ESHAAL, a 12-year-old student in Grade 7, sits in front of her laptop screen attending a 45-minute math lesson online. Her video is on, the teacher can see her, but she is disconnected from the lesson. Instead, she is consumed by a private chat with her friend on another window. Such lack of engagement in online lessons is rampant and many teachers see it as an inevitable hazard of online schooling.
As many schools turn to online teaching during the current crisis, it might be a good time to consider how lessons can be redesigned to capitalise on the benefits of online schooling. Digital learning cannot replicate in-person teaching where the monitoring structure is embedded in classroom interaction. Students are forced to sit through lessons even if they find the content boring. Chats are reserved for break time or after school.
For all the scepticism that surrounds it, online teaching has shown that learning is not confined to four walls, a whiteboard, and a bell schedule. In online classes, learning outcomes are a function of lesson design and engagement strategies leading to measurable outcomes. The engagement mechanism necessitates a fast momentum where students are called upon to talk, explain, question and work together on shared white boards. For online schooling to work, the students must have maximum talk, taking turns to explain concepts and invite questions from their peers.
While it might not be possible to take questions from each and every student or call upon everyone in the class to answer questions, in online schooling, students can have their say on a minute-by-minute basis through the chat box or on digital bulletin boards such as Jamboard or Padlet. They can fill out grids, maps, timelines, work on math problems or write essays collaboratively. Online platforms also offer unique tools such as breakout rooms, instant polls, collaborative documents and chat features that can enhance engagement. In a classroom, it isn’t always possible to give everyone a chance to contribute, but for online lessons it is the lifeline of teaching and learning. This creates consistent opportunities to assess learning where students can work on open-book tests, interactive quizzes and make short presentations.
Digital classrooms encourage deeper comprehension.
In fact, frequent assessments, both formal and informal, create increased opportunities for feedback. Students receive direct feedback — written, audio or video — from their instructor, or engage in two-way conversations in a breakout room. This digital interaction allows for a level of individualised support that time-pressed in-person classes can’t offer. Students can pause, rewind and rewatch concepts that have been discussed — something impossible during a live classroom lecture.
In a volatile world wrought with political and economic uncertainty, online teaching is not only safer but cost-effective too. The technological tools that students begin using open up a world of possibilities. This is a good time to teach students how to conduct research on their own, encourage curiosity and reward independent study.
Digital classrooms encourage deeper comprehension, as children pause, replay, highlight and research concepts at their own pace. Students learn how to ask better questions, evaluate sources, take notes and present ideas clearly. They can learn from a range of sources online while in a physical classroom there is only one source to rely on — the teacher.
Online teaching is necessary to prepare students for the future as it mirrors the real world. Today’s workplaces revolve around digital communication, remote collaboration, virtual meetings and self-directed tasks. Online le-arning trains students not only in subject content but also in digital fluency and independence. Preparing students for the future means teaching in the modalities they will actually use and digital literacy is a non-negotiable asset in that journey.
Many schools continue to resist online teaching and it may feel like protecting tradition. At best, it can be a weak attempt at preserving focus and attention spans — much like the educators who resisted transcribing when it came about in the fear that writing things down will damage memory capacity.
Before writing developed, everything was committed to memory. Yet, once it started, there was no turning back. Online tools may come with their set of challenges and fears but external circumstances and technological demands have paved the way for digital learning and the quicker schools embrace it, the more equipped their students will be for an increasingly uncertain future.
Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2026.
