B.C. parents raise concerns about digital learning

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — As online schooling becomes the norm and students learn to navigate a new type of classroom, parents are facing the stark realities of digital learning.

Three parents – one with elementary-aged kids, another who has a child with a disability, and the last has a son getting ready for high school – are each facing different challenges now that their child’s education has gone digital.

Karina Reid lives in Richmond and is a mother of two. She says her kids haven’t had a digital class with their teachers yet.

“Yesterday was a hard day for us. We tried doing some story workshop and it was something they would normally do in the classroom. I had to videotape what he, my eight-year-old, was doing, and he just burst into tears and said ‘I don’t know why I’m doing this. This is not how it would be in my class.'”

One of Reid’s kids is in Grade Two and the other in kindergarten.

How is their digital education going? Tonight on @CityNewsVAN I speak with parents about the different challenges they’re facing now that their child’s education has moved out of the classroom. @NEWS1130 @BT_Vancouver pic.twitter.com/xCvjsY9cgc

— Ashley Grace Burr (@AshleyBurr_) April 22, 2020

She says things have been more parent-driven helping their elementary school-aged kids complete assignments and activities sent to them by the teacher.

“I cannot imagine how parents are doing this,” Reid says. “If you’re two full-time parents working from home and trying to homeschool. I can’t imagine.”

Tamara Taggart says her 12-year-old son Beckett has Down syndrome and is having a difficult time connecting with his class through a screen.

“Beckett has been doing well. This has been a great year for him at school, but this has changed everything,” the mother of three explains.

“It’s really hard for my son. We just had a classroom online video. My son sat down for 2 seconds of it and when he realized everyone was taking a turn talking he just shut it down and is now in his room laying in his bed.”

My son did 17 min of online school ‘chats’ last week, that’s it since Mar 13. Zero learning. Our teacher + SSWs are trying but not all students can learn this way. We need a solid education plan for students with disabilities. Inclusion doesn’t exist right now. #bced #inclusion https://t.co/NkLb343JMB

— Tamara Taggart (@tamarataggart) April 20, 2020

She took to twitter Monday writing, “My son did 17 min of online school ‘chats’ last week, that’s it since Mar 13. Zero learning. Our teacher + SSWs are trying but not all students can learn this way. We need a solid education plan for students with disabilities. Inclusion doesn’t exist right now.”

Vancouver father of three, Daniel Louie, says things are going relatively well, but he’s concerned after hearing from his son that a handful of kids haven’t shown up to class yet.

“It’s consistently some of the same kids. Then you start wondering are they just avoiding [it], or what’s going on in their lives, and I’m just reminded of how much coordination family-wise and health-wise this all takes,” he says.

Neil Bryant, a boarding school Teacher at Brentwood College School on Vancouver Island, says he found many online learning tools that have become a huge part of his classes but says nothing can replace a physical classroom.

“It takes twice as much planning as it does to get three-quarters of as much done,” he says.

“Whether it is face-to-face zoom it doesn’t matter. A weaker kid will have a harder time with this medium and we are experiencing a little bit of that so we have to engage the help of the parents more than we have done in the past.”

All the parents said the responsibility put on them to coordinate their child’s learning has become overwhelming, particularly for those with younger children or those who have a child with special needs.

So far, there’s no firm timeline when students will be able to get back to their classrooms.