This is why were seeing quite a few countries opening up their schools.   

[ben2talk]

10 hours ago, DrTuner said:

That macbook in the photo isn't available for 90% of Thai schoolkids due to costs. And that's the problem. The equipment and internet connectivity aren't for free, so the poorest will suffer.

There are some good examples - like 'The Maths Factor' and some of Khan Academy - which show how some lessons can be very well placed online, in video and interactive applications. NO guarantee of access, but simply putting the material out there for those that CAN access it.

 

They're not particularly difficult. In fact, going just one or two steps further than simply writing down the curriculum in code... all of the Thai curriculum could be made available in a very short time if they had any smarts, or desire.

 

Then schools could reopen with students attending possibly over 6 days, 1/3 of students attending each day for 2 full days per week.

 

Certainly my boy is doing more reading, riting and rithmatic in about 2.5 to 3 hours each day than he gets in school.

 

But forget about the International schools, forget about the hugely wealthy bilingual schools, or the hugely wealthy cheap 'Sarasas' type schools - most of which have actually done nothing at all to answer this crisis. The rest of the schools are left out in the cold.

[Sundown]

10 hours ago, DrTuner said:

That macbook in the photo isn't available for 90% of Thai schoolkids due to costs. And that's the problem. The equipment and internet connectivity aren't for free, so the poorest will suffer.

That's not a MacBook

[tjo o tjim]

Even in the most affluent areas, it only works if the parent can become the teacher. That is a lot of extra pressure on a parent, moreso on poorer families. 

[hotchilli]

On 5/16/2020 at 8:42 AM, rooster59 said:

Nattakorn Devakula, a news presenter on Voice TV, strongly criticized the decision, because the number of daily new infections has been steadily decreasing, according to the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA). He insists that the country’s educational institutions should open sooner.

I agree, it's time to get the kids back into the classroom, face masks and gel, mandatory.

June 1st is achievable, if the numbers are zero at home they can be acceptable in the classroom!