Presenting Remotely

On page 196, Warnock explains how he wants students to "present remotely from different sites" because it "was a good skill for them to practice." I don't know when he wrote those words, but the past year has proven them truer than ever. We thought society was reliant on Internet technology; then, society went into a shutdown due to a global pandemic and we really become dependent on online technology. We are still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, so it is too early to say how society — and education/academia — will permanently change due to the lessons we have learned since early 2020. That said, changes will be made, and a shift toward online presentations — for school and work — will increase. OWCs can teach students how to engage with material, follow directions from a teacher (a boss in the "real world"), and work with others, and all of these skills are applicable to the jobs students will have during their academic careers and after. One could argue OWCs always had two layers of learning — the course material and the importance of online communication — and that second layer has been proven to be even more vital to society than we realized before the global pandemic.