I haven't given my daughter, or her friends, enough credit. They're in their last year of high school, in the throes of assignments, major projects and preparation for the biggest, most needlessly stressful, exams of their school life. Last week they stopped attending school and had all their face to face hours moved to their school's online platform. I've been inspired by the students' inventive responses to these unfolding events.
There has been a lot of information doing the rounds lately about our experience as parents - articles, photos, videos, memes - and the challenges many of us now face as we try to manage our transition from workplace to home, and how the presence of our kids simply adds to that complexity. And I totally agree. There seems to be layer upon layer of complexity added to our daily lives on pretty much a... well, daily basis.
... a story worth telling.
However there doesn't yet seem to be as much talk about how our kids may be responding to this challenge to pedagogy. How will they adapt to this new world? Will their education suffer? Will they simply roll their eyes, throw their devices in the air and give up on their teachers' (or parents') attempts to engage with the virtual world? Will their friendship networks atrophy and break up, causing mass isolation and even more acute depression in those most vulnerable?
So many questions. I'm only going to briefly address the first one (the others are beyond me). Keep in mind the data sample is small. One. Nevertheless, it's a story worth telling.
The moment the word got out they would be moving to online learning, some of my daughter's class mates did something very useful and, in my opinion, inherently wise: they set up a Discord server and with it have attempted to replicate all their school spaces by creating separate channels for each. What does that mean? Well, for instance, there's a Maths class for each level of Maths taught in my daughter's year, and each is further identified by the name of its teacher (although teachers are not part of this social initiative - more on this some other time). These channels serve as a virtual classroom where everyone congregates during the time the class is being held, essentially mirroring the school's timetable for every subject. So, when class is on, my daughter and her classmates jump into that channel either via text, voice or video, and can share the learning experience online. This might include anything from asking each other questions based on the material being taught, engaging in light-hearted banter or sending each other short 'notes' via private messages. These channels are open to anyone in her year.
When the allocated time for a class finishes, the students simply disperse into other channels, be they other classroom channels or, more creatively, any of the replicated social spaces the kids use during breaks or lunchtimes, such as the school common, the library and even the school canteen. These channels are spaces where students can maintain their social groups, or potentially explore others, and just 'hang out'.
Is being on Discord for these kids just like being in the classroom, or at school in general? Of course not, and I suggest anyone who believes they can fully replicate a physical classroom or school experience in the digital world is on a fool's errand. The real wisdom behind this artful project lies not in how best to replicate a school experience, but in how best to ensure everyone stays connected.
... it may have enhanced the learning experience beyond any expectation.
I can't speak for the kids' motivations in setting up a Discord server. Perhaps it was driven by a genuine intent to stay engaged with the curriculum and mitigate any imminent disadvantage to performance given the circumstances. Perhaps it was an anarchic adolescent middle finger to an institution specifically, and a broader education system more generally. Or maybe there was no conscious intent at all, but simply a natural expression of how they already engage with the world, day in day out. I'm not sure they'd know themselves, nor am I convinced it even matters.
What strikes me is that with the imminent scattering of the school population, the response to the potential diasporic impact was to find a way to stay connected to each other. It points to an intuitive understanding of the impacts of a continuously fluid context. In turn it has triggered adaptive behaviour, with no signs of social arrhythmia. Not only have these students not skipped a beat, I would venture to suggest that, for some, it may have enhanced the learning experience beyond any expectation. They responded this way because it was, for them, the best way around a problem not of their own making.
Adaptability is emergent. It is the creative exercise of practical judgement in the here and now. And our children are showing us the way. They are teaching me so much. I'm proud of them.
#connectedness #adaptability #emergence #judgement #children #creativity #School #pedagogy #learning #complexity #discord
Originally published on LinkedIn 30/03/2020.
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