Author Archives: Mark Richards

1. Is online learning the future of education?

   29 June 2022 2:24 pm Leave a Comment

   In some ways, education has changed very little in literally decades. Predominantly, lessons are still led by a teacher standing at the front of a class of pupils sat at desks. Blackboards may have been replaced by interactive whiteboards – but you could argue that changes to the way things are done in school over the years have been more to do with technology rather than pedagogy. 

   Indeed, anybody who sat the old ‘O’ levels back in the 70s and 80s might be forgiven for thinking that they’d travelled back in a time machine if they saw the current GCSEs – such is their similarity to those old-school exams.

   Hell, we even teach kids grammar again these days too!

   Well, yes, very little had changed… that was… until covid struck. The pandemic changed so many things for so many people. And education was not left unaffected. In fact, the extraordinary events of the last couple of years have even called into question what the notion of ‘normal’ learning is, to some extent.

   After all, it’s now apparent that learners don’t necessarily need to be physically present in the classroom for a lesson to take place anymore. 

   The wealth of new technologies that are readily available means that it is now possible to receive an education wherever and whenever you want, if you have access to a digital device.

   Most people – certainly not many teachers – had even heard of the likes of Zoom or Teams before lockdown. Now, for many, video calls and meetings have become a part of the new normal – a hybrid work routine.

   Online learning:  a revolution in education?

   So, have we entered a new era? Is online learning at the forefront of a revolution in education? Well, distance learning had been growing in popularity even before Zoom lessons were forced upon everybody during lockdown.  More than 30% of higher education students take at least one distance learning course. Although the experience that university students had of online lectures and seminars during lockdown was not particularly positive, online learning is still likely to play an important part in the education of the future.

   Online learning provides flexibility and greater choice

   One of the major advantages of online education is that it allows the teacher and the student to set their own pace of learning. It becomes possible to set a schedule that suits everyone. Online learning is also a great way to learn new skills – or to refresh existing ones.

   There is now an online distance learning course for virtually any skill and topic. Increasingly, universities are offering online versions of many of their existing programmes and courses. Away from full-time education, online learning has become the convenient way to gain acatc certificate or qualification to advance your career, in several sectors.

   A virtual classroom can be created anywhere where there is a decent internet connection. It means that the teacher and students need no longer have to travel to the same place. As well as reducing travelling costs, online learning modules are re-usable – again and again.

   Will online learning become a part of mainstream education?

   Post-pandemic, the world of business is unlikely to ever quite be the same again now that companies have experience of using Teams or Zoom as an alternative to face-to-face meetings.

   But could the same transformational impact occur in mainstream education? Could a GCSE Maths lesson on Zoom for 30 students replace a conventional classroom lesson? Probably not, at least anytime soon. However, there are many potential opportunities for schools to incorporate online learning into their normal everyday offer. Some already are doing so – with revision sessions and catch-up sessions the obvious starting point.

   Schools were forced into the online route. But now the dust has settled on covid, teachers are being creative and looking for exciting ways to explore the potential of online learning.

   TutorRight provide face-to-face and online tuition. Get in touch to find out more about the services we have available.

2. Understanding the science behind how we learn

   28 June 2022 9:32 am Leave a Comment

   As educators, it’s what we do – we help students to learn. 

   But have we actually thought about how learning occurs? Of course, engaging teaching certainly helps; but as individuals we all learn in different ways and have preferred learning styles. 

   So, what is it that helps us master something new?

   Understanding how the brain works

   The human brain is a truly remarkable thing; it does countless incredible things every single day. 

   However, it is so clever that it also makes us extremely lazy! The brain will scurry around looking for ways to stop us having to exert too much effort. This is why so many of us are prone to cutting corners a lot of the time. We naturally look for shortcuts and a way to make things easier for ourselves.

   The brain loves it when it can slip into autopilot: riding a bike, driving a car, playing a game. We love it when we can do things without having to think too hard about it.

   And when we come across something new, often we find it frustrating and feel that it is too difficult.

   That’s a pupil in a classroom right there – trying to learn something they don’t know and don’t really have much interest in.

   This is why – to learn something – you need to practise enough times so that the brain recognises it and puts it into autopilot for you.

   Trigger and reward

   Humans are hardwired to need both a trigger and a reward to make us want to do something. The trigger needs to be something that kickstarts the brain into realising it must be time to try out the new skill that has been learned. The reward is the motivation for doing something. For most of us, there has to be a reward. There must be something in it for us.

   How does this look in a classroom setting? A student is faced with a poem. The brain recognises that is often asked to analyse language features. This reminder acts as the trigger to begin analysing the use of simile and metaphor in the poem. The reward is the thought of positive feedback or a high grade, and the possibility of moving one step closer to the target grade.

   The importance of self-belief

   Last but definitely not least is the importance of self-belief. Ignore the significance of this at your peril. We need to believe that we can do something. It doesn’t matter what the ‘something’ is: a new skill, a subject topic, an exam – if our brain isn’t telling us that we can do this, the chances of success are slim.

   We also need to believe that it is normal and natural to get things wrong, fall short, or make mistakes. Understanding that we can learn and recover from setbacks is incredibly important. How we react to failure is far more telling than how we respond to success.

   A tutor can unlock potential and tap into how a student learns. Get in touch to find out more.