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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

#41

Post by latortuga »

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…

I remember buying a Chromebook back in 2014 with T-Mobile connectivity. This seems like it would be a good fit.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#42

Post by bpodgursky »

pnw_hazor wrote: post #34

Seattle punted for equity -- (following state level recommendations). “OSPI does not recommend an online distance learning model unless a district can ensure that all students will have equal access to learning,” the district’s COVID-19 update page says. “Seattle Public Schools is the largest district in our state with a diverse student population and many of our students do not have regular access to technology or t…

All the wealthy / educated / WFH parents are still going to homeschool or set up alternative remote education options for their children instead of letting them go six months without education. It's not like Amazon employees are gonna say "oh wow, I guess school is out for equity reasons, better let my kid play video games instead of learning."

So all this will accomplish is ensuring that only the wealthiest 30% of students get educated, instead of the 90+% with internet access.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#43

Post by DingleDook101 »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #36
pnw_hazor wrote: post #34

Seattle punted for equity -- (following state level recommendations). “OSPI does not recommend an online distance learning model unless a district can ensure that all students will have equal access to learning,” the district’s COVID-19 update page says. “Seattle Public Schools is the largest district in our state with a diverse student population and many of our students do not have regular access to technology or t…

Private schools are able to make different assumptions about their students and have almost all gone to online learning during the pandemic. This, along with an uptake in technology, is creating a clear win for private education if you can afford it for your kids, further draining public systems of their more well to do students.

Public schools are trash. Plain and simple.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#44

Post by kogus »

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…

I don't think electricity and water are provided for free to even the lowest income families.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#45

Post by jaredmosley »

SamuelAdams wrote: post #21
lawn wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

Would public libraries still be open? States are shutting down businesses every week, and SF has a "shelter in place" policy. For some students, libraries and other sources of public wifi are not available at the present moment.

We are dealing with this in south Dallas right now. Many of the kids don't have access to computers or internet at home and the libraries and other places with hotspots (coffee shops, mcdonalds, etc) that kids normally go to to for internet are all closed.

The districts are planning on giving kids Chromebooks for classes but they are also figuring out how to give them personal hotspots or enable LTE on the Chromebooks. Overall, it seems most of Juniors and Seniors that couldn't afford internet before and were close to dropping out to help pay their family's bills just got their parent's approval to start working instead of going to school.

It will be very interesting (and sad) to see how this affects graduation rates and preparedness for classes come fall.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#46

Post by gz5 »

Disasters are also opportunities. Inventing and re-inventing, in a hurry, can force us to put in 'good enough' solutions, which end up iterating into true innovation and paradigm changes.

This is not a "schools are broken" rant. There are schools, staff and teachers which do tremendous, underappreciated work. With 4 kids between the ages of 9 and 19, I have seen it first-hand.

There is always room for improvement and improving remote education would make learning opportunities available to many more people, and be a great experience for many.

The 'conversation' theme in this post for example: https://seths.blog/2020/03/the-conversation/

And the 'collaboration' theme in this post: https://avc.com/2020/03/teaching-online/

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#47

Post by gambiting »

kogus wrote: post #44
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…

I don't think electricity and water are provided for free to even the lowest income families.

You guys don't have social housing? A council owned house usually has water and electricity provided for free, or very heavily subsidized.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#48

Post by irrational »

kogus wrote: post #44
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…

I don't think electricity and water are provided for free to even the lowest income families.

Where I live they can be. There is a program they can apply for to receive free or heavily subsidized utilities.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#49

Post by kogus »

I live in South Carolina, and have one child in elementary school, and another in middle school. I've been surprised by how quickly the teachers and schools have moved the entire curriculum online. The middle school kids all already had iPads to take home, and their teachers were already doing a lot on Google Classroom. So for them, it was an incremental change, not a night and day difference.

The elementary school had all the teachers put together three weeks worth of take home work, which parents had to come pick up from the school. So the actual work is on paper. Feedback is done through ClassDojo, where the teachers also post videos and share work from the children.

Altogether, they've done an impressive job in our district, all things considered.

The hardest part is getting the kids to wrap their heads around the idea that these are school days, not holidays. I don't think there's an app for that yet.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#50

Post by kogus »

gambiting wrote: post #47
kogus wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think electricity and water are provided for free to even the lowest income families.

You guys don't have social housing? A council owned house usually has water and electricity provided for free, or very heavily subsidized.

Good point. Yes, there is government housing, where the rent and utilities are subsidized or free, based on need. I was thinking of low-income folks who live in their own homes.
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