3 Learning to learn online

Figure 4 Classrooms like this one in Uganda can be happy places, but they can also restrict the ways in which learning and teaching takes place.

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A photograph from a classroom in Uganda. Wooden shutters are open and unbolted, exposing a window without glass. Ten boys have crowded to look out of the window towards the camera. They are smiling, and most wear a blue shirt.

Figure 4 Classrooms like this one in Uganda can be happy places, but they can also restrict the ways in which learning and teaching takes...

We learn from a very young age how to behave in an educational institution or classroom. As soon as they start school, pupils are taught where to go, what is allowed, where to focus their attention, when they can respond, when to take a break, and where resources are located. By the time students reach university, this knowledge about how to learn in a physical classroom is second nature and they rarely think of it as something they were taught.

At the same time, the constraints of a physical classroom become so much a part of life that they are hardly noticed. As a result, when people around the world moved rapidly to online teaching during the pandemic, they often reproduced these constraints. These include assumptions such as:

• Learning takes place at set times.
• Learning must be synchronous.
• The educator must see the learners.
• The learners must see the educator.
• Class members should all engage at the same time.
• Class members should all take a break at the same time.
• Learners should be suitably dressed.
• Learners should sit still.
• Technology is distracting.

Sometimes these constraints remain appropriate when teaching at a distance, but in many cases they can be set aside completely, adding flexibility to online learning.