Featured Post

Learn Python With Code Avengers

Written By Hannah Taylor

June 17, 2016

Read Article

Written By Hannah Taylor

June 17, 2016

  back

Guide

Lessons From Distance Learning

Written By Ilana Signal

June 16, 2020

Written By Ilana Signal

June 16, 2020

Lessons From Distance Learning

Lessons from distance learning

After the pandemic virus COVID19 arrived on New Zealand shores on the 28th February 2020, a nationwide quarantine and shutdown was put into effect. Schools closed on March 26th and the school holidays brought forward. Students were at home for 5 weeks and 'Distance learning' began two weeks into lock down. with teachers, schools, and the government providing support and resources. Schools reopened on 27th April 2020. This article looks at what we can learn from distance learning during the lockdown and what strategies we might want to keep in place both for if we move back to level 4 or continue as normal.

The main questions to explore are:

  1. "What were the benefits and drawbacks of distance learning."
  2. "How can we meaningfully communicate with our whānau out of lockdown?"
  3. "How do we manage and track learning, and make learning equitable (especially if it is with half remote students and half in person)?"
  4. "How do we do these things in a manageable way?"

Some of the benefits of distance learning:

  • Learning can happen when students are ready, asynchronously.
    Without the constraints of a 9 to 3 school day students and their caregivers had control over when the activities were completed. It could better suit the students, when they engaged and with what tools.
  • Very strong communication between caregivers, students, and teachers.
    For the first time, New Zealand wide, communication was regular and bidirectional between home and school and not just a school informing caregivers about the learning. Teachers reported strong collaboration with each other and regular check ins were key support elements.
  • Both teachers and students develop their digital fluency skills.
    Access to technology was not possible for everyone, and some only had access to a device for a short time. However, on the whole both students and teachers relied on technology to communicate learning. For some teachers this was a new space and they had to adapt to new tools very quickly.
  • Online tracking of work.
    Less work output was expected of students, but with tools like SeeSaw, Dropbox, or Google Drive, work was easy to organise, distribute, and provide feedback to students. A high trust model was in place and formal feedback was not needed for every piece of work.
  • Clear priorities.
    Teachers had to pare down to just the learning priorities due to the expectation of less formal work. Experts, like Dr Hood, urge teachers to reflect on what those were and what that could mean moving forward for workload.
  • Clear work/activity expectations.
    Simple and clear instructions worked best with an outline of the expectations of work.
  • Teacher wellbeing and reduced workload.
    From my survey of teachers, most felt a sense of guilty relief that there was less admin work and cross curricular activities. Many reported they felt they had space to breathe, which made them feel they were not doing enough. This is a concerning testimony to what is considered the norm across schools and age levels.

Some of the drawbacks of distance learning:

  • Teachers are not available all the time.
    Interestingly, while teachers reported less time with the students, they did find they were able to direct learning for small groups and individuals and had more time to just chat with students.
  • Not all students have equitable access or home participation.
    At best, we can talk about the digital divide, where there are students without access to technology and wifi, and with caregivers who have limited digital literacy. At the worst, we must acknowledge that for some students home is an uncomfortable or scary place, and learning is not the priority for those students.

This time did give teachers an opportunity to see the home lives of students more clearly and offer more targeted support.

  • Video, call or text - limited communication.
    People learn in a multitude of ways, and some concepts can be hard to explain in a video call or message or have the ability to articulate issues that teachers can pickup on while observing students.
  • Not able to pivot learning.
    While instructions can be clear, it is difficult to capture and build on the prior knowledge of the class when they are separated. Making it much harder to pivot learning to suit groups of students. Break out rooms and teacher teamwork can mitigate this issue.
  • Off-task behaviour.
    Teachers were not able to communicate with the whole class easily/ redirect those who are off task. Muting was a useful tool for focusing attention, but students with limited self regulation skills were more difficult to get back on task.
  • Being judged.
    This format was extremely daunting for non tech-savvy teachers to have caregivers monitor lessons. While there were many reports of stellar caregivers and strong collaboration, it was a large source of anxiety for teaching to be transparent when the teacher was using tools they were unfamiliar with.
  • Pandemics and well being.
    While we have a unique experience to draw from and unpack, it is worth noting that the situation was extreme and that this has impacted on everyone's well being in both subtle and significant ways. This has contributed to a stronger collaboration between caregivers and schools than would be typical, but also higher levels of anxiety, fear, and stress and lower expectations of work output. Wellbeing was put foremost, however, that has not mitigated all of the trauma some have experienced and are continuing to experience.

Continue meaningful communication with whānau

Overwhelmingly, teachers spoke about how well they and caregivers communicated. How it felt like a partnership of learning. The next step is to look into how that can be continued back at school.

In the webinar hosted by Education Hub, "Schools webinar: Learning from lockdown – the voices of parents of Māori and Pasifika students", Dr Melanie Riwai-Couch, Tufulasi Taleni and Ally Bull, discuss the value of parent voice and some of the key findings of their recent research. In their reflections, what made this communication feel so genuine was that there was a true bidirectional partnership.

Informing caregivers about a student's work is not a partnership. Dr Hood calls it being informed consumers, compared to a partnership with determining contributors. The team pointed out the importance of asking questions like: What do parents want to know about their kids? What are the best ways to communicate? How can we acknowledge learning that happens outside of school? When there is a values mismatch between home and school, how can we help the student mediate between those two spaces? New Zealand schools have a lot of curriculum leeway compared to other countries, in part to ensure that each school teaches a local curriculum. Despite this intention, schools and caregivers are time poor (and some are interest-poor). It is very difficult to find time to build true bidirectional partnerships, rather than simply inform by perhaps just sending a newsletter or report card home.

Some strategies for connecting with whānau:

  • Make voice gathering and community check-ins systematic, simple, and a part of the schoolwide norm. Iterate and make evidence based changes regularly based on community and school feedback.
  • Use Ministry tools like "Local curriculum design" to create something local, and "Learning Progressions Framework" to easily track and report to parents.
  • Listen - Ask simple open ended questions and don't have preformed answers.
  • Have more than one collection method and collection time but an easy method and place to process this data for use later. (Quick five question survey, face to face kōrero, paper based, email based etc. A teacher calls a parent and has a good conversation, how can the points from that be easily logged somewhere?)

Manage and track learning, and make learning equitable with varied student locations.

What works?

Typically the teaching of concepts is done face to face and in the moment. It is time sensitive and often requires the whole class to be focussed at the same time. It has the benefits of the teacher being able to react to questions or the general atmosphere and pivot their teaching as needed.

However, not everyone needs to, or can, learn at the same time, at the same pace, or in the same location. The key to what works in distance learning is the same as what works in face to face teaching. Hook onto student's prior knowledge, be mindful of cognitive load, practise concepts over time, give effective feedback and encourage positive learning behaviours like; a flexible growth mindset, self regulation, and an intrinsic motivation to learn. (For more on growth mindset, search for Carol Dweck.)

Evidence-based learning strategies:
  • Explain the learning outcome.
  • Plan backwards from the goal.
  • Include formative assessment.
  • Scaffold learning.
  • Use higher order questions.
  • Give space to practice a concept in multiple ways.
  • Have space to create and play.
  • Create an environment in which it is safe to fail and that has a shared sense of purpose.
What could it look like?

The hybrid model of distance learning by Dr Hood is suitable when at least half of the student population has internet access in distant learning:

  • "A digital/video platform (i.e. Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts) used for a daily “class,” using the materials teachers are already planning to use."
  • "Students submit homework/classwork to their teachers through a variety of channels (texting pictures, uploading to Google Drive, OneNote, etc.)."
  • "Teachers track and record student completion and mastery through an electronic gradebook or student information system."
  • "Teachers maintain an open electronic chat function with students (i.e. private Facebook group, Google Groups) throughout the day."
  • "Teachers check in one-on-one with a caseload of students or students who were not able to join the class through various channels (i.e. phone, FaceTime) to review their homework, talk through hard questions, prepare them for the next set of work, and ensure they are still progressing."

Use Digital Technologies as tools to manage workload

Something all teachers I have met have in common is a love of learning. But as the education system swings and turns new trends and pathways and best practices pop up constantly. Staff rooms can become places of "Oh no, not another thing." Lunches are spent huddled over a computer or with a group of students. Every second seems filled and well, you can always do more.

Except you can't.

Teachers are a finite resource as is their time and attention. So what are some ways we can make teaching more manageable, especially if the class becomes half school/half distance based?

The biggest shift in distance learning was the near-mandatory use of digital technology as a means to communicate and to share information. In lockdown digitals technologies were used as tools for learning and to access each other. This shift from digital technologies being a learning objective to a useful tool is an important distinction.

Schools that were clear in their processes and consistent across the school with the tools they used were able to adjust more quickly to lockdown. Look at digital technologies as tools. Learn to use them and they can reduce a lot of the repetitive, data management tasks. Learning can be far more personalised (and therefore more equitable) and effective if you have a clear process and useful digital tools to capture, store, share, and process data.

Many schools used Google Drive or One Drive, Seesaw, and Zoom in tandem to communicate and share learning. Below are some suggestions with these tools, however, the tools you choose are not important. If they meet your needs then they are good tools.

Make things manageable with useful processes and digital tools:

  • What already exists?
    There are a plethora of learning resources available, some paid for, some free. USE THEM! When people talk about shifting from being teachers to being facilitators, they are saying that you do not need to be the font of all wisdom and that students can learn from video, apps, books and games.
    For example, you can give the national library your unit topic and age groups and they will curate and send out boxes of resources, all for free. Subscription sites like Mathletics and Reading eggs, (and Code Avengers) step students through specific New Zealand aligned curricula at their own pace and level.
    The Ministry of Education also has a staggering amount of resources, some that are easier to access than others:
    • MOE resource site - The Ministry of Education is the Government's lead advisor on the New Zealand education system, shaping direction for sector agencies and providers.
    • Education counts - The goal of Education Counts is to increase the availability and accessibility of information about education statistics and research.
    • BES (on the site) - Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis - evidence based strategies for best practice.
    • Te Kete Ipurangi (TKI) - A lot of really good learning resources, quite hard to navigate.
    • National Library - Vast collection of fact and fiction resources.
      Other
    • School kit - Makes amazing free Teacher Kits and delivers them to your door; Curates sets of resources in response to your teaching theme. New Zealand made and completely free.
    • Twinkl - Teacher-created resources provide entire schemes of work, lesson planning and assessments.
  • Where can I find support?
    Another key insight from teachers was that it worked really well when there was a clear school direction and strong collegial communication and support. There are also a lot of online forums and groups where people share their thoughts and resources.
  • Move your teaching plans and timetable online.
    This means work is easily retrievable and editable. You can modify a unit from last year, share it with a new student teacher or reliever, and add reflections on lessons as you go. Your system or process is what will make this work. Have a consistent template. Make filling it out simple - especially the feedback section.
  • Manage your files and folders.
    For some this will be second nature and for others, well, you might have a folder named "2020 SORT THIS" next to "2019 FILES N STUFF". Make life easy on yourself and name things correctly, put them in the relevant folder/s and, if needed, hyperlink them to a relevant place.
  • Collaborate with staff, caregivers, and students.
    Share your resources in Google Drive, in SeeSaw, Email, Google Classroom or a student management system like Moodle. (Choose one and try to be consistent with other teachers.) One strategy is to use Google Docs to share a piece of writing between home and school, editing one piece of work until it is an example for the student to use with other pieces of writing. Or giving a document of questions to a group of students, each with a line in a table to answer. This way students can model work to each other.
  • Use video conferencing to connect with learners or experts.
    People will often be quite happy to share their stories with students, especially if it only costs them an hour of time to do it remotely. When doing a topic, find an expert to present.
  • Find or record concept videos.
    Videos can be useful because they are pauseable, rewatchable and do not require the teacher's attention. Freeing the teachers up to help more students 1-1, or when the student and teacher cannot be in the same space. Now, we don't want to turn into a one-man show, where you create a series of lectures on a topic. Those educational tools already exist. Use them rather than reinventing the wheel. However there will be times when you want to articulate something specific, and wish to make your own videos. See how to make a video here.
  • Make student achievement tracking simple.
    Use innovative, valid and fair ways of recognising achievement, without overburdening yourselves or the learner with too much assessment. You can collect evidence of a student's progress without formal written feedback on every aspect of work. One method is to identify your criteria of success on a unit (maybe the learning outcomes?), make a checklist with the class and print it out (or use a tablet with you) and carry it round to make checks and notes that you would otherwise forget. It can also help to easily identify students that need more help in particular sections by looking at what is not ticked. Make data collection simple.
  • Be okay with not being busy and say no.
    One takeaway from some of the teacher discussions around not being busy during quarantine, was that a couple of the teachers felt that if they didn't feel panic-mode busy, then they were not working hard enough. In light of those sorts of comments I would advise with this and all other PLD and strategies and best practices. Take it in slowly, implement things over time and see what works for you and what doesn't.

There is no such thing as a perfect teacher, but there are plenty of examples of burnt out ones. The best thing you can do for your students is to be kind to yourself.

Bibliography and further resources: