But, learning virtually is real.
When was the last time you virtually learned something? Really? If you virtually learned something, by definition, you really didn’t learn it. You simulated its learning or learned something that is hypothetically close to learning it, but because you virtually learned it, you might not have learned it at all. Or, you got very close to learning it, but because your learning was virtual it was not fully successful – just virtually successful. Or, your learning may have been in a virtual dimension, one that is fabricated to be like the real thing but not flesh and blood real – virtually real. These are virtually true statements. Really. Not virtually.
Take Away
Words do not always mean what we think they mean. We use a word in our everyday speech in ways that conform to how we hear the word being used. The word is defined by its use and not necessarily by its meaning. This is the case with “virtual.”
Our school dictionary says that virtual is an adjective meaning
- Being such in essence or effect though not formally recognized or admitted.
- Being on or simulated on a computer of computer network.
- Of, relating to, or using virtual memory.
- Of, relating to, or being a hypothetical particle whose existence is inferred from indirect evidence.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/virtual
A thesaurus tells us that the most relevant antonyms for virtual are –
- Actual
- Authentic
- Real
https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/virtual
Change the word to virtually and we have an adverb that means
- Nearly, almost entirely
- For all practical purposes
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/virtually
By definition, to virtually learn is to not to actually or really learn but to come close to learning, perhaps as close as your learning needs to be.
Back to everyday speech. To learn something virtually in our non-dictionary parlance means to learn it via a simulation, a computer or through indirect evidence. Learning virtually, as in virtual shopping, is to shop but not be in the shop shopping. Learning virtually is to be taught but not be in physically present as a learner when you are being taught.
In pre-COVID times, virtual education was the domain of on-line learning for home schooled children. Entire curricula was presented via computer-based instruction, transported paper and pencil materials, and voice and face-time communication between teachers and children. Virtual education was outside the traditional classroom and usual teaching and learning environment. Teaching and learning were asynchronous; taking place in different places and at different times. Hence, it was virtual by definition. And, it worked. However, virtual educators may want to pay attention to the meaning of virtual and whether they use it as an adjective or an adverb.
In the Time of COVID, virtual learning takes on a new meaning. Live streaming allows teachers and children to be synchronous in their teaching and learning. In real time, a child sees a teacher’s face and hears a teacher speak and a teacher sees a child’s face and hears a child speak. This is virtual in the sense that it is transmitted via technology and it is real because it is synchronous. “As if” in the classroom together, a teacher and a class of children engage in real time teaching and learning.
New words now replace virtual education. Distance education. Remote education. These two terms do not include the concept of virtual, meaning “nearly or almost”, because they can be in real time. They retain the property of learning virtually because remote and distanced teaching and learning, even though in real time, are possible only through technology.
So, what? Words matter. At least to those who listen carefully. If you mean to say that education or teaching and learning are almost the same as real education and that one who is virtually educated is almost but not completely educated, keep using the terms virtual education. If you mean to say that teaching and learning are occurring in real time “as if” a teacher and children are in the same place and time, then describe it as learning virtually. If you want to stay clear of the potential or virtual misunderstanding, say remote or distance education.
Really.