It’s hard to predict what learning will look like in the future but already pupils are accessing national qualifications online - and they need to be taught the skills to succeed.
Education Scotland’s Ollie Bray made the call at an event in Kelso, in the Scottish Borders, in light of an increasing number of students in senior secondary who, when a particular course is not available in their school, are using online learning platforms, such as e-Sgoil, to get access to qualifications.
But instead of throwing senior secondary students in at the deep end and just expecting them to have the skills they need to embark on “structured online learning”, Mr Bray made the case for schools building these skills over time, starting in primary.
Upper primary pupils, he suggested, could be encouraged to link up online with their peers in other schools on a weekly or termly basis to do project work, so they get used to using technology to collaborate. And then, lower secondary schools could make short online courses of around six weeks available to pupils as electives in S2 or S3 so that they get a taste of learning online.
This would help prepare them for any online learning in the senior phase, he argued, but also give them the skills they need to keep on learning in the 21st century.
Mr Bray - Education Scotland strategic director for curriculum innovation, design and pedagogy - made his comments at the Inspire Learning Festival in Kelso last week, where he delivered a keynote address on the final day of the festival looking at what the future might hold for technology in education.
During his address, Mr Bray praised Scottish Borders Council for being “world class” in its approach to building a digital culture.
Since April 2019, the council has been rolling out iPads to every teacher and every child from P4 to S6.
But Mr Bray said the council’s approach was worthy of praise because it was not just about the technology, it was about “digital transformation”.
On the subject of online learning, Mr Bray said: “In the future, more and more young people will learn in a structured online way in life - we saw that during the lockdown and we know that there are a number of senior phase young people now that access various [Scottish Qualifications Authority] courses via a consortium. That could be via e-Sgoil, via local consortium or via local colleges in an online way.
“But actually, young people aren’t always very good at this. Young people and adults are quite good at finding information from the internet and using that - but learning in a structured online way to fit into a certain kind of course is a harder thing to do.
“So, if we make the assumption that, actually, to be more equitable, young people will learn in a structured online way in the future and have access to those courses, how do we build their skills so when they get to that point they are going to succeed?”
In his address, Mr Bray also warned schools and teachers against being “seduced by the shiny things” instead of using “the right tools at the right time”, and challenged schools to think about whether or not they were teaching “the most basic skills”, such as being able to search the internet well. He said that a big concern for parents was “disinformation” and “inappropriate content”.
He said: “These are quite often the things we don’t do well, we just assume they have been done.”
The impact of technology on teachers and pupils features in a number of motions at the EIS teaching union’s AGM later this week.
One motion will ask the union to reaffirm “the primacy of face-to-face, in-person classroom interactions as a fundamental component of quality learning and teaching”.
The Glasgow EIS local association wants the union “to ensure that the National E-Learning Offer (Nelo) and any plans for the expansion of online learning options, will not lead to the replacement or devaluing of the role of the classroom teacher in delivering quality learning, teaching and assessment”.
