Thanksgiving.
One thing we can be thankful for: the opportunity to teach and learn.
Thanksgiving is upon us - the Canadian version, which unlike its American counterpart does not entail a lot of shopping. It’s also the start of Reading Week at the University of Waterloo and some other Canadian universities, which is a welcome break after the hectic month of September. September is always a crazy month in higher education in Canada, and in 2020 that craziness was through the roof.
The annual gourd.
Thanksgiving is a time to eat, but it’s also a time to reflect. At first glance there doesn’t seem to be a lot to give thanks for: the COVID-19 pandemic is surging around the world, straining health systems and communities; the justified protests against anti-black violence and racism have receded but the injustices remain; the latest wave of forest fires has ended, but we know more will come. Life for so many people has been disrupted in 2020, and all of us must contend with uncertainty and new realities.
For those of us in education, we can be thankful that through all of this, we’ve been able to keep teaching and learning. There have been bumps along the way - just ask anyone with kids in primary or secondary school - and there will be more adjustments and changes. But we can be grateful that the pandemic didn’t strike 15 or even a little as 10 years ago. Had that been the case, schools, colleges and universities would have been unable to stay open virtually: the online capacity just wasn’t there.
Online education isn’t the answer to all our prayers, but it has proven its value during the pandemic. Without it, education would have come to a halt. We can be grateful that that hasn’t happened, because it’s only through educating people that we’ll have the means to meet the many challenges facing our society.
This is a “rebuilt” post - somehow I deleted the original. I can be such a klutz.
For Fall Term 2020 this blog will be exploring issues informing education during a pandemic. It is appearing as part of a graduate seminar on online teaching and learning. You can read more about the seminar or see the other posts.
Post 24/60.