With the general suspension of face-to-face education in schools, universities and other institutions in that sector, due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, the education that was used to continue teaching used the names distance education, teaching interchangeably online or virtual. But the error of how those terms were being used was noticed, because it was, rather, faced with a situation that required the launching of an Emergency Remote Teaching program, he says Julio Mosquera(2020).
The scholars emphasize that while recognizing the work that institutions, teachers, students and families did to carry out education, it does not mean that face-to-face education has been transformed into a model of open, distance or online education. Yes, it must be recognized that the best that could be done was done to carry the essentials during the emergency. It is also important to distinguish between the everyday type of online education and what is being done in a rush, with limited resources and little time: Emergency Remote Teaching (ERE or ERDE), in EnglishEmergency Remote Teaching(ARE).
Many countries, including the DR, to respond to the closure of their schools and universities, implemented models such as mobile learning, known as M-learning, radio, television, blended learning (mixing traditional education with the use of modern digital technologies) and other solutions appropriate to each context.
In the article The difference between “Emergency Remote Teaching” (ERDE) and “Online Learning” (AEL), translated with permission by Raúl Santiago, the authors Hodges et al., state: “Well-planned online learning experiences are significantly different from courses offered online in response to a crisis or disaster. The schools [escuelas] and universities working to maintain instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic must understand those differences when evaluating this emergency remote teaching. ” They also refer that a characteristic associated with this modality is that the speed with which the change to ERDE is needed can decrease the quality of learning.
This concept was born with the global crisis of COVID-19 in March 2020, at which time education was faced with a situation of extreme difficulty and had to adapt its methods in a very short period of time to continue classes for its students . Its main objective is to transfer the courses that are taught in person to a remote classroom, virtual, at a distance or online. So it is important to note that ERDE is a temporary change in the delivery of alternative education due to crisis circumstances. It involves the use of didactic solutions for teaching that would otherwise be delivered face-to-face or as blended or hybrid courses and will possibly revert to that format once the crisis or emergency subsides or ends.
The primary goal in these circumstances is not to recreate a robust educational system, but rather to provide temporary access to teaching and instructional supports in a quick and easy to set up manner. The courses created should not be accepted as a long-term alternative, but rather as a solution to an immediate problem, as one of the issues of concern in the context of ERDE is the accessibility of learning materials.
As the term ERDE is completely new, the roles and tools are not defined. In the United States, for example, some educational institutions are working in person with restrictions and others online. So it depends on how the country or the institution has decided to handle the crisis is how its type of ERDE would be defined. This type of teaching has also received other names: Emergency Non-Presential Teaching in Colombia, Remote Learning in the United States and some cooperation agencies call it Education in Emergencies.
Although this situation is stressful, when it ends, the institutions will have the opportunity to evaluate how they implemented the ERDE to give continuity to their teaching work. At that point, it will be important to avoid equating ERDE with quality online learning. With careful planning, the staff of each center will be able to evaluate their efforts, which will allow them to identify strengths and weaknesses, and thus be better prepared for the possible need to go to ERDE in the future, they say.Hodges et al.
Among the advantages of the ERDE are that it prioritizes the emergency situation and ensures the well-being of its students. In addition, this new term groups together all the actions of governments, companies, non-governmental organizations and people to find solutions and keep constantly updated, so it can be changed suddenly if the emergency situation changes.
Finally, it should be noted that both distance education and education online they require careful planning and resources to accomplish their purposes. While ERDE does not leave much room for planning and, due to the dramatic situations in which it is triggered, it must generally be done with limited resources. In any case, it is very important not to allow the adoption of a certain technology or method to increase the gap between the majority and the privileged. In addition, the lesson that should remain from this situation is that the Ministry of Education should design ERDE plans for future similar crises and that the teachers and staff of the country’s educational centers have the resources, skills and competencies to respond
– .
