Extended Remote Learning

Many schools are needing to move their classes online for the next several weeks and possibly for the rest of the year. This creates a challenge for students, teachers, and parents. While most districts have provided students with Chromebooks, wifi hotspots, and tablets for those in need, there are many more inequities that could arise from learning at home.

Some students may have parents that are working and unable to help and see students may have to take care of extra responsibilities watching siblings, for example. There can be an overwhelming amount of distractions, and some people really struggle with motivating themselves to do classwork when it is on a computer vs. learning in a classroom. Educators are usually a pretty bright bunch, and no doubt are being creative with lesson planning for their students. Hopefully, there will be some innovations that help students connect with teachers, but it is important for teachers to not overwhelm their students with an abundance of different logins, passwords, and websites.

I have taken college classes online and having a familiar portal makes things less daunting. Google Classroom seems to work pretty well and is straightforward for students and parents to see what assignments are due and have access to different resources. Other options include YouTube videos and teleconferencing resources such as Zoom or Google Hangouts.

I have a fear that we are going to see a huge decline in learning for many groups of students over the next few months. Not the students that have good study skills and a drive to succeed, but the average or low performing students that need more of a mentor than just a set of videos to watch. Hopefully your child's teacher (or your teacher depending on your situation) will not let this distance learning conundrum throw off their instruction and they will instead use it as a learning opportunity to bring knowledge and a love of learning to their students in a new way.

Thanks for reading @theabsolute