Week 4: Educational Shifts
The discussion of how education changed over the last year is of particular interest to me, as it is the focus of my DIP. I am really excited to start interviewing teachers and exploring their experiences of teaching during a global pandemic. Though I am currently out of the classroom, I can comment on how things have changed in education in this hyperconnected world for my position this year (where we are currently in-person) and last year (where we were online exclusively for three of the four quarters, except for a few "vulernable" population students).
How Work Changed For Me
According to Armour et al. (2020), last year 72% of the education field was exclusively teaching online, while the other 28% had some to little telecommuting. For the most part, this was true for my position as Behavior Dean. My job consisted a lot of monitoring what students were searching up online and calling home when students were misusing the computers we provided. As Husband (2014) commented, my work became very fluid and my goals and directives changed based on feedback from my principal and other administrators. This year, however, my job is more consistent with what a typical Behavior Dean might do - managing and working with students with behavior problems or that are getting into trouble for things like fights, vaping, being tardy, etc. The fluidity still occurs as I often need to fill in for people that are out on sick leave, vacation leave, or just absent for the day. For example, we have had an instructional out on COVID leave since August and I have had to fill in for her multiple times on committees since she cannot currently leave her house.
Strengths
A strength in this newer hyperconnected world is the ability to have virtual meetings. I am sure that other professions had done these in the past, but I am all for it as an educator. There is no more of "this could have been an email" meetings. Minero (2020) wrote about the needed makeover for meetings, and I mostly agree with what was written. Adminstration started using more flexibility with these meetings, with some even asynchronous but I'm not sure I'd like that. Minero continued by stating some meetings became open forums, which is really appreciated by my school. When things come up or you have questions, it's nice to have the ability to ask instead of having your meeting dictated by an agenda. Our principal has said he really likes this new format for the "new normal" and will continue with this in the future!
Weaknesses
The online platform, though good for adults, might not have been the best for the students. Yes, it was needed at the time, but there were a lot of students who struggled with independent, online learning. Friedman (2020) wrote an article discussing the difficulties of online learning for college students but I think they can also be used for middle school students. Though our school was able to provide every student a laptop and/or hotspot, the internet was not always reliable. Students were often distracted and parents did not see learning online as a priority and would have their child leave the class to run errands or do other things. Another issue was having to have students, especially younger, elementary aged students, adapt to using technology. Our school attempted to combat this by teaching parents how to use programs like Google Classroom, but even then there was still issues.
Opportunities
Since opportunities deal with outside factors (Kenton, 2021), one place I see this happening is how we have the majority of students on campus this year. This is really good, because teachers are able to support and work with students who lost learning from being at home. Another opportunity is the fact that we are offering online learning to students, but they had to prove they were self-directed learners and could handle online work. One thing we learned last year was that not every student is cut out for online. This year, we added a screening process to help us make good decisions when accepting students into the online program for the school.
Threats
One threat that seems to be happening more than normal is that parents are keeping their students out of the classroom and/or pulling their children for home school. Schools in Hawaiʻi receive funding for operations through the Weighted Student Formula (HIDOE, 2021). The more students a school has, the more funding the school gets. When parents refuse to send their children to school, we lose out on that funding. This causes us to miss out on opportunities of hiring more staff that would be needed for additional support for this year.
Will Work Return to Pre-Pandemic?
Will we return back to education as the way we knew it? I'm not sure it will be fully that way, but for the most part yes (and hopefully my DIP will shed even more light on this!). I hope that we will have additional technology in the classrooms, but traditional teaching will likely creep back in.
Your DIP sounds timely! The pandemic highlighted gaps in schools, teachers, and students, but it also highlighted digital solutions that enhanced learning. I would hope that in returning to "normal", some of these lessons are not lost. The post below noted the need to focus on critical thinking and adaptability rather than rote learning - https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/coronavirus-education-global-covid19-online-digital-learning/
ReplyDeleteHi Dr. Watwood,
DeleteI think the quick transition to digital/online learning was difficult and continues to be difficult for some groups. The article you posted mentioned a digital divide, which is something that our school tried to combat. I agree that learning can be more powerful online, but it depends on how distracted students get, and it depends if the learning is async or sync. Ryan et al. (1999) noted that even before the pandemic, async work might cause students to feel alone in the learning process, which isn't great for our littlest learners. Furthermore, Ryan continues to say that sync learning is difficult when technology fails. In a time where teachers or other adults could not troubleshoot for students on campus, it was up to the students or parents to figure out solutions on their own.
Also, the article you posted spoke to "TV School". My cousin attends a school for children with autism in California. In addition to his diagnosis, he is also deaf and mute. TV school doesn't work fully for him, but it's an attempt to help reach these learners. HIDOE also partnered with local televisions, but in order to get the lesson, you'd need access to cable, which everyone (including myself) might not have.
As we continue navigating through the pandemic, it is of interest to remember that things keep changing, but it's nice to keep up with ideas and try new things with our students.
References
Ryan, M., Carlton, K. H., & Ali, N. S. (1999). Evaluation of traditional classroom teaching
methods versus course delivery via the world wide web. The Journal of Nursing Education, 38(6), 272 – 277. https://doi.org/10.3928/0148-4834-19990901-08
Hi Carli,
ReplyDeleteI am very interested in the changes you noticed in student behavior while being completely online to now being back to in-person or hybrid attendance? Were there new trends you saw in behavior that may have sparked in certain students because of the pandemic?
I agree with the weakness you mentioned when pertaining to students. I could not imagine being in grade school or undergrad while being completely online. The attention span of students can already be a hard thing to grasp within the classroom and online I am sure it could have gotten worse.
What type of additional technologies would you like to see within the classroom?
Hi Brandi,
DeleteThanks for all of your questions!
When the school year first started, we had a great honeymoon period. I didn't have a lot of issues, but that ship has sailed. One thing that I try to recognize more of now is students who are alone. Through my research, I've noticed a trend in mental health issues among students. When I see a student sitting by themself at lunch or recess, I go up to them and make sure they are okay. I also report this behavior to the counselor in case further help is needed. As for other trends, it tends to be the same -- vaping, fighting, horseplay, and not following COVID guidelines.
One program that I really liked to use, especially during distance learning, is GoGuardian (https://www.goguardian.com/). Through a connection with Google Chrome, we can see what the students are doing on their screens in real time. This was beneficial during distance learning since we could monitor and help students in real time based on what was on their screen. And, I'm not sure it's an additional technology, but I think some time is needed to teach the students the technology, as well as other soft skills. My neighbor just pulled her kids from public school this year and is homeschooling them because there is too much emphasis on tech and not enough emphasis on writing or other soft skills. This article (https://www.ednewsdaily.com/are-classrooms-becoming-too-dependent-on-technology/) commented on issues that could arise if we solely focus on tech, like physical problems, decreased attention spans, and lack of social skills. It will be something to monitor as the years progress to see how this year might have impacted students.
Hi Carli,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that your school is offering online learning options to some students. I complete agree that remote learning isn't for all students. While some of my students who were computer savvy and responsible students were very successful, others were super distracted and did not complete their assignments.
New York City is not offering a remote option to parents. Bill De Blasio, New York City mayor, believes nothing can replace in-person learning (Garcia & Crockett, 2021). At my school, we had about 200 students in the building last school year, while this year, we should have approximately 500 students. To maintain 3 feet of social distancing, my students will be confined to the classroom basically all day. They will have lunch in the classroom and most likely stay in the classroom for music and art, as well. The first day of school for students is Monday, so it should be interesting! There has been talk of a boycott, where parents will not send their children to school until a remote option is restored (Rama, 2021). Technically, NYC will offer a remote option for a select group of immunocompromised students. What are your thought on a remote option for elementary school students?
Rama, K. (2021, September 9). Parents, politicians call for remote option at NYC public schools. News10. https://www.news10.com/classroom-progress-report/parents-politicians-call-for-remote-option-at-nyc-public-schools/
Garcia, K. & Crockett, C. (2021, August 12). ‘We’ve got one plan’: De Blasio says no remote option, all kids will return to in-person learning. Pix11. https://pix11.com/news/reopening-schools/de-blasio-no-remote-option-all-kids-will-return-to-in-person-learning/
Hi Gaby,
DeleteRemote for all students is a slippery slope. I feel there are advantages and disadvantages to it, but I'm more for being in person. We were told to be at 3 ft this year, but that guideline has recently disappeared from our classroom planning as many schools are overcrowded and can't fit a full class of students socially distanced.
I commented to Brandi that I am concerned that some of the students are missing out on skills like handwriting and social interaction, to name a few. When students are at home, I feel there is an extra burden on parents to help their children. My friends who teach elementary school were telling me that last year they could hear parents on the side tell their students the answers or do the work for them. It's important for the students to do their work, and I think a separation from home does that. Furthermore, Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014) found that students retain more when they take notes by hand, which is something you can focus more on in the classroom, as opposed to online.
In our Twitter chat this week, I mentioned how I work best away from home. It might be the same for the students. I think it's important for them to get out of the house and have structure. Bhamani et al. (2020) agreed, commenting that at a brick-and-mortar school, it is easier to follow a schedule and timeline, but that is more difficult online when students are left to their own devices to figure out what time to do something.
So, overall, I'm all for in person learning. Some students can do online learning, but I think the majority of them will strive in a traditional classroom.
References
Bhamani, S., Makhdoom, A. Z., Bharuchi, V., Ali, N., Kaleem, S., & Ahmed, D. (2020). Home
learning in times of COVID: Experiences of parents. Journal of Educational and Educational Development, 7(1), 9 – 26. https://doi.org/10.22555/joeed.v7il.3260
Mueller, P. A., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2014). The pen is mightier than the keyboard:
Advantages of longhand over laptop note taking. Psychological Science, 25(6), 1159 – 1168. https://jstor.org/stable/24543504
I agree that small teachings have an extensive ability to improve student's learning. The book by James Lang describes how minor modifications in teaching processes impact how students learn by increasing the probability of knowledge retention. According to Lang (2016), it involves gradually making small changes, making it easy to adopt and implement at any level of learning. However, Lang has to review his book since it does not cover topics enacting such changes in the current phase of extensive virtual learning. The strategies should be integrative to pre-existing techniques in virtual learning.
ReplyDeleteReferences
Lang, J. M. (2016). Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning (1st ed.). Jossey-Bass.