School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning • Hacker News Board

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#111

Post by mncharity » Tue, Mar 24, 2020, 2:32 AM UTC

linsomniac wrote: post #102

Mark Rober (the Glitter bomb package theft guy) started a Physics class today on Youtube. According to Youtube numbers, 70K people were watching it at the beginning and 377K had watched it when it was over. I watched it with my daughter and it was review for both of us, but it also was very, very good. https://youtu.be/pPn-Bay_ANU

That was really good (tnx!)... until the Q&A. Oh well - maybe he could demonstrate the concept of an errata follow-up in a next video.

FWIW, here are my favorite heavy gas videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckaJs_u2U_A , https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=30&v=drBjDy96iNI , and an image to help with "but how can things float on something you can't see" https://www.flickr.com/photos/10192726@N00/1367178603 . One can also play with layered drinks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVsMmCb3Cdw . Self-layering latte is nifty, but harder to explain and make: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/12/science/lattes-layers-cof... , https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01852-2 FWIW.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#112

Post by monk_e_boy » Tue, Mar 24, 2020, 2:55 AM UTC

testfoobar wrote: post #70

Serious question: will schools and universities reopen in the fall? A large university with dormitories is kind of like a cruise ship on land: everyone eats, sleeps, plays and works together. Elementary and High schools are somewhat better in that kids go their own homes at night. But they still eat, play and study together. Hallways of high schools between classes see lots of cross-campus shoulder-to-shoulder traffi…

In the Uk I expect they will shut down hard, then after the NHS recovers a little we'll get a little holiday from the shut down to spread the infection a little.

I guess they will do this in phases (e.g. some shops will be opened for a weekend) over the spring/summer and then we'll all go back to school next academic year.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#113

Post by monadic2 » Tue, Mar 24, 2020, 2:59 AM UTC

whatshisface wrote: post #79

dr_dshiv wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there were a number of individual teachers who tried to immediately start doing remote instruction with their kids and were quickly reprimanded by their district as soon as they were found out. That sounds very odd.

Not if you spend enough time chatting with teachers. From what I have heard, oftentimes they find themselves blocked by administrative busybodies at every turn, as a matter of course.

> From what I have heard, oftentimes they find themselves blocked by administrative busybodies at every turn, as a matter of course.

This doesn't seem to be a case of "administrative busybodies", though, there are material consequences to only educating the students with access to internet.

Under another president, we could be looking at turning internet into a public utility. Sadly, we are stuck with making do with this crisis the best we can.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#114

Post by SubiculumCode » Tue, Mar 24, 2020, 3:49 AM UTC

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…

Same here. The best case for community broadband I've ever heard.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#115

Post by em-bee » Tue, Mar 24, 2020, 3:54 AM UTC

karatestomp wrote: post #108

beefalo wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this has likely become worse in recent history. I expect all of these households have "internet" access through a smartphone, but won't have a home connection to use with school issued chromebooks.

If you don’t have a strong need for it, paying for cellular internet for every phone plus a home connection becomes hard to justify, and the cellular ones are probably the more useful of the two, for most people.

here in china i get home internet with sim cards for the whole family and a mobile data quota thrown in for free

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#116

Post by jcrawfordor » Tue, Mar 24, 2020, 3:58 AM UTC

hnburnsy wrote: post #81

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…

Guidance from the Federal Department of Education... >To be clear: ensuring compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), † Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504), and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act should not prevent any school from offering educational programs through distance instruction. https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/frontpage/faq/rr/...

This concern is generally less related to disabilities and more related to poverty. The constitution requires that all students have equal access to education - Brown v. Board of Education is an important decision in this vein, for example. Moving the school district to a system which some students are not able to access due to inability to afford the means of access would almost certainly be found in violation.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#117

Post by gnicholas » Tue, Mar 24, 2020, 4:09 AM UTC

karatestomp wrote: post #109

gnicholas wrote: post #37

My kid is a kindergarten student at a very well-resourced school in Silicon Valley. Pretty immediately, they set up a virtual learning system that is used to assign tasks and for kids to share work. I appreciate that the teachers are doing what they can, but honestly for younger kids this sort of thing isn't really that helpful. The system is far from seamless (even as someone who runs an edtech startup, I have found…

This would seriously be a great opportunity to delivery a better educational experience to our first grader—except between both parents trying to remote work and two younger siblings, it’s simply not gonna happen. We just hope all this isn’t too big a setback. The schools are trying but there’s no way for it to work very well, with so little planning and no training for anything like this, and without at least one pa…

Yeah, it definitely takes some time. But we are saving a little time not having to drive our kid to and from school, and breakfast can happen as slowly or quickly (with less parental intervention) since we're not rushing off to school.

I am glad that my kids are so young going through this turmoil. I'm sure it is much more disruptive for older kids who are applying to college, and for parents who feel they have to make sure their kid doesn't fall behind. Must be very stressful and time-consuming.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#118

Post by thekyle » Tue, Mar 24, 2020, 4:41 AM UTC

LinuxBender wrote: post #74

This would be an interesting time if a company developed a very affordable VR headset and software to let teachers give virtual classes in 3D. Maybe even have a free-roam time for students to interact with each other. Bell rings, and they get a portal back to their desk.

Maybe something like Google Cardboard

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#119

Post by dillondoyle » Tue, Mar 24, 2020, 4:48 AM UTC

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…

The house stimulus bill has money for funding broadband for this reason (and remote work though if can't afford internet probably can't work remote...).

The Republicans are attacking it as 'Obamaphone 2.0'...

Which actually sounds like a much quicker way to get internet to more kids in cities.

We've already spent how much money failing on rural broadband - but I think the same issues with rural cell service.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#120

Post by asdfasgasdgasdg » Tue, Mar 24, 2020, 4:50 AM UTC

gnicholas wrote: post #117

karatestomp wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This would seriously be a great opportunity to delivery a better educational experience to our first grader—except between both parents trying to remote work and two younger siblings, it’s simply not gonna happen. We just hope all this isn’t too big a setback. The schools are trying but there’s no way for it to work very well, with so little planning and no training for anything like this, and without at least one pa…

Yeah, it definitely takes some time. But we are saving a little time not having to drive our kid to and from school, and breakfast can happen as slowly or quickly (with less parental intervention) since we're not rushing off to school. I am glad that my kids are so young going through this turmoil. I'm sure it is much more disruptive for older kids who are applying to college, and for parents who feel they have to ma…

I have felt the opposite. Older kids can self-direct much better than younger children, and they also understand the concept of work and are better able to entertain themselves. I think 5-7 yo are going to have the toughest time educationally during this.