Can online learning go the distance?

Some schools are closing and others are moving their classroom online. Bill Radke speaks with Audrey Watters, writer and founder of HackEducation.com, about the difficulties of distance learning.

Zoom, Panopto, Canvas, GoNoodle.

For over a decade, tech-driven education has been weaving into K-12 and higher education classrooms.

With the continued outbreak of COVID-19, schools are making plans for online learning if schools are canceled long term.

The University of Washington suspended all in-person classes and finals until the end of the quarter on March 20.

Not everyone is excited about the technological advancement.

Online and distance learning are raising concerns over digital equity among students. Audrey Watters, writer and founder of HackEducation.com notes that, "online learning isn't great for the most vulnerable."

Before schools make the move to online, Watters wants them to ensure that their students have access to the tools they will need to get work done. That's printers, WiFi or data plan, a personal computer.

Watters says the focus for schools should not be in technology as a solution for long term issues, "I think we need to build more human capacity," she says, "helping all sorts of people understand how we can better support one another in teaching and learning. And that's not an app, that's humans."