Showing posts with label exponential growth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exponential growth. Show all posts

Monday, November 2, 2020

Preparing for the (Second) Shift to e-Learning Checklist

As we monitored state and community COVID numbers during the first months of the 2020-21 school, we anticipated that we might not be able to keep K-8 students at school in person in our full time and hybrid models. After the first ten weeks of offering hybrid learning for our students K-8 in classrooms at 50% capacity (detailed more here in an earlier post), we had to shift to full time e-Learning. Thankfully we were able to use the time beforehand to prepare for this get our hybrid staff, students and their families ready. 

Fortunately this wasn't our first rodeo: back in March when school was shut down for the first time by the Minnesota Governor, we had shift to e-Learning, too, so we had a lot of experience on which to build. As I wrote back then, the pandemic has been a huge catalyst for technology integration. An added advantage with this second shift to e-Learning was that we were able to prepare the checklist below for our teachers to get ready for this change based on what we knew would need to happen. Another advantage this time around was the time we had to practice with our students in person and prepare them.

Because students in our Grade K-3 hybrid model came to school daily this fall, their teachers were less likely to be posting assignments in Seesaw, our K-3 learning management system, so we felt that these students needed the most practice. Our checklist included setting up expectations for both setting up Seesaw and practicing using it. Earlier this year we also had created Seesaw Expectations, similar to the Schoology Expectations for Grade 4-12 we have had for years. Our grade 4-5 students were e-Learning each Wednesday this fall, so the checklist included Schoology setup and practice with the upper elementary students, but many teachers had already taken care of this. Students in grades 6-8 were in person two days per week and online the other three, so they were already experiencing e-Learning regularly.

As you can see on the list below, our checklist encouraged teachers to practice using other tools beyond our LMS with students such as Google Meet, too:

Instructional Model Shift: K-5 e-Learning

Due to the uncertainty of the current times, below is a checklist that will prepare you, your students, and their families for a shift to e- Learning should this occur by classroom, school or as a whole district.  If you need help, please contact your tech coach.

By the end of the quarter, each of your K - 3 students should be able to...

  • use Folders and Calendar to filter Activities in Seesaw

  • complete a Seesaw Activity

  • participate in a Google Meet using a nickname

  • complete an assigned task in other programs (ex. SSO login, IXL, Pear Deck)

  • K-3 Homeroom Teachers Only: Reach out by phone to families who are not connected/have not accepted previous Seesaw invitations

By the end of the quarter, each of your 4-5 students should be able to...

  • use folders and calendar to navigate Schoology courses (review Schoology Expectations)

  • complete and submit a Schoology Assignment, Test/Quiz, Discussion Board

  • find assignment feedback/grades in Schoology

  • complete an assigned task in other programs (ex. SSO login, IXL, EdPuzzle, Classkick, Pear Deck, Padlet)

Other items to prepare for a possible transition to all eLearning:

  • Self Assess: Reflect on the tools and procedures your students would need to know for full-time eLearning

    • What instructional strategies work best for online teaching and learning?

    • What skills do you need to reinforce in order for students to learn online?

    • What routines, procedures, and/or norms need to be introduced if completely online?

  • Practice an e-Learning day while at school (this may be coordinated by school-wide):

    • Review how to access the learning plan and assignments for the day

    • Practice and clarify expectations for synchronous and asynchronous learning time

    • Practice using Google Meet (login with student Google account, mute mic, use headphones/turn down iPad volume,)

    • Practice solving common technology issues (turn off/on iPad, install/reinstall an app from Self Service, update iOS) and how to get help if they need it

  • Identify resources and materials students will need at home

  • Practice streaming live instruction with Google Meet

  • Practice recording and posting asynchronous lessons (recording Google Meets, Seesaw or Screencasting tools)

  • Think through teaching with tools in addition to SMART Notebook.

  • Consider saving files to your Google Drive in case you want/need to access remotely.

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Thursday, May 7, 2020

A Pandemic as a Catalyst for Technology Integration in Education

The past few months have been a whirlwind. Preparing and implementing an e-learning meant tremendous growth in the use of educational technology. I have to say: COVID-19 is the biggest catalysts for technology integration — ever! Most of us in instructional technology could never have imagined so many teachers learning and adopting new technologies so quickly! 

Years ago I wrote an ISTE article about the Interactive Whiteboard as Springboard for Technology Integration. There have been a variety of educational technology tools besides  SMARTBoards that have changed teaching and learning, such as the internet and the iPad. But we know it has always been a challenge to help teachers understand the benefits and CHOOSE to adopt new technologies. Of course, there are the go-getters—the innovators—who are willing to try just about any new technology tool. In any change/adoption cycle, there are those who follow the innovators—the early adopters, upon whose success an entire roll-out depends. But it’s those reluctant users, the hard to convince, with whom we often spend our time.

The pandemic and resulting quick transition to e-learning created an urgency that no amount of persuasion has ever done in the past. In a matter of a few days, every teacher needed to use our online learning management system, Schoology (Grades 4-12) and Seesaw (PreK-3), assign and collect homework electronically, record and post videos of instruction,  assess students (formative and summative), participate in and lead synchronous Google Meets, and much more. Administrators, paras, and other support staff needed to learn to use these tools as well.

Staff worked above and beyond the call of duty to help all teachers, students, and parents gain comfort using our technology tools. We spent countless hours--including some days late into the night and weekends--setting up systems, researching tools, documenting, troubleshooting, and training staff. The amount of professional development provided over the past couple of months far exceeds the amount of training that normally happened over a whole school year. We even held an EdCamp a week prior to e-learning. Teacher leaders clocked almost 1,400 hours of staff training—and counting.

We’ve all seen the “flatten-the-curve” graphs for COVID-19. Without social distancing we’d see exponential growth in COVID-19 cases. But think about the exponential growth in instructional technology adoption during this time. As I looked for a graph with an exponential growth curve combined with the diffusion of innovation model, I found the one pictured and am intrigued (source). Although it’s not an exponential curve, it’s perhaps a better graph to consider. The y-axis could represent the move to online teaching and learning, with rapid adoption of our e-learning technology tools. Perhaps a graph could also show the compressed time frame in which this has all occurred. If you know of other models, please share. 

For school districts like ours in which many have now mastered the basics of using technology tools for e-learning, what should be next? How do we move our teachers to higher levels on our Minnetonka Teaching & Learning Framework? We have been discussing this as a team, working on ways to enhance online instruction, make it more engaging for students, more effective and efficient for teachers, and more streamlined for parents helping from home. For example, now that teachers understand the basics of screen casting, what are the next skills and tools we want our teachers to learn? And now that many are using online formative assessment tools, what are the most effective questioning techniques? How can we make online discussion tools better and more meaningful for students?

Almost three years ago, I wrote: Accelerating Changes Needed in Education, a reflection on Thomas Friedman's claims that education was not keeping up with technology’s exponential, accelerating changes. He explained that we still had a chance to bridge the gap between the two growth curves of technology and human adaptability (shown in the graph). Mr. Friedman, over the last two months, I think we closed this gap considerably. 
I also realize that not all school districts are in the same place. The move to online learning has amplified the substantial disparities in educational equity communities face. In Minnesota, like other places around the world, we have a well-documented lack of broadband access.  So, some schools are “distance learning” without internet or device access. Hopefully the need to provide equitable access for all students will now get the attention and funding it needs.
It is, of course, still early to know what the next school year will be like. At this point, it seems that we will need to plan for four scenarios: 1) continued fully online school as we are now, 2) some sort of modified face-to-face school with social distancing and other new procedures being practiced, 3) a mix of #1 and #2, or 4) a return to February 2020 with our regular face to face schooling and past ways of doing things—but even that would be different.

Whenever we return, we will welcome back students and teachers who have new skills and experiences. So many teachers are experiencing for the first time what can be accomplished with technology. It seems that the traditional whole-class instruction format, without technology, will be a thing of the past. Why would we want to go back to pre-pandemic levels of instructional technology use? Now we can begin to focus on individualized and personalized instruction, self-directed and self-paced learning, frequent formative assessment, and things like flipped learning among other things. Return to normal? No, thanks. There is an exciting future ahead for students, teachers and learning.

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