The advent of the pandemic has brought many challenges to the educational sector, with teaching and assessment moving online. This move has effectively meant that the only education possible in recent times has been distance education. In this respect, it is worth remembering that distance education typically leads to lower educational outcomes (lower pass rates) than face-to-face education.
A significant reason for this is that distance education requires far greater self-discipline than face-to-face education. Not only is it possible to avoid the glare of the teacher in a digital environment, the isolation of distance education leads to less interaction with fellow students. This can lead to lower motivation levels due to reduced societal pressure to perform and keep up with the peer group. In short, distance education makes it easy to focus on pleasant distractions rather than the hard slog that learning entails.
A frequently promoted solution is “edutainment”, implying that educational material should have entertainment value (i.e. “learning should be fun”). The logic is that if learning is as pleasant and easy as relaxation, it is more likely that a student will engage with the material. In this respect, I recently came across a thought-provoking concern with the edutainment concept:
“…I may be here reminded of the necessity of rendering instruction agreeable to youth…but an age in which children are taught the driest doctrine by the insinuating method of instructing games, has little reason to dread the consequences of study being rendered too serious or severe… It may…be subject of serious consideration, whether those who are accustomed only to acquire instruction through the medium of amusement, may not be brought to reject that which approaches under the aspect of study; whether those who learn history by the cards, may not be led to prefer the means to the end; and whether, were we to teach religion in the way of sport, our pupils may not thereby be gradually induced to make sport of their religion.”
Sir Walter Scott wrote those words in 1814 in his novel, Waverley, but they might as well have been written in response to a modern thought paper and educational trends. In the same chapter, Scott argues that limiting studies to that which is pleasant to the pupil means that self-discipline and perseverance are never developed. These are necessary skills to develop the ability to concentrate the powers of the mind on a difficult problem later in life.
These arguments raise some interesting points which may be worth pondering as we consider current educational trends:
- Edutainment is a very old debate, lasting for at least a century. Contrary to some claims, the clamouring for edutainment has therefore not arisen from new technology or a better understanding of how learning takes place. Instead, we could (somewhat provocatively) argue that the real cause is that human beings shy away from anything that is immediately uncomfortable or unpleasant, irrespective of the long-term necessity or reward.
- Some skills cannot be taught by playing games. If edutainment was discovered at least a century ago, there must be some reason why it did not take over the educational establishment. The classical argument of resistance to change holds far less water when viewed against the length of the debate. Perhaps the reason is indeed that teaching self-discipline and perseverance is inextricably linked to teaching knowledge and skills. The latter cannot be acquired without the former.
- Self-discipline is essential for learning. Whether learning takes place is less dependent on the method of delivery (and how entertaining it is), but more dependent on the desire to obtain the knowledge or skills being imparted. When a matter is of extreme and immediate importance, everyone has the necessary focus to learn. However, when the benefit is more abstract or far into the future, it becomes more difficult to weight the risk and rewards involved. Self-discipline is the skill that enables us to continue with an immediately unpleasant activity (such as work or study) when the reward is undefined and far into the future.
One lesson with wide appeal from the pandemic appears to be that the majority of people long for education to return to face-to-face teaching. Many reasons have been advanced for this desire. However, a suggestion that face-to-face teaching is more fun for students is not one of them. Perhaps, if we are very honest with ourselves, what we desire is the external discipline, which comes even with the blandest face-to-face teaching models, to help us overcome our lack of self-discipline.
If this is a valid conclusion, educational outcomes could improve (whether face-to-face or distance education) if we become better at teaching self-discipline to ourselves and others, rather than enabling our human weaknesses by aiming for entertainment instead. Changing the aim of teaching models may well bring great rewards – if only we could find the self-discipline to do so!