How will the ‘new normal’ change educational practices?

As we come out of isolation, families are looking forward to congregating and making up for lost time. And yet, the virus has not dissipated. Social distancing will still be enforced. So, what will “normal” look like?
    

This is one of the questions that has been debated as my college begins thinking of what our fall semester will look like. With safety and health in mind, the aspect that continually comes up is the interconnectedness of education and sociability. On a college campus, within public buildings and shared facilities, what does it look like to enforce social distancing?
    

No answers have emerged, but this fall looks quite different than any other fall we’ve encountered. Colleges across the nation have been floating the idea of outdoor classes; faculty have been asked to consider creative alternatives to the contact that typically occurs in smaller groups and in one-on-one meetings.
    

Aspects of our jobs that, perhaps, we had never before considered – like the physical  nature of teaching – have suddenly taken center stage as we prioritize the health and safety of our students and faculty.
    

The debates will continue until decisions finally get made. But while college presents its own difficulties, the difficulties of schools in general may ask us to confront something that teachers and parents already know: that learning is inseparable from active socializing. 
    

Educational studies show that lecture-based learning on its own is simply not effective. Students do not learn by sitting in seats politely listening to someone else talk at them for hours on end. Activities, dialogue and sharing with others is a necessary component to the way we process information.
    

In the 18th century, the inseparability of physical activity from the activity of the mind was highlighted by the treatises of Mary Wollstonecraft. Education is not only for the mind but also for the body; in schools, we educate the entire person.
    

These are the considerations that are up for debate as we ponder the new “normal.” Imagine what recess can look like. Imagine, for those institutions without large outdoor settings, what a classroom will look like. Images of school children wearing social distancing hats – to enforce the 6-foot distance rule – indicate the lengths that educators and parents are going to ensure that learning happens in a familiar environment, while still focusing on safety. 
    

While the enforced isolation has been difficult and the desire for normalcy has risen in the past weeks, it would be a mistake to think that we’re suddenly re-entering the same world we inhabited just a few short months ago.
    

In the upcoming months, we’ll hopefully see creative accommodations made to ensure the well-being of those around us. 
    

Rather than getting stuck in the return to the way things were, it’s time to embrace the changes that must be made, changes that have arisen from our reflections on the way we encounter others, the way we conduct business and the way we learn from those around us.  
    

Dr. Heather Bozant Witcher can be reached at hbozantwitcher@clarionherald.org.