High schoolers, educators decry split focus of hybrid learning model

After a Grade 10 year with province-wide shifts to virtual learning, Evelyn Jia was eager to be back at school in person this fall. 

However, the 16-year-old and her peers continue to struggle with their schooling daily, she says, because her Mississauga, Ont., school board has opted for a hybrid learning model: with one teacher simultaneously instructing in-person students and those logging on from home.

Teachers fiddling with the additional technology needed for incorporating remote students coupled with recurring connectivity issues eat up a lot of time, says Evelyn. As a result, class isn't productive for those at school nor those at home. 

Take chemistry.

"The teacher has five screens up, two mouses and two keyboards — and it takes her half an hour to set it up," Evelyn said. "That's half an hour of class time that we could be using to be learning chemistry."

Ontario school districts using the hybrid model of simultaneous instruction this year say it's the way to keep remote learners connected to familiar teachers and their regular school communities. It also allows for greater flexibility if sudden shifts between in-person and remote learning are required.

However, the model — which some boards adopted to address the ongoing provincial mandate requiring them to offer virtual learning — continues to draw fierce criticism from students, parents, educators and more, who blast its sustained use this year as unacceptable at this point of the pandemic.

Grade 11 student Kaden Johnson notes the uphill battle remote students have attempting to learn virtually alongside in-person peers.

"Sometimes, the audio doesn't work, so we can't hear people," said the 16-year-old Mississauga student. "The teacher has to try and fix that and their in-person students have to just sit there and wait. [Meanwhile], we don't even know what's going on if there's no Wi-Fi at the school.

"If I fall behind or if I make mistakes, I can't always get back to where I was before or even where I could have been." 

This marks the third school year students have experienced at least partial disruption to their education because of the pandemic.

For Rachna Venkatesh, Grade 9 was the last time she had a full, normal year of high school. Now in Grade 12, she worries about the "compromised learning" students have faced under the hybrid model, especially as she prepares to shift to post-secondary studies.

"I'm looking at doing health sciences in university, and if I'm not able to understand a lot of the content being taught because of all these issues of hybrid learning, then when I go into my first year of university, I will be sort of falling behind," said the 16-year-old, who attends the same school as Evelyn. 

High school science teacher Jason Bradshaw echoes these student concerns. He teaches in the Peel District School Board in Mississauga and tries to prepare engaging classes for his in-person and remote students, but it's often an impossible task.