There are hopes the online learning the pandemic forced on schools this year will permanently change the way many teachers work. Deidre Shea says digital options make for far more interesting lessons than those of pre-internet days. Photo: supplied Hundreds of thousands of students and their teachers had to interact with one another and learn over the internet, often for the first time, during the national and Auckland lockdowns. Advocates of online education told RNZ schools should build on the experience instead of trying to put it behind them. The primary school e-principal of the Virtual Learning Network, Rachel Whalley, told RNZ teachers were a lot more confident about using the internet thanks to the pandemic, and she hoped they would not wait for another lockdown to use that knowledge.