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School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

bostonherald.com

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Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#11

Post by alexpotato »

As a child, I remember watching a special on TV about how children across the globe go to school.

What struck me than (and has re-surfaced now) was when they showed how children in the remote parts of the Australian outback "attended school".

Basically, they did everything via radio. E.g. the teacher would say "Here is a problem. Bobby, what is the answer? Great! Now Mary, what is the answer to the homework problem #7 from last night?"

You can find out more details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_the_Air

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#12

Post by ryanmarsh »

I can't wait until the kids all realize why the adults prefer to WFH. When this is all over they're going wonder why they have to go back to getting up early to catch the bus to spend all day sitting in uncomfortable plastic chairs and being told to be quiet and stay off their phone.

My oldest daughter just graduated from an online high school. We get it. Now the rest of the country is going to get it.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#13

Post by dpeck »

fwiw, our experience has been lackluster and frustrating. My child is in public elementary school, in the inclusive class (special ed and non special ed in same class). So there are 2 teachers and they split the subjects Language arts/Social studies, Math/Science, and then he has a few specials like STEM, Technology, Music once a week that each have a different teacher.

The biggest problem that we had last week was that each teacher, and sometime each subject had a different system to log into. It made getting everything setup a bit of a challenge and there was always confusion about where to go next when we transitioned to a new subject. My spouse has a degree in education, and I make my living heading up product and technology team and we found it challenging. I imagine that folks without those backgrounds are really struggling.

This week seems to have gotten better, and all the love in the world to the teachers who had their plans upended by this, but I am frustrated with the school/county administration for not having this more nailed down and standardized for kids who were out sick and having to use the systems outside of this quarantine.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#14

Post by lawn »

irrational wrote: post #8

In my school district they still haven't figured out how to proceed. The problem is there are a lot of low income families that they know don't have internet access or a computer. They can give those kids a chromebook, but that isn't very helpful with no internet access. Legally (and morally) they can't move ahead with online school if a big chunk of the students are left out. On the other hand, I was talking yesterd…

In the Swedish community I live in they give all children a MacBook, and they've been doing this for many years.

Given that this is Sweden almost everyone already has internet access, and if you don't you can still go to the public library and get it (and borrow a computer if you want).

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#15

Post by bitlax »

thehoff wrote: post #4
Dumblydorr wrote: post #2

Will this help us to see the massive expenditures we make to move people to a classroom when they could easily see it via computer screen? Especially if we then ask students to just look at the chromebooks they are given by the school, seems wildly inefficient to continue the butt in seat model, especially with older students.

How do the kids learn to socialize? Facebook or Facetime only? Don't say the parents have to organize this (see below for my current experience). And for those of us with really young kids, this work from home may be great an all, but its really hard to work and tend to a very young one's education/attention.

Public schools are generally pretty terrible at socialization. The students interact mostly only with kids of their same exact age. Bullying and violence are ubiquitous. Sure, you learn how to conduct yourself in that particular environment, but it's unlike any other environment you'll see in your adult life outside of a prison.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#17

Post by codingdave »

In my district, it is not ideal, yet it is better than I expected.

The Junior high is sending out independent assignments where it makes sense - math, mostly, as there is existing online cirriculum with automated scoring. For English, they are reading books, then getting on a Zoom call with the whole class to discuss it. There are some ongoing Zoom calls to talk as a class. They are probably only covering half as much as they did while in the school building, but the topics they do cover are working well.

The elementary schools are varied - they are covering more topics, at a shallower level. Mostly, they are handing out online assignments and independent projects to do, and the kids are reporting back to the teachers. One of my kids' teacher is recording video each day to talk the kids through the daily plan and give them some encouragement.

Is this all perfect? No. But to go from in-classroom teaching to online with only 2 days to plan... I think they are doing fine.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#18

Post by mattbrewsbytes »

ryanmarsh wrote: post #12

I can't wait until the kids all realize why the adults prefer to WFH. When this is all over they're going wonder why they have to go back to getting up early to catch the bus to spend all day sitting in uncomfortable plastic chairs and being told to be quiet and stay off their phone. My oldest daughter just graduated from an online high school. We get it. Now the rest of the country is going to get it.

Do you have recommended resources or advice with the online high school?

For some of us in states that cannot legally move forward with instruction, it might be an option to apply for an online high school.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#20

Post by mattkrause »

thephyber wrote: post #5
Dumblydorr wrote: post #2

Will this help us to see the massive expenditures we make to move people to a classroom when they could easily see it via computer screen? Especially if we then ask students to just look at the chromebooks they are given by the school, seems wildly inefficient to continue the butt in seat model, especially with older students.

Or, conversely, we may observe the same problem that MOOCs have — it’s _very_ hard to motivate the average person to sit at a computer and learn some topic which is boring to them. Engagement is low. Computers are great for reinforcing the rote part of learning. They are currently terrible for getting students motivated or over mental blocks. Those issues can be addressed by well designed programs, but US teachers we…

Not sure it's fair to compare compulsory (or even well-motviated) education with most MOOCs.

I have a PhD and a research job, so I think it's fair to say that I can learn independently and like doing so. And yet, my Coursera account is full of half-completed classes that weren't quite what I wanted: too easy, too hard, topic isn't what I wanted, presentation isn't my style, etc.

It looks, in short, just like my Netflix queue and that isn't surprising because they're both things I do in my pajamas. The situation would be very different if there were actual consequences for finishing these MOOCs (or Lost).

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