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Comment by welkie | Hacker News Reader

> distance learning greatly reduces the instructor's workload

Disagree based on my experience tutoring online. I had to prep and then spend my time with them on webcam.

The story is different for asynchronous online learning, for example with students watching prerecorded videos and completing assignments. However, not everyone learns well that way. We'll probably need a blend of synchronous and asynchronous learning going forward.

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Agreed, depending on context. I have taken a number of online courses through Lynda (now: LinkedIn Learning) and Santa Fe Institute's Complexity Explorer, and the format suits me well. But for university and college, I imagine there would be a need for at least some human interaction beyond the bi-monthly fireside chats SFI put on for their students.

Half of the classes I took at Ryerson University were online. The instructors were only there for feedback, questions, and grading, and even then, only through email or a text chat. It was definitely an easy period for them.

Tutoring is a different beast since by definition it requires a lot of interaction.

My spouse is a professor at a large university. Her time is spent setting up virtual classrooms, online office hours (there’s more hours there), grading online, preparing/producing videos and configuring and using their many interactive tools.

If anything, I see less of her due to her workload and she works from home while I live in it.

It’s not easier than brick-n-mortar. It’s a whole new approach.

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