Tipping Point for Online Learning? On Questioning the Right Assumptions

Is the COVID-19 crisis the tipping point for online learning? The crisis has forced schools and universities to close, pushing often unprepared institutions to move teaching and learning online or at a distance. This was not a decision educators took with great deliberation--it was forced on them by the situation. To be fair, educators have done, and will continue to do, the best they can, under the circumstances. Herein, Punya Mishra suggests the need for educators to approach the decisions they make today with caution and humility. And, as the technologists, they need to step out of their boxes and be willing to learn. Mishra states that educators need to talk to historians, philosophers, artists, and humanists; people who have thought deeply about these issues, not necessarily from a techno-centric perspective. Mishra goes on to summarize Neil Postman's 1998 Denver talk entitled, "Five Things We Need to Know about Technological Change."