Your Couch is Your Campus

Guess what? The kids are back on Zoom! As of this morning, a number of private schools in Tanauan have made the switch back to online classes due to a recent flu surge, buying them some time to thoroughly disinfect their campuses.

Did the grand digital return go smoothly? Of course not.

The main issue is that class discussions just aren't as engaging or rich as they are in person. When you can't see the subtle language of a classroom—a slight head nod, the raise of an eyebrow, or even a tiny smirk—it's like a comedian performing to an empty theater; it absolutely kills the motivation. We've been reminded that we truly rely on those subtle body movements and facial expressions to keep us tethered to the fact that we're talking to actual, breathing humans and not just a gallery wall of glowing rectangles.

Naturally, technical glitches are a given, and a huge number of students—mine included—were easily distracted and failed to pay attention. "Can you hear me now?" "Your mic is muted!" In a physical classroom, interruptions are usually minimized, but the moment they start learning from home, their focus is completely ambushed.

The list of obstacles is practically endless. Beyond the usual lagging and getting disconnected from Zoom, you've got: Parents hovering (or, even worse, loudly vacuuming); pets demanding a starring role in the lecture; the neighborhood, inevitably, throwing a surprise party right outside; and, of course, all that distracting tech right at their fingertips. When your classroom is also your kitchen, bedroom, and Netflix den, the temptation to procrastinate is a siren song that’s hard to ignore.

Online learning is a massive deal now. The way we educate is becoming increasingly diverse, and digital classrooms will absolutely be a huge part of that future. However, we simply can't risk damaging a whole generation of kids with unhealthy and totally ineffective Zoom schooling. After all, we're going to need them to be sharp and ready to solve all the huge, complex problems that we created in the first place.