As school goes virtual, what gets left behind?

The heart of education is relationships and community connection. This includes the vital relationship between the teacher and student, the peer community among students, and the colleague community among teachers. Up until now, these relationships rested on the laurels of assumed face-to-face interaction.

Those relationships came to grinding halt as the novel coronavirus pandemic caused school shutdowns that swept the nation at an unprecedented speed. School districts and administrators scrambled to reorganize the education system while simultaneously ensuring students’ and teachers’ needs are met.