Major Project 1 

Should Remote-learning Be Encouraged? 

Eric Won 

University of Washington 

November 2020 

Abstract: 

As a global pandemic disease (Covid-19) forces the school community to switch from

face-to-face to remote-instruction, there is a controversy among the community on whether

remote-learning has been a benefit or detriment to the education of this generation students. This

paper outlines how flexibility, communication, and background play a role in how a student

performs in school. The question of whether remote-learning should be encouraged to continue

or discontinue as the school curriculum is answered through the research done by Eric Won. The

study goes into the logistics of research conducted by those who also wanted to see the influence

remote-learning has had on the education in the school community. Essentially, the benefits of

remote-learning do not pull the weight of the various factors that remote-instruction brings. 
 With the current global outbreak of a pandemic disease, Covid-19, educational

technology (aka EdTech) has been the continuum method of distributing education through

remote-learning during this time of crisis. Approximately one year in this remote-learning

environment, the question on whether remote-learning even after this pandemic should be

encouraged. There are claims where it states that remote-learning has allowed many students to

perform better because of factors such as better health from an improved sleep schedule or time

management from the allowed flexibility of classes; however, the question is if those benefits

outweigh any of the liabilities of remote-learning. The difference between face-to-face learning

and remote-learning is that money influences in how well a student performs when it comes to

remote-learning. All students come from various socioeconomic classes, which now plays a big

role in receiving education. Also, communication in remote-learning is close to that of a double-

edged sword as it could provide education to students from different countries, but also limits the

communication that can only be received in an in-person environment. The said benefits of

remote-learning do not compensate for the said liabilities of remote-learning, and therefore

remote-learning should not be encouraged to potentially become a curriculum in the K-12 and

collegiate level education. 

Regarding communication in remote-learning, the environment and situation for students

vary, and that is followed by such factors like distractions at home, connection interference, and
less interaction among the peers of students. Therefore, remote-learning has a limited

communicative environment. For example, Derar Serhan, a mathematics professor at Arizona

State University, wanted to conduct a study on the perspectives of remote-learning, specifically

zoom. In this study, Serhan surveyed participants that are in college on what they consider the

advantages and disadvantages of zoom. Among those students, the results of the study showed

that 42.11 percent of students said a disadvantage of zoom was distractions, 36.84 percent said

quality of interaction and feedback, 15.79 percent said poor education quality, and the last 5.26

percent said technical difficulties (Serhan 339). This shows that a majority of said disadvantages

in the collegiate level goes hand to hand. In distant learning, the motivation to interact with one

another is lowered, and the addition of distractions at home such as one’s phone or family results

in a sum of lack of motivation to study or focus in lecture. In in-person learning, there is a

societal pressure where one will follow what others are doing for their own embarrassment sake.

An example of this is when one pays attention and does classwork when one sees that all his

peers are doing so. By said “limited communicative environment,” it is referred to the missing

social pressure to be, or at least act, motivated or productive whereas in classes in EdTech like

Zoom, one can just turn off their camera, mute themselves, and are not obliged to abide social

pressure given from physically present neighboring peers. 

However, some may rebuttal that societal pressure is actually discouraging students to

learn rather than encouraging. Natalie Wexler, an education journalist, novelist, and historian,

shows an example of this through the story of a professor at Duke University. Professor Cary, a

biology instructor, says that “the switch to online learning has made it easier to figure out when

students haven’t understood a concept—which, it turns out, happens way more than she’d

realized”(Wexler). Professor Cary gave the class a question through a poll thinking it was easy
points but was surprised with over half the class getting the question wrong (Wexler). Professor

Cary later “realized that the students who volunteered to answer questions in class were those

who understood the material best, giving her a false sense of confidence that her message had

gotten across” (Wexler). This shows that students are socially pressured to not participate when

asked a question when they don’t understand the content to avoid the embarrassment of

potentially getting the question wrong. Only those who understand it will answer questions

which will give teachers a false look of how their class is actually doing in understanding the

content. Remote-learning lessens this pressure which allows students to comfortably participate

in class without as much social consequences. Also, anonymous polls or questions can be posted

in remote-learning to completely get rid of that pressure. Therefore, remote-learning increases

communication.

 In addition, the remote environment allows for more flexibility, and accessibility of class

allows for better time management. Nishatha Bijeesh is a digital content strategist at BYJU’s

who came with the article about the advantages and disadvantages of learning. Bijeesh states in

the article that “you save time…learn at your own pace…can study whenever, wherever”

(Bijeesh). With remote-learning, one is allowed to access his or her classes anywhere as long as

they have internet connection. Also, the opportunity to have more time allows students to either

have more time for breaks, work, studies, and etc. which will benefit students in the long, or even

short, run. Those students who are working jobs to help out their family and such are now able to

do so with more ease since they now don’t have to physically go to class, and even more, don’t

have to go to class at all and go listen to lectures in their own time if the class is an asynchronous

course. Remote-learning allows for flexibility, accessibility, and enhanced communication. 

 Flexibility, accessibility, and communication may have their perks with remote-learning,

but the most crucial and important aspect of education by definition is learning. Are students

learning more or less through remote than in-person? Emma Dorn, a global education practice

manager in McKinsey’s Silicon Valley office, depicts a graph that shows a projection of loss of

learning through a data graph of sixth grade math performance; it shows three different scenarios

of the learning loss of students if they were to return to in-class schooling in fall 2020, January

2021, and fall 202, and the projections shows that there will be learning loss in all three scenarios

(Dorn 4). No matter how soon students are to go back to in-person classes, there is a loss of

learning. This means that it is a given that remote-learning does result in loss of learning.

 In addition to that, the magnitude of the loss is greater with varying backgrounds of

students, specifically family income and class. Those who are in the lower end of income are at a

disadvantage when it comes to remote-learning. Remote-learning relies on availability of

technology and good internet connection. However, there are many students who can’t afford to

have one or both of those commodities. Dorn’s research provides a bar graph of average months

of learning lost in remote instruction of K-12 students: overall there is 6.8 months of learning

lost, but 12.4 months of learning lost with those students with low income (Dorn 5). Students

with low income almost double the average months of learning lost compared to those who are

not. This shows that remote-learning is unfair as only those students who can afford these

technology commodities have a better chance of receiving education. There are also a number of

students who have dropped out of school during this Covid-19 lockdown. According to Dorn,

she estimates “that an additional 2 to 9 percent of high-school students could drop out…232,000

ninth-to-11 graders (in the mildest scenario) to 1.1 million (in the worst one)”(Dorn 6). With
th

varying circumstances, those with the disadvantage of not having access to technology or
connection are subject to lose motivation to study with the factor of being locked in because of

an ongoing pandemic outbreak disease. 

The advantages or benefits of remote-instruction do not compensate for the loss which

remote-learning brings. The idea of remote-instruction being a curriculum for the collegiate and

K-12 level of education should be discouraged rather than encouraged. There are many positive

outcomes that online learning has brought into the school community. Such as the allowed

flexibility of classes and the elimination of social embarrassment brings better attitude among

students, which has increased and improved participation and feedback to the instructors, but the

school community must account for students with differing privileges in their varying financial

backgrounds. However, since instructors did not expect this switch of environment to occur,

there has to be a factor of giving them the benefit of the doubt; though this shouldn’t mean that

students and teachers take the chance of improving the structure and plan of remote-learning. A

significant amount of learning has been lost throughout the students of the US and that alone

should be a strong reason why remote-learning should not be encouraged. The economic and

social disparities among students should be reckoned as the determining factor on whether

remote-learning is suitable for educating K-12 and college students. Therefore, to simply answer

the question on whether remote-learning should be encouraged or not, the liabilities that follow

remote-instruction isn’t worth the encouragement for the education in a remote environment to

continue on after the lockdown from the global pandemic disease. 

Bibliography 
Bijeesh, Abraham, Nishatha. “Advantages and Disadvantages of Distance Learning!”

https://www.indiaeducation.net/online-education/articles/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-

distance-learning.html.

Dorn, Emma, et al. “COVID-19 and student learning in the United States: The hurt could last a

lifetime.” McKinsey & Company, 2020,

https://www.childrensinstitute.net/sites/default/files/documents/COVID-19-and-student-learning-

in-the-United-States_FINAL.pdf

“Remote Learning: the benefits, the drawbacks.” UWIRE Text, 5 July 2020, p. 1. Gale Academic

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https://www.forbes.com/sites/nataliewexler/2020/05/08/for-some-remote-learning-has-suprising-

benefits/.