Summary of "MOOCs in Developing Countries: Opportunities and Challenges" by Dr. Om Prakash Tiwari

 

COVID-19 and the Learning Gap induced by Online Education among Elementary Students

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced teachers and parents to quickly adapt to a new educational context: online learning. Teachers developed online academic material while some students were deprived of the access to online learning. Considering that the use of digital tools in education has dramatically increased during this crisis, and it is set to continue, there is a pressing need to understand the impact of online education. Taking a multidisciplinary view, this paper argues that by making the learning process rely more than ever on family, its financial status to afford internet and media to access rather than on teachers, and by getting students to work predominantly via digital resources, school closures exacerbate social class academic disparities. This study is based on the assumption that disrupted school years have got serious long-term effects on the learning of students. Based on the survey conducted online among parents of 30 elementary school students (classes 1-8), there is clearly a disparity among access of online education resulting in learning gap between students of various social strata. To address this burning issue, we propose an agenda for future research and outline recommendations to help parents, teachers and policymakers to limit the impact of the lockdown on social-class-based academic inequality by availing incentives to provide equity for all.

 

Keywords: online education, learning gap, disparity, academic inequality, digital divide

Introduction

The widespread effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that emerged in 2019–2020 have drastically increased health, social and economic inequalities. For more than 900 million learners around the world, the pandemic led to the closure of schools and universities. This exceptional situation forced teachers, parents and students to quickly adapt to a new educational context: online learning. Primary and secondary school students suddenly had to work with various kinds of support, which were usually provided online by their teachers. Despite the best efforts of educational institutions, parents and teachers to keep all children and students engaged in learning activities, ensuring educational continuity during school closure—something that is difficult for everyone—may pose unique material and psychological challenges for working-class families and students. Not only did the pandemic lead to the closure of schools in many countries, often for several weeks, it also accelerated the digitalization of education and amplified the role of parental involvement in supporting the schoolwork of their children.

Thus, beyond the specific circumstances of the COVID-19 lockdown, we believe that studying the effects of the pandemic on academic inequalities provides a way to examine the consequences of school closure and related effects more broadly on learning situations due to availability of proper internet connection and media for learning. Research was held online through google forms with a questionnaire of 15 questions where parents of 30 elementary school students responded. Elementary school students were selected because this is the age where students in Kerala usually do not own mobile phones or laptops and study was held on how they were able to tackle the situation. Parents were chosen instead of students as responses of elementary school students may not be accurate.

The Digital Divide

Unequal access to digital resources: Though India is said to have improved in terms of availability of digital access, there is a visible digital divide in our country. Social class is a strong predictor of this disparity. Upper/middle-class families are more likely to be able to guarantee a suitable workspace for each child than their working-class counterparts. In the context of school closures, such disparities are likely to have important consequences for educational continuity. Having a mobile phone/computer and an internet connection are the basic pre- requisites for online learning which was not available for most of the students during lockdown. Beyond the overall digital divide, social class disparities are also evident in developing countries, with lower access to digital resources among households in which parental educational levels were low versus households in which parental educational levels were high.

Unequal digital skills: In addition to unequal access to digital tools, there are also systematic variations in digital skills. Upper/middle-class families are more familiar with digital tools and resources and are therefore more likely to have the digital skills needed for distance learning. These digital skills are particularly useful during school closures, both for students and for parents, for organizing, retrieving and correctly using the resources provided by the teachers. Moreover, because working-class people tend to persist less than upper/middle-class people when confronted with digital difficulties, the use of digital tools and resources for distance learning may interfere with the ability of parents to help children with their schoolwork.

 Use of digital tools: A third level of digital divide concerns variations in digital tool use. Upper/middle-class families are more likely to use digital resources for work and education whereas working-class families are more likely to use these resources for entertainment, such as electronic games or social media. Furthermore, working-class families appear to regulate the digital practices of their children less and are more likely to allow screens in the bedrooms of children and teenagers without setting limits on times or practices.

In sum, inequalities in terms of digital resources, skills and use have strong implications for distance learning. This is because they make working-class students and parents particularly vulnerable when learning relies on extensive use of digital devices rather than on face-to-face interaction with teachers.

The Cultural Divide

Even if all three levels of digital divide were closed, upper/ middle-class families would still be better prepared than working-class families to ensure educational continuity for their children. Upper/middle-class families are more familiar with the academic knowledge and skills that are expected and valued in educational settings, as well as with the independent, autonomous way of learning that is valued in the school culture and becomes even more important during school closure.

School closures amplify the impact of cultural inequalities: School closures, by making learning rely more strongly on practices implemented at home (rather than at school), are likely to amplify the impact of these disparities. Therefore, when they are out of school, children from upper/ middle-class backgrounds may continue to develop academic skills unlike their working-class counterparts, who may stagnate or even regress. Research also indicates that learning loss during school breaks tends to be cumulative. Thus, repeated episodes of school closure are likely to have profound consequences for the social class achievement gap.

Unequal dispositions for autonomy and self-regulation: School closures have encouraged autonomous work among students. This ‘independent’ way of studying is compatible with the family socialization of upper class students, but does not match the interdependent norms more commonly associated with working-class contexts. Upper/middle-class contexts tend to promote cultural norms of independence whereby individuals perceive themselves as autonomous actors, independent of other individuals and of the social context, able to pursue their own goals. Conversely, in working-class contexts characterized by low economic resources and where life is more uncertain, individuals tend to perceive themselves as interdependent, connected to others and members of social groups. This interdependent self-construal fits less well with the independent culture of academic contexts. This cultural mismatch between interdependent self-construal common in working-class students and the independent norms of the educational institution has negative consequences for academic performance.

The Structural Divide: Unequal Support from Schools

The issues reviewed thus far all increase the vulnerability of children and students from underprivileged backgrounds when schools are closed. To offset these disadvantages, it might be expected that the school should increase its support by providing additional resources for working-class students. However, recent data suggest that differences in the material and human resources invested in providing educational support for children during periods of school closure were, paradoxically, in favour of upper/middle-class students. For example, upper/middle-class parents reported benefiting from online classes and video-conferencing with teachers more often than working-class parents.

Thus, the achievement gap and its accentuation during lockdown are due not only to the cultural and digital disadvantages of working-class families but also to unequal support from schools. This inequality in school support is not due to teachers being indifferent to or even supportive of social stratification. The fact that upper/ middle-class parents are better able than working-class parents to comply with the expectations of teachers may have reinforced this phenomenon. These discrepancies echo data showing that working-class students tend to request less help in their schoolwork than upper/middle-class ones, and they may even avoid asking for help because they believe that such requests could lead to reprimands. During lockdowns, these students (and their families) may in consequence have been less likely to ask for help and resources. Jointly, these phenomena have resulted in upper/middle-class families receiving more support from schools during lockdown than their working-class counterparts.

First, research showing that social class is associated with unequal access to digital tools, unequal familiarity with digital skills and unequal uses of such tools for learning purposes. We then argue that these digital, cultural and structural divides represent barriers to the ability of parents to provide appropriate support for children during distance learning (Fig. 1). These divides also alter the levels of self-efficacy of parents and children, thereby affecting their engagement in learning activities. There is also lack of interest in students to attend online classes and tests seriously which also widens the gap. Majority of the parents claim that online education in a country like India is not as beneficial as offline class and have found a significant level of degradation in the level of achievement of students after the lockdown.  

Analysis of the Responses

 Responses from 30 elementary school parents were taken though online questionnaire. Their responses are tabulated and represented in the form of bar graphs or pie charts.

·       Are you aware of the learning gap that children face due to the break in the normal education pattern?                      

Only a minority of parents are unaware of the learning gap that was induced by the covid lockdown and the resulted online education.

  

 

·       In order to compensate the learning loss, what extra measures have you taken as a parent?

Almost half of the parents provided students extra books for reading and introduced them to learn something new. It is evident that major share of parents was unable to do anything for their children because of their lack of awareness or time.

 

·       Do you feel that performance level of your child changed during online education compared to the time before?

Majority of the parents found out that the performance of their children decreased during COVID times which determines the learning gap.

 

 

·       Are you satisfied with the online education provided to your kid from the school? Was it effective?

Parents are partially satisfied with the education school provided. Only a few number answered as completely satisfied.

 

 

 

 

 

·       How did your child attend his/her online education?

Most of the students use the mobile phone of their parents to do their online education. About 1/4^th of students have their own phone or ipad. There were no students who never attended online class in the selected sample.

 

 

·   Did your child get maximum use of broadcasted in VICTERS channel?  As television is a common medium for Kerala household,  VICTERS is a platform to equalize the opportunity of education for all. But it is shown that majority of the students did not took full benefit out of it. This is another reason for the discrepancy as effective use of this might have reduced the learning gap between different strata of society.

 

·       Which of the other learning support have you provided to your child other than online classes provided by the school?

Most of the parents responded that help was given by the parents or elder siblings. This clearly shows the dependence of students on their family for education during online learning. The learning may vary as per the knowledge and time that could be spend by the parent of sibling. Only a few can afford to give online tuition or enrol their kids in learning apps as it would require a huge some of money. COVID was a time of financial instability which made parents unaffordable to extra care. Most of the parents did do something to reduce the learning gap of their children but the effectiveness varies which results in a gap.

·       Did your child face any interruptions learning online? If yes which one?

Network issue is pointed to be the pertinent issue of Kerala household. Most of the rural areas have a very weak signal strength which would make the uninterrupted classes far from reality. This affects the level of learning of children as they are near to not attending classes. Installing a wifi connection could be too dear for a normal working household of Kerala. Some parents shared their concern about inability to give their phones for children when they are at work or multiple children in a household sharing a single mobile phone. There were various initiatives to avail mobile phones to children which was a good step.

·       Have you checked your child’s progress or kept in contact with teachers during online classes?

Most of the problems arise due to online learning is because of the thought of many students that this is unnecessary. Most of the parents also leave them unchecked. Parents not checking on their children’s progress also found it as reason for learning gap.

 

·       Do you feel that online education benefits your kid as much as offline education?

Surprisingly large number of parents say that online education is not as effective as thought it could be. This is because of the learning gap they found in their kids. The strategies that are not suitable for online learning has also resulted in the ineffective nature of online learning.

·       How often was your child able to attend online classes?

Above 60% of the students were able to attend online classes regularly. The rest 40% turns out to be the socially disadvantaged as students lacked either devices or a stable internet connection.

 

Practical Recommendations

Interventions targeting families should also address the psychological barriers faced by working-class families and children. Some interventions have already been designed and been shown to be effective in reducing the social class achievement gap, particularly in mathematics and language. It is also necessary to help teachers to engage in practices that have a chance of reducing inequalities. Particularly important is that teachers and schools ensure that homework can be done by all children, for example, by setting up organizations that would help children whose parents are not in a position to monitor or assist with the homework of their children.

Limitations of the study

This research has been done only among parents of 30 students which makes it unable to generalize in a wide context. Also, the research was done at the time of lockdown, in online method to avoid physical contact. So, the prerequisite to be part of this research is to have a mobile phone which puts people not having a device out of the purview of this research.

Conclusion

The unprecedented nature of the pandemic made us understand that we lack strong data on what the school closure period is likely to produce in terms of learning deficits and the reproduction of social inequalities. There are good reasons to predict that this period of school closures has accelerated the reproduction of social inequalities in educational achievement. By making school learning less dependent on teachers and more dependent on families and digital tools and resources, school closures were likely to greatly amplify social class inequalities. At a time when many countries are experiencing second, third or fourth waves of the pandemic, resulting in fresh periods of local or general lockdowns, systematic efforts to test these predictions are urgently needed along with steps to reduce the impact of school closures on the social class achievement gap. Online learning widens the social class achievement gap and we propose an agenda for future research. In addition, there should be recommendations that should help parents, teachers and policymakers to use social science research to limit the impact of school closure and distance learning on the social class achievement gap.

References

1)    Asadullah, N., Bhattacharjee, A., Tasnim, M. & Mumtahena, F. COVID-19, schooling, and learning (BRAC Institute of Governance & Development, 2020); https://bigd.bracu.ac.bd/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/COVID-19- Schooling-and-Learning_June-25-2020.pdf

2)    Kihui, N. Kenya: 80% of students missing virtual learning amid school closures—study. AllAfrica (18 May 2020); https://allafrica.com/stories/ 202005180774.html

3)    Harris, C., Straker, L. & Pollock, C. A socioeconomic related ‘digital divide’ exists in how, not if, young people use computers. PLoS ONE 12, e0175011 (2017).

4)    Vogels, E. Digital divide persists even as americans with lower incomes make gains in tech adoption (Pew Research Center, 2021); https://www. pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/06/22/digital-divide-persists-even-asamericans-with-lower-incomes-make-gains-in-tech-adoption.