鈥淗ow do I do this online teaching stuff?鈥�
has heard that question repeatedly since the COVID pandemic knocked traditional classroom learning off the rails in mid-March.
鈥淭he pedagogy and practice had been so much about in-person instruction that teachers felt stuck, they felt scared and they felt as if they couldn鈥檛 do anything right,鈥� says Compton, Director of Program Development for Teachers College鈥檚 (CPET).
But not in Finland, a nation that that began converting to a hybrid of online and in-person learning seven years ago.
鈥淭eachers moved very quickly to distance learning,鈥� Jari Lavonen, a faculty member at the University of Helsinki, told a virtual audience at the CPET-led 2020 Global Learning Alliance Summit in late August. 鈥淭here were some problems with access and internet platforms, but not huge ones.鈥�
Lavonen鈥檚 presentation, which cited a Finnish National Agency for Education report on the response to the pandemic, was just one example of the lessons shared at the biennial Summit, which gathers school leaders from around the world for timely discussions on educational research, pedagogy and practice. Normally held at rotating sites in Finland, Asia and the United States, the Summit, slated this year for New York City, was held online 鈥� a move very much in keeping with its focus on the COVID-prompted shift to online learning worldwide.
People are ready to take a step back to say, 鈥極K, I tried that 鈥� what worked and what didn鈥檛 work?鈥�
鈥� G. Faith Little
鈥淲e wanted the Summit to look at what people have done so far, and what can be next,鈥� said , a Senior CPET Program Manager and Summit co-coordinator. 鈥淧eople are ready to take a step back to say, 鈥極K, I tried that 鈥� what worked and what didn鈥檛 work?鈥欌��
[Read on framing strategies for teaching during the ongoing COVID crisis.]
Finnish educators know what works because they鈥檝e been working with hybrid instruction models since 2013, when their country made what Levonen characterized as a 鈥渄igi-jump鈥� to computer-based final exams and additional online strategies. The big challenge in Finland, then, has been to identify ways to counter social isolation 鈥� a problem that some schools solved in part by inviting older students to join one another at virtual pizza parties.
SPARKING CONVERSATIONS Little (left), Compton and other CPET team members feel the Summit launched productive dialogues among participants from around the globe. (Photo: 911爆料网 Archives)
China, the first nation ravaged by COVID, also struggled with the social-emotional consequences 鈥� and not just those affecting students. Chinese teachers, separated from colleagues and students, found themselves 鈥渓ost and stuck in a deep loneliness,鈥� said Yubin (Leona) Lin, a program director with YouCH EDU, a non-profit professional development organization. 鈥淐OVID taught us a lesson,鈥� Lin added, 鈥淭eachers need their social-emotional connection no matter how independent they might be.鈥�
Chinese schools re-established that connection by facilitating virtual teacher meet-ups 鈥� informal professional development sessions that in some instances grew to include educators from the United States, Canada, Egypt and France.
鈥淲e鈥檇 talk and talk and talk and check in until we felt comfortable,鈥� Lin reported, adding that the process led to 鈥渄eeper exploration of topics鈥� and 鈥渢he confidence level to try something new.鈥�
Other presenters flagged the need for increased communication on a variety of fronts.
鈥淵ou hear 鈥榣ocation, location, location,鈥欌�� said Principal Tamala Boyprod Shaw, who in early August welcomed the inaugural class of sixth-graders to the Mississippi Delta Academy, a new charter school she founded. 鈥淲ell, I say, 鈥榗ommunication, communication, communication.鈥� Get plans to students and parents early and often, make sure your decisions are data-based and that parents know their voices are being heard.鈥�
Shaw spoke as part of a panel that featured educators from three other Southern states that reopened schools in August.
Jenan McNealey, a counselor with the Forsyth County Schools in suburban Atlanta, said her district allowed Forsyth families to choose between returning their children to the classroom or continuing their learning at home. To accommodate those that chose the distance option, the district spent three weeks introducing teachers in 38 schools to new virtual learning platforms and modules.
Digital platforms can create innovative pathways for students to learn while maintaining a social-emotional connection with teachers and classmates. Technologies can offer students a portal to document their interests, share a story or introduce classmates to family and community in self-produced videos.
鈥淚t was great, because in March we weren鈥檛 prepared and it was a mess,鈥� said McNealey.
Tangela Williams, a Learning Community Superintendent with North Carolina鈥檚 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, said that, for her district, the miscues of March have served as a teaching moment in the run-up to a 2020-21 school year that will begin virtually. In particular, Williams and other leaders have discovered the advantages of asynchronous digital learning (instruction in which the teacher and students are not all in the same place or interacting in real time.
Asynchronous technology, in Williams estimation, presents a 鈥済reat opportunity to level the playing field and put our stake in the ground in terms of equity,鈥� precisely because it enables students to rewind and review pre-recorded lectures 鈥� and thus, potentially, gain a deeper understanding of difficult course content.
In a similar vein, Compton cited strategies for student engagement employed in a study she designed for a CPET partner school that also underscore the potential of technological advances to improve how young people learn. In particular, she said, digital platforms can create innovative pathways for students to learn while maintaining a social-emotional connection with teachers and classmates. Technologies can offer students a portal to document their interests, share a story or introduce classmates to family and community in self-produced videos. Zoom and Google digital platforms can also encourage small group partnerships that 鈥渃an get kids talking to one another before moving to large group discussions鈥� around lessons and classroom objectives. Illustrating that point, CPET鈥檚 first-ever digital Summit sparked online conversations among participants from around the globe.
Still, Little said the format, mediated by the digital space, still needs to find more spaces for the spontaneous exchange of ideas that take place at conferences where attendees chatted face-to-face: 鈥淭here is something to be gained by meeting in person to share what we are doing with kids in different places and under different circumstances.鈥�