My personal journey with online learning started on Friday the 13th of March when students were hurriedly packed up and sent home with some maths resources, some sample writing paper and their school iPads. Together with my colleagues we then had 2 professional development days of virtual up-skilling to launch the school online learning program the following Wednesday.
Here is how online learning was approached by my team.
I have the great privilege to work with some amazing individuals who are passionate about teaching and nurturing the 6-7-year-old students in their care. However, they found themselves thrown overnight into a completely different way of delivering their lessons and using technology which they were not so familiar with. Their dedication and professionalism have resulted in an incredible online learning experience for the students. Lessons are being delivered and students are being taught. We are now in week 5 and I can honestly say both teachers and students have been amazing.
I see evidence of differentiated learning, empathy and understanding for those who are challenged and struggle. But most of all I see a commitment to make this work.
Of course, there were some hiccups along the way. The technology was a huge hurdle but with a super IT team to support us, many issues were resolved swiftly. Work was being assigned and responded to through Seesaw a ‘student-driven digital portfolio’ tool. Thankfully the students were already familiar with this tool for recording their work and this made the transition to online learning a lot easier than it might have been.
Students receive a schedule notification each morning which outlines the expectations for the day. In the beginning, they would be expected to respond to two to three activities in Seesaw per day. Quickly this was found to be both overwhelming and labour intensive so we reduced to one. This is now working smoothly with students still expected to work in all areas of learning each day.
A typical online day would consist of an activity set for Maths which would have an expectation for the student to complete the activity and post the answer/response on Seesaw. Then they would be expected to read independently for 20 minutes, write for 20 minutes in their journal and work on their science project but no expectation to post on Seesaw.
The teachers put a lot of effort into the development of the activities using short videos and explanations to ensure the students have a clear understanding of what is expected of them.
In order to check in with students, we have a daily meeting which lasts between 30 and 45 minutes. This is where I get the chance to do some social-emotional learning activities and connect with students to see if they are struggling or not. In the beginning, some of my students were overwhelmed. They found the virtual classroom meetings technically challenging. There was too much going on and that made the whole experience negative for them. Having the opportunity to talk with them 1:1 about this was a major help with this. I could reassure them and release them temporarily from the need to participate. I could explain that the important thing was to feel calm and included. Together with my colleague, we experimented with students muting their microphones and switching off their video until they were asked to switch them on. This solved a lot of the jumping screens which had caused distress.
One of the most challenging aspects of online learning is that it is NOT the same as being together in the classroom or passing the time of day in the hallway. It is strange to only see each other online and we need to recalibrate how we are with each other.
Now the conversation moves on to the reintegration of students to school. I personally hope that for our students we will see out this school year through online teaching and return to physical classrooms in the next academic year. There has been so much achieved and learned in the last 5 weeks that we can now profit from. Being safe and healthy at home has for the most part been a positive experience.
The learning has been different from that which was planned but rest assured the students have learned a lot. They have developed the skills to work online and remotely from their teachers, they have had to work independently in their own homes and they have had to be resourceful in finding ways to share their newly acquired knowledge. They have not fallen behind, they have not missed out and we will look back and see this as an opportunity for doing things a little bit differently. Who knows we may have changed the way we look at educating our students forever.
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