Ricardo Braginski
05/27/2021 12:06 AM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 05/27/2021 12:06 AM
When it comes to remote teaching, many tend to think of Zoom classes, or any other video conferencing platform. And although it is known that a large part of the population
does not have enough devices or connectivity
to carry out this type of synchronous classes (live, with the teacher and classmates at the same time,
as if it were a face-to-face classroom
), until now It was not known how many Argentine schools are actually able to organize a scheme based on these online classes.
A new report from the Observatorio Argentinos por la Educación
put a number on the phenomenon
. It found that synchronous classes and educational platforms were used
in less than 20% of schools
. The representative research was carried out during the first months of the school year
in urban public primary schools throughout the country
.
From there it appears that the means most used by schools and teachers to offer remote education to elementary school children were
printed materials (34%)
and
sending digital files (29%),
mainly through WhatsApp.
Only afterwards come the
classes by videoconference
(Zoom, Meet or another system), in 19.6% of the cases.
While only 8% chose to use an educational platform, such as Google Classroom, Moodle, among others.
v 1.5
Distance classes so far this year
In public elementary schools.
On %.
Non-face-to-face classes are held through
How are non-contact assignments submitted?
Does the student have the appropriate means at home to be able to carry out the virtual activities proposed by the school?
Argentine Observatory for Education
Source
Infographic:
Clarín
“When the kids are at home, on the days when they don't go to school, they work with assignments that the teachers give them: in textbooks, or with printed materials, but
not in synchronous classes
.
This implies that, especially for the youngest, they
need to have the support of their families
to solve them.
As we know from last year, this
widens inequalities
, because not everyone has at their disposal adults who can accompany them in this remote study, "
Melina Furman (University of San Andrés), co-author of the report, together with Víctor Volman and Federico
, told
Clarín
Braga.
A challenge.
Younger kids hate Zoom's and a proper pedagogical approach is required, experts say.
Bloomberg
The pedagogue Irene Kit warns that, in any case,
the use of the Zoom is not a sign of quality in itself
.
He affirms that there must be
a pedagogical model that takes advantage of it
.
“The Zoom, in itself, says nothing about the pedagogical quality of what the students are receiving.
A paper-based model can be of higher quality.
If I have a synchronous class model that can take advantage of Zoom, fine.
But this must be achieved by 20% of the schools with Zoom, that is,
20% of the 20% ”, he
assured.
One bubble here, the other there
Experts believe that the main reason why few schools are implementing synchronous classes has to do with
the same way the school
year
was organized
this year. With protocols and distancing that forced many schools to alternate bubbles with face-to-face classes and others with distance classes. The study shows that 3 out of 4 (75.2%) urban state primary schools
opted for bimodality this year
.
“Teachers in general are
working with the kids from one bubble while the other bubble is at home
. Few schools were able to rearrange the teaching teams so that some can give virtual classes while others are with the students at school. In some cases there are half the students in class while
others connect synchronously
from their homes, but they are the fewest and it is difficult to implement ”, says Furman.
But in addition to the school organization
there are difficulties with the same format of the videoconferences
. “Classes on Zoom
tend to be pretty bad
. A good didactic approach to teaching from contexts other than the classroom has not yet been developed.
Younger children
generally
hate Zooms
. And feedback is very difficult to do virtually. So
the problem is not Zoom yes or Zoom no
, but if there is a pedagogical model that supports it. And the truth is that, in most cases, there isn't, ”says Kit, who chairs the Asociación Civil Educación para Todos.
“With this I am not saying that it is the same to have or not to have Zoom.
But it is useless if the teacher does not have a mechanism to know precisely whether or not each student is understanding what they are saying: something that in the classroom is very difficult to do and
in Zoom even more difficult
”, adds the specialist.
Dissatisfied parents
The survey also had questions related to parents' compliance with their children's learning and the results speak for themselves.
Although 85.5% of the families surveyed indicated that the students had remote education during 2020,
52.7% said they were dissatisfied with what they learned
.
v 1.5
Dissatisfied parents
Opinion of families about distance education.
On %.
Are you satisfied with the student's learning during 2020?
Once the pandemic is under control and we are back to normal, how would you prefer the education provided by the school to the students to be?
Argentine Observatory for Education
Source
Infographic:
Clarín
Three out of every four families (74%) prefer that, when the pandemic passes,
schooling is only face-to-face again
.
María Cortelezzi, educational evaluation consultant, points out that the beginning of the 2021 school year made it possible at the national level to advance in
a hybrid system
in primary school for the first time, and highlights as "interesting" that a quarter of parents expect that in a scenario back to normal, this modality continues.
Furman has another vision. “Although we are better than last year, we are still in a difficult time for the education of the boys. The school experience of students in 2021
will be less intense than before the pandemic
. Compensating for these losses requires that each school be able to
prioritize the most important learning
and generate strategies to accompany as closely as possible the children who are not achieving them ”, he says.
And he proposes, as an example, the implementation of “small group tutorials, taking into account those who need more help. Also, to be able to make an alliance with families guiding them on how to help children in remote learning. And teach children, from the earliest years, learning strategies (how to organize, how to seek information, how to self-evaluate) so that they develop the autonomy and the ability to learn to learn so necessary for life ”.