Dr. Maria D. Avgerinou, thank you very much for sharing your excellent ideas with a nice link.

I think that the difference can increase if it is thought in the same way as classroom teaching, that is, the use that is made. I don't think the problem is just the modality or the resource. A good characteristic of the online modality is the relationship between space and time that changes, that is, it can be a good opportunity to propose activities respecting the student's rhythm and supporting each one of them. Without necessarily thinking only about massification, disregarding differences. Furthermore, it would still be necessary to seek to include all students who do not have access.

It could widen the gap, if teacher just design some emergency remote teaching materials/lessons. Digital online learning, especially in its asynchronous form, can be much more customised to personal ways of learning, helping both slow and fast learning in reaching the course learning outcomes. It depends a lot on teacher's presence, as Maria D. Avgerinou already pointed - designing good relationships and learners community can additionally support slow learners in their success.

Dr. Stefan Nowicki, many thanks for your analytical views on the discussio.

I believe that disciplined digital learning with clear, defined criteria will lead to students' appetite for education.

Dr. Abdelkader Mohamed Elsayed, Many thanks for your focused reply.

I concur with all contributions and wish to add that the asynchronous mode of online learning can be utilized to support students needing additional time to complete assignments or support for improving learning as they can work at their own pace. I have had some success and found that when I designed digital assignment templates and asynchronous learning the group of 8 performed very well overall (7 A's and 1 B+). Here's an example of an synchronous activity for developing critical thinking and collaboration skills:

Conference Paper Debating: A Dynamic Teaching Strategy for Motivating Student...

Conference Paper Deeper Learning: Developing the Distinctive UWI Graduate's K...

Best,

Debra

Dr. Debra Sharon Ferdinand-James, Many thanks for your marvelous answer and sharing of two the link of two relevant conference papers. This will definitely make this ongoing discussion more lively.

I think this might be a risk, especially in situations where teachers get very little time to prepare for online teaching and without more time to individualise their teaching (e.g., by offering private tutoring online meetings or small group sessions). Talking from my own experience this spring term (when I taught two classes a week in upper secondary education apart from my university teaching), I saw that the younger, less motivated pupils had a harder time to engage in online classes, with greater difficulties for me as a teacher to reach them. The online classes took, I estimate, about five times as long to prepare as “normal” classes. From a teacher’s perspective I’d say that high quality teaching can be achieved (albeit not as good as classroom-based teaching), but not without giving teachers the time and the framework they need. Of course, online teaching also raises new questions about assessment validity and reliability

At university level many "slow" students feel abandoned, they do not email questions and they do not ask them during collaboration sessions. Many of them simply decided to withdraw and try next semester. Often they don't understand that by deferring their studies the problem will not go away, it's just got deferred. I reached out and offered individual collaboration sessions to several students. Although all of them were grateful and tried it, not all students were successful. Again there is a reason that I could not do this "private tutoring" for every student who needed it and I still needed them to do "homework". Some did not have motivation, a small number wanted a basic pass rather than knowledge so they hoped to get a solution out of those sessions.

In general, I developed lots of short demo videos explaining concepts and their applications (I am teaching programming). To my disappointment slow students don't spend time watching them. They complain that there is not enough help and then get surprised that the solution was practically demonstrated in lecture or demo recordings.

So for me it all comes to one question: how do we motivate them?

I discovered an approach widely practiced at our university. We encourage self-regulated learning through providing assessments based on grade level, i.e. pass level tasks, credit level tasks, distinction level tasks and one challenging high distinction level task. Through this micro assessment approach we keep students engaged every week/fortnight. At pass level the tasks cover all important concepts but through not very difficult exercises. And we allow resubmission. In tech subjects resubmissions ensure that students fix mistakes based on tutor's feedback and learn from them. This baby steps approach supports slow learners.

More details are here

https://jise.org/Volume29/n2/JISEv29n2p65.pdf

I think in the TVET sector it will widen the gap. Firstly many students still needs basic training on using the ICT devices and secondly the very same slow students have to be forced to do extra activities just to make sure that they master content. The online learning will definitely in a long run improve the students participation but for now, we still have a long way in the TVET.

Kent Fredholm, thank you very much for your excellent inputs to the discussion.

• Tanya Linden, thank you very much for your analytical remarks along with the sharing of a relevant link.

Dr. Ramoshoeu Maswi, thank you very much for your interesting and innovative remarks.

What could happen

Halyna Smolnykova, your reply is not clear. What do you mean by “What could happen”?

In e-learning research community, there are many researches that take into account this characteristic of learners (adaptive content). In such environments, they used the learning styles of the learners, their thinking styles, their learning profiles, etc. In sum, I think Deepak Kumar Behera that the needs of slow learners are taken into account by some researches and environments.

Dr. Yacine Lafifi, thanks for your reply. Your statement that the needs of the slow learners are taken into account by ”some”. However, my question is primarily on the general trend. Thank you very much for your contribution to the discussion.

Teacher can use different self learning organized strategies.

We can motivate Slow learners by using different strategies based on their personality type.

I don't believe so. May be the gap widen between motivated and demotivated learners

Nasser Said Gomaa Abdelrasheed, thank for very much for your reply. We all would like to hear from you different strategies based on the assessment of student’s personalty that can be successfully used by a teacher to motivate slow learners in case of digital online learning.

Dr. Wagdi Rashad Bin-Hady, thanks for your answer. Would you kindly specify as to why the gap is likely to be widened between motivated and demotivated learners?

Deepak Kumar Behera- I cannot see the relationship between slow learning and digital online learning. Why do you think that this group of students will do badly and more likely to drop out? On the contrary slow learners can watch recorded sessions several times, and can view PowerPoint of lectures as they need. By using audio and visual means, they can reinforce their learning. Can you explain your hypothesis and the scientific basis for the assumption? Do you have any reliable research work that supports your hypothesis?

I also suggest that you give a clear definition of what you mean with "slow learners" and supportive evidence for your hypothesis.

Dr. Samy Azer, thank you very much for your reply and the subsequent question. By ’slow learners,’ I mean all those who are with low ability to learn; those who studies but fail to retain what they learn; those who are the first generation learners; those who need support and encouragement to maintain their interest in learning; those who have met with failures in education in the recent past, etc.

Digital online learning is considered to be relatively ‘cold and impersonal’ compared to classroom teaching. It cannot replicate the environment/ambiance of a real classroom. It requires more students‘ initiative than traditional classroom learning. Here the teacher/educator cannot notice the attention of the participants. Further, web-based learning requires relatively more sophisticated technology and knowledge. Many of the first generation learners again live in remote areas without access to computer, internet and smartphone. All these factors dissuade and demotivate the slow learners leading to their dropping out from the fold of education. As a supportive evidence, this is the typical scenario in India and many of the developing countries. So digital online learning requires more adjustability of teaching materials and methods. It further requires a powerful management of students. Therefore, the teacher/educator has to master all these skills and address the aforementioned issues in order to retain the ‘interests of slow learners‘ within the fold of education.

Thank you Deepak Kumar Behera for the clarification. While the term "slow learner" has been used to refer to learners with a relatively low IQ as measured by standardized psychometric tests, it has also been challenged by researchers in disability studies and inclusive education who see it as disparaging. John Williamson and Jim Paul, for example, in their article titled 'The "Slow Learner" as a Mediated Construct' say the term negatively portrays such learners as "apathetic, dawdling, delaying, disinclined, dreamy, drowsy, easy, gradual, idle, imperceptible, inactive, indolent, inert, lackadaisical, lagging, leaden, lethargic, listless, loitering, negligent, passive, plodding, ponderous, postponing, procrastinating, quiet, reluctant, remiss, slack, sleepy, slothful, slow moving, sluggish, snail-like, stagnant, tardy, torpid, and tortoise-like." The relevant link is:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287520811_The_Slow_Learner_as_a_Mediated_Construct

Personally I believe teaching is motivation.

Great teachers have always been great motivators, it has been proved time and again.

Even during regular class room teaching, in the same class room, we find students with different caliber/ learning capacity.It varies from little to more intelligent students,slow to fast learners, graspers to non-graspers. Here the teacher plays a vital role, applies different methods and strategies to reach out to each and every student effectively because same method can’t work for all.

Coming to digital learning- teaching methods, which has taken a front seat after the outbreak of pandemic Covid-19, here again I see the teacher shoulders greater responsibility in thinning the gap between slow and fast learner s , applying different strategies and methods for students with different backgrounds and with different learning capacities.

One of the best ways to get our students motivated is to share our enthusiasm. When we teachers are excited about teaching , students will be much more excited about learning.

Very simple

As a student and as a teacher I have experienced both.@Deepak Kumar Behera

Dr. Padhi, thank you very much for your analytical response. Yes, the enthusiasm of the teacher that he retains in his/her teaching is the most crucial component. However, you have not stated clearly the specific techniques that should be employed by the teacher to keep the motivational level of the slow learners high. I think that it requires more scientific investigations before drawing any conclusion.

Dear Dr. Deepak Kumar Behera ,

I believe that digital learning via the Internet will attract students to learn, because of its advantages and characteristics that attract students, and because of its facilities in receiving knowledge and testing it.

Abdelkader Mohamed Elsayed, thank you very much for your reply.

Yes. I am feeling that digital learning may increase the gap between slow learners and active learners. Digital learning may be a alternative during this COVID 19 peroid. We can not solely adopt it.

Dr. Nibedita Nath, thank you very much for your inputs. Your argument that “digital online learning is an excellent interim measure during COVID19 Lockdown. However, it can never replace the classroom learning in physical mode” requires further discussion.

I agree with Itishree Padhi

Based on my experience, digital learning with clear, defined objectives will lead to students' appetite and motivation for education. Learners always admire all what is innovative.

• Jesús Pérez, Thank for your answer supporting the stance taken by Dr. Itishree Padhi.

Houda Boumediene, thanks for your answer which is based on your experiences. My question is: Does digital online teaching demotivate the slow learners compared to advanced learners and average learner?

I think based on this question, many studies shows how learners are motivated when taught using simulations, computer models and other animations in which online learning would be adequate platform for adopting such teaching tools. Irrespective of whether it's online or physical class teaching and learning, the teacher is still cardinal in fostering motivation among all students thereby reducing the gap between fast , medium and slow learners. In a nutshell, online learning likelihood of demotivating slow learners as compared with traditional physical learning could be less and still depends much on the teacher's factor

Dr. Mangai Mahanan Solomon, thank you very much for your fascinating reply. No doubt, it is very much dependent upon the skills of the teacher. Let us then take an hypothetical question: If the same teacher teaches students on physical mode and impart online teaching. Will the later mode demotivate slow learners more compared to the former mode?

Very nice hypothetical question indeed @Dr. Deepak. Some of the pros and cons of using online learning would give a concise understanding of this comparative analysis and it's impact on slow learner's motivation for learning. In my view, a slow learner who may find it difficult interacting with computer and the internet would no doubt be demotivated not even on account of learning content, but on problems of ICT usage and as such students would be demotivated to learn. Therefore, physical learning would be more promising in supporting and sustaining slow learners' motivation for effective and sustainable learning.

Thank you so much Dr. Mangai for your wonderful reply.

I think it is important to consider in which ways we teach both online and offline. For example, if we provide students with pre-recorded lectures in comparison with in-person lectures it might benefit slow learners because they can go through the materials in their own pace and repeat parts they find difficult to understand.