K-12 Remote Learning Questions

[ScottyP]

My daughter's pre-school pretty much gave up during the pandemic. It was a private school so we still had to pay tuition though. We would receive an email about every other day with some activities to try, but that is about it.

This fall for kindergarten, her school (public) is going with the hybrid option. School was delayed a week because they don't have the online model ready yet. We still haven't received our online login info, how to access, course guides, tutorials, etc. yet and they start on Monday. She starts online the first few days so my wife and I will have to figure it out ourselves.

 

[BCClone]

If online learning becomes a trend for middle and high school students, it will definitely have an impact on local school system teaching jobs. In the short-term schools have provided their own online instruction.

However, there are long standing online education entities. Some connected to universities like Texas and Indiana. A school district could very well approach those entities to educate the 10-20% of their students who choose to learn remotely.

I was told last year that there was a girl from a school that is along the MN border that had some issues in her local school and was with Urbandale (or a school around there). I asked about if the family had moved, they told me she was online schooling there. So I know there is some happening.

 

[Clonefan32]

Last Spring didn't work well at all. Honestly, we just gave up. Our kids had met their benchmarks for the year at that point and got nothing out of e-learning, so we just scrapped it and tried to do some things around the house.

I think this year will produce a better "product" but I still genuinely question my kids ability to learn online. I just don't think they could do it anywhere near as efficiently as in person.

 

[3GenClone]

I am an Learning and Development professional whose main focus has always been on corporate eLearning. I was just curious how everyone who had kids receive remote schooling last spring felt about how it worked out.

My focus has always been on interactivity and engagement, as well as evaluating the learning event with 5 stages of evaluation (kirkpatricks).

Did the kids like the education they received? Was it engaging? Did they actually learn anything? Do you think they will be able to retain the information? Will they be able to effectively use the information provides in the future? (for like math, will they be able to use what was learned for upcoming lessons that build on the material)

Also how was the material presented? YouTube vids? Reading? Worksheets? etc.

TIA

My oldest was a 2nd grader last Spring when they went all virtual. It was after Spring Break. For the virtual portion she was offered to attend 1 of 2 Teams sessions that were offered a week (Tuesday AM or Thursday PM). Attendance was counted at only one of the sessions, but attendance was not mandatory by the district at that time. Weekly materials for the students to go over were compiled into packets and were picked up each week.

Teams sessions were all the same format:
* Attendance (who actually came to participate that day) which helped the teacher actually see and briefly interact with each student
* Review of material that was covered when they had been in-person. Questions would be directed at a student and if they difficulty answering then the next student could "help"
* End class with either a story or watching a YouTube video

Weekly materials were delivered in a packet and included worksheets (such as Math). Nothing was graded or required to be turned in last Spring, so this will be a change when school starts (for us it's Sept 8). The teacher had a web page with access to multiple games, videos, books, etc that my kid already knew how to navigate as they must have spent some time each week using the site previously. I expect something similar this year.

I don't think Teams is a very effective conferencing tool from a classroom perspective, and my kids teacher wasn't very well-versed in conference etiquette. 2nd graders had to police themselves (mute when not speaking) and that didn't work out very well. The louder kids either wouldn't mute at all or would un-mute themselves constantly to chime in, which I'm sure they did in the classroom too. An application like WebEx or even Zoom would be my preference, as they have moderator controls and allow for more participants to appear on-screen. The only reason to use Teams is because it's the "Free" option (since it's packaged with Office 365) and you know that all the students/faculty have access to it.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

I am an Learning and Development professional whose main focus has always been on corporate eLearning. I was just curious how everyone who had kids receive remote schooling last spring felt about how it worked out.

My focus has always been on interactivity and engagement, as well as evaluating the learning event with 5 stages of evaluation (kirkpatricks).

Did the kids like the education they received? Was it engaging? Did they actually learn anything? Do you think they will be able to retain the information? Will they be able to effectively use the information provides in the future? (for like math, will they be able to use what was learned for upcoming lessons that build on the material)

Also how was the material presented? YouTube vids? Reading? Worksheets? etc.

TIA

My 7th grader did not get much out of remote learning during the spring, but that was predictable. Teachers were thrust into an impossible situation with so many unknowns. On-line accessibility proved to be an issue for some, and schools were forced to keep a level playing field.

Her advanced math teacher was the one exception. She figured out that in order to actually get results, she had to set expectations and deadlines. It took a few weeks, but once she set up a revised lesson plan and established a good way to make some videos accessible for reference, things went more smoothly.

We had opted for in-person learning here in KC, but our district has decided to make everyone go to a remote learning until the COVID numbers improve. I'm hopeful that this summer has given teachers time to put a better system in place. I think having accessible videos to reference after whatever Zoom/Teams teaching takes place is key. The kids need to be able to reference the instruction later in case the initial "class" doesn't do the trick.

 

[BryceC]

I am an Learning and Development professional whose main focus has always been on corporate eLearning. I was just curious how everyone who had kids receive remote schooling last spring felt about how it worked out.

My focus has always been on interactivity and engagement, as well as evaluating the learning event with 5 stages of evaluation (kirkpatricks).

Did the kids like the education they received? Was it engaging? Did they actually learn anything? Do you think they will be able to retain the information? Will they be able to effectively use the information provides in the future? (for like math, will they be able to use what was learned for upcoming lessons that build on the material)

Also how was the material presented? YouTube vids? Reading? Worksheets? etc.

TIA

Long story short our schools basically shut down. Since they couldn't be sure everyone had the same ability to access the information online, the only thing that was provided was a worksheet packet you could go pick up each Monday from one of the local schools. It took my kids about 2 hours to complete them. They absolutely hated it and if they remembered one thing from them I'd be shocked.

Were 1st and 3rd graders last year. 2nd and 4th this year obviously. They are not kids who are particularly interested in technology and I'm fairly certain they have never used a laptop so it will be a big switch for them when they pick them up on Friday. I'm sure the teachers will do their best but we've gotten no information on what the programs are, we haven't seen the software, I don't know anything about anything. We've been told the kids need to "check in" with the computers on the days they aren't in class by 8:45 AM but I don't know how that is done because we haven't seen or received any instruction yet on how that's done. I think they should have delayed the start of school until further instruction could be given to the parents but that's just me.

As far as the efficacy of online learning, studies out of Indiana schools show it's vastly inferior to in person learning at every age group, and that was in situations where everything was planned out, and the students got to select in person versus virtual learning. So even when the students self selected it, it's bad.

 

[BryceC]

I think having accessible videos to reference after whatever Zoom/Teams teaching takes place is key. The kids need to be able to reference the instruction later in case the initial "class" doesn't do the trick.

Just my opinion but they shouldn't have even bothered with trying to have the teachers do their own videos or any synchronous teaching. It's not their skill set in many, many cases, plus, if they are doing any sort of hybrid model they are then having to work a full day anyway. Just use existing educational software out there for the days and try to get it as close as they can. Something like Khan Academy or one of those.