The Dualism of Hybrid and Virtual Learning

Oliver Ricciardelli, a student at St. Joe’s Prep, described just what exactly a hybrid program is like, and how it differs from the usual learning experience and the virtual one as well.

After briefly summarizing the entire history of St. Joe’s Prep, Oliver discussed how they have managed to proceed forth in a minefield of social precautions. Students were divided by zip code into two factions, colored crimson and gray, that alternate between attending the school in person, and learning via a virtual configuration. Oliver is crimson, meaning every Monday and Tuesday, he commutes to 17th and Girard, where he will be taught in person. On Wednesdays, the building is cleaned entirely, relegating every student to the cyberspace of education. On Thursdays and Fridays, the alternate group, gray, is in-person. The school’s sanitation standards are meticulous, and strictly enforced. Tables in the cafeteria have been replaced with desks that are six feet apart, as to be consistent with the rest of the building. Anything less than surgical or cloth masks have been prohibited, including gators and bandanas. The time between classes has been extended so students are not hurrying through congested hallways. Unfortunately for certain students, partying is forbidden as well. But all the same, “They are doing just about everything they can,” he explains. But safety, which is clearly a crucial point of consideration for administration and students, should be evaluated among other possible factors as well, if the goal is to optimize the educational setting in its entirety. This is not to devalue the importance of safety, or to claim that it can be overlooked in the name of more important details, but to point out that safety is but one of many components that consolidate into the most effective learning arrangement. Surely factors such as learning retention and social stimulation can be thought about without totally debasing safety. The Prep has provided each of their teachers with a rotating camera in an attempt to maximize engagement from students learning remotely. Teachers have adapted their teaching habits to better suit the requirements imposed by the pandemic, although the nuances of a particular class mean that it might be unreasonable to expect an immediately reworked syllabus. This is true whether it is St. Joe’s program, or the totally digital form of learning that has defined Masterman since the beginning of the 2020-21 school year. Are the benefits of social stimulation, even when constrained, and a more quality education, sufficient to override the utmost safety precautions? Is the quality of education of the hybrid program truly superior to that which is totally virtual, when teachers are faced with a new challenge in that they must ensure that both virtual and non virtual students are equally involved in the lesson? Does Masterman have the resources to successfully oversee a fruitful implementation of the hybrid system, if it is confirmed that this truly is the optimal course of action?

Tuition at St. Joe’s Prep is $25,100 a year for less than 900 students. The School District of Philadelphia receives less than $6,000 per student from the state, and Masterman has a student body of close to 1,200 kids. Fortunately, Masterman has some auxiliary financial support in their Home and School Association which has launched a Mutual Aid Committee to support families faced with economic hardship during the pandemic. It is possible this committee could subsidize Masterman in part during the strive for safety standards met in the actual school. Even with this additional aid, the disparity in fiscal availability means that St. Joe’s Prep will clearly have a more fluid transition into an organization that requires intensive accommodation which can only easily be achieved through an abundance of resources. Precautions advised by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention that may pose financial burden include: constant cleaning and disinfection of frequently touched surfaces, an adequate supply of school materials to minimize sharing of commonly used items, upgrades in school ventilation and water systems, and physical barriers and guides. Masterman’s building seems, from a witness report, to be approaching a state of dilapidation. However whether or not its appearance has anything to do with its competency at harboring students in the safest way possible doesn’t seem evident, as according to the School District’s Reopening Readiness Report, Masterman has completed all steps, save the installation of hand sanitation stations, in preparing the building for reentry. Although, while the more expensive measures may be preliminary to an in person adjustment, this is not to say that there will not be perpetual expenditures once the transformation is official. Repairs to any technology that is necessary to sustain a safe educational setting must be in order if misfortune does strike, as well as continual decontamination of precisely everything. Alternatively, the adaptation to virtual learning has already been fulfilled. 84,000 students, or 100% of those identified as in need of a device, have received one, and 1,111 students are connected through PHLconnected, the school district’s wifi. Of course there are likely still students who have not been identified as needing a device to learn and are simply not participating in school because they have not made efforts to acquire the means to. Students who would be learning in person.

Even so, the current outline seems to dictate that Masterman is not sure when exactly it will be returning to 17th and Spring Garden, as the school district appears to be foregoing any more attempts at clairvoyance which have utterly underestimated reopening dates thus far. Last month it was said that freshmen would have the prerogative of returning first. The reason for freshmen having this priority is so they can acclimate to the building. A policy with an implication that the students had not spent the last four years in that exact act. So then what class is deserving of prioritization? A question for another day perhaps. But there is indeed a balance here that must be attained, and it is imperative that every school and its community hyper analyze every systematic approach, and act with consideration and prudence. Masterman is not St. Joe’s Prep, and what may be successful on one end, may not be on the other. The future has a tendency to be unpredictable, and so whatever it may bring, it is vital that everyone hold in high regard the virtues of introspection and shrewdness, because as long as the answers to all these questions continue to be unresolved, the burden will be on the individual to determine what is most important. A concept that might exceed just the conversation of a school's best method of educating.