I am looking forward to schools reopening and in-person teaching resuming. The tech industry has ballyhooed the potential of online learning for years. Twenty-twenty was the first real test, and it failed badly. Poorer students with fewer tech resources (good laptops and strong internet) and kids with busy parents have suffered most. Many of the under-appreciated parts of in-school instruction have become clear. My kids’ school principal summed it up best with a simple example. When you teach in a classroom, and you see a student lose focus, all you have to do is stand over them with your arms crossed for 20 seconds. They notice and usually get back to work. This just isn’t possible on a Zoom conference call.
Alistair Barr [Bloomberg Technology email, 2021-01-04]