The Pros and Cons of Learning Pods
As the coronavirus pandemic drags on and changes the way students are educated, many parents are exploring ways to get their children and teens back into some manner of in-person learning. One idea that has gained traction among many parents is creating “pods” of students who stick together and attend class, homeschool, and/or tutoring sessions as a sort of closed-circuit study group. Before we get into the pros and cons of learning pods, we will go over what they are and why they are such a hot topic right now.
What is a Learning Pod?
There are two primary conceptions of a learning pod. The first has the same group of students rotating between their various family homes for home/remote learning, so that parents in the pod can take turns acting as teacher and child care provider, thereby giving them some days off to go to a workplace and alleviating some of the stress of providing home instruction. The second idea of a pod is similar, but instead of parents acting as the sole education providers, the group hires a teacher or tutor to come and provide home instruction, homework help, and/or subject-area tutoring to the students one or more days a week.
Why the Push for Learning Pods?
The idea behind learning pods is that families can limit the amount of people their students come into contact with, thereby allowing for some in-person teaching and learning while mitigating the risks of getting or spreading the virus. Both styles of pods have some benefits as well as several drawbacks. Since we’re all navigating this new reality, without much consensus from government, health, and education officials as to how to best proceed, it’s worth exploring the pros and cons of learning pods. All families will ultimately have to weigh both the health and educational benefits and drawbacks and make the most appropriate and feasible decision for their children and families.
Pros of Learning Pods
- Learning pods allow for students to engage with their peers for both educational and social purposes, including participating in cooperative learning and group projects
- Creating pods of students seems safer than students attending school together en mass, thereby reducing worry and stress among students and families
- Rotating groups of students between a few households allows parents with specific subject area knowledge to teach specific subjects each day
- Small group learning with an educational professional is an effective method of instruction and allows for individualized learning within a group interaction
Cons of Learning Pods
- Pods may seem safer than some alternatives, but no pod can be a closed system and even if everyone trusts their fellow members, students and parents may still unwittingly get exposed and pass on the virus
- Pods consisting of just students and their parents are easier to manage and keep “closed”, but it is difficult, if not impossible, to guarantee that teachers, who will travel from pod to pod in addition to living their own independent lives, will not become infected from nor spread the virus to various pods
- Students in a single pod may be working at different levels and have varying degrees of mastery in various subjects, meaning that some of the instruction may be more or less effective for different students
Other factors to consider about Learning Pods
- Anyone considering hiring a teacher or tutor to teach their “pod” of students must understand that that person is likely going to other homes to teach other individual students and pods, thereby increasing the risk of infection for all parties
- For high school and college students, most teachers and tutors are not equipped to teach every subject, so a single pod may require 2 or more tutors
- Taking the pod outside, especially given the data suggesting that virus transmission is much less likely in open air, would be the safest in-person option when the weather permits
- Members of the pod must develop common protocols for the pod and address issues including mask wearing during lessons, expectations for behavior outside of the pod, etc…
Takeaway
Parents are understandably desperate to return to some sense of normalcy and for their children to receive appropriate and effective instruction after a dismal spring semester when most districts and teachers were figuring out how to teach remotely for the first time and without much time for planning.
Learning Pods offer an enticing potential solution by allowing students to gather as a small group on a consistent basis to receive instruction and do schoolwork. The obvious benefits of this may outweigh any potential risks for some families, while others may not see the educational, social, and mental health benefits as worth the risk of potentially getting a family member sick.
These are tough times, and families and older students are facing difficult decisions regarding if and how to attend in-person classes, and more generally, how best to approach learning, testing, and educational planning. There is no perfect choice; the best solution seems to be to get educated about your options, weigh the pros and cons of Learning Pods, and go with what is best for your family.
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