Lessons from Around the World: Remote Learning in the Era of Coronavirus
The impact of COVID-19 on schools across the United States, and the world, is shocking. Being in Seattle, the decisions to close school campuses and launch remote learning began weeks ago. I never imagined that hundreds of schools would face similar challenges so quickly. In the past week alone, many states and entire countries have closed their schools and businesses in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus.
During this international crisis, I remain committed to sharing insights, suggestions, and early lessons learned. It is one way I can help. I will continue to do what I can to support educational and organizational leaders, while also grappling with the very real challenges within my own school and community.
Some days, I feel as though I can’t act and write fast enough – the world is changing that quickly.
My intention here is to bring together a range of insights and suggestions on remote learning gleaned from my own early experiences and from educators from around the world. While Seattle has been the epicenter of COVID-19 in the United States, with school’s scrambling to close campuses and launch remote learning programs, some international schools are many weeks ahead of us and have valuable insights and perspectives to share as they move into their second and third months of remote learning.
Having spent 14 years as an educator and administrator at an overseas American/international school, I am fortunate to have colleagues who now work in schools around the globe. I am deeply grateful for their willingness to share their perspectives and lessons learned on remote learning, in addition to my own faculty’s experiences right here in Seattle. We are all in this together. We are experiencing an overwhelming national and international crisis, and I am convinced that we need our teachers and schools now more than ever.
I want you to know where I stand. First, I am taking the long-term perspective. This is a global crisis, and I believe schools will be closed for much longer than we expect. I would be thrilled to be wrong on that point. The first few weeks have been a sprint – full crisis mode. Now, we are running a marathon. And to finish the race, we need to pace ourselves, hydrate, refuel at pitstops, and be cheerleaders for each other. No one runs a marathon alone.
Second, we must have a start-up, flexible mindset. We are launching new businesses. And like all innovative businesses, we must act, assess, pivot, and adapt. This approach can be tough for schools. I have said many times that I believe schools should be among the most innovative places on earth. That is true now, more than ever. We must do our edgework.
And finally, I believe that we, as schools, must fully own this. This is OUR responsibility. We cannot fail our students, our families, and our teachers.
With my deepest appreciation to numerous educators around the world and Seattle, here is a list of ideas, suggestions, and lessons learned. There is no particular order. No presumed priority. Things are moving too fast and there is simply no time for that. Just dig in.
Nail down communications:
Determine who is communicating information about remote learning at a high level and who is managing the details. What is the rhythm of the week in terms of school wide, division level, and teacher level messaging?
Establish clear landing pages and documents that organize assignments, directions, instructions for logging in, necessary resources, and FAQs. Parents and students cannot manage a barrage of emails. Keep it simple.
Consider English Language Learners and potential barriers and challenges.
Establish clear student expectations:
Treat this like the first few weeks of a new school year.
Create a Remote User Responsible Agreement (even if other tech agreements are already in place from start of year).
Anticipate that issues that will arise with logging in, managing new systems and structures, and accessing hardware.
Be clear on the tasks and assignments students are expected to complete. What is core? What is enrichment or extra? What are the deadlines? How is work submitted?
Decide how students are expected to present themselves for group classes and conversations. Are they expected to dress as they would for school? Would it be acceptable to attend a remote class in their pajamas?
Determine what is appropriate in terms of a learning environment. Are you okay with students having background noise or distracting backgrounds? Help them learn to use tools such as online chat, mute, etc. Are they allowed to be in bed? On the couch?
Be clear about online behavior. Can they take screen shots? Use the chat feature? How will you manage inappropriate or distracting behaviors?
Set up students for success:
The first week is about setting up routines, expectations, and processes for communicating. Think of this as the first week of the new school year.
Make sure assignments and tasks include the necessary resources in easily accessible and consistent locations.
Provide an approximate time for each task or assignment. Teachers tend to over-estimate the time students need to complete a task (especially in the early grades) because the nuances of instruction (extension, questions, guiding) are not present like they are in the classroom. The thirty-minute lesson is completed in ten minutes.
At the same time, teachers may underestimate time to complete tasks, especially with students who normally receive accommodations in the classroom. Suddenly, these students don’t have the teacher making on-the-spot accommodations and redirections. The fifteen-minute assignment takes an hour or ends in tears.
Provide extensions for core assignments (students work at different paces).
Find a balance of synchronous and asynchronous assignments and classes. It may seem logical to teach a day’s worth of courses live, but it doesn’t work that way. Online teaching cannot replicate the classroom experience. Teachers need different tools and modes of engaging students.
Consider a flipped classroom model, where students are completing certain work, readings, and reflection and then coming to “class” for deeper discussions and project work.
Ensure students receive feedback – frequent, personal, and detailed. This type of feedback happens constantly and naturally in the classroom but requires an intentional and different approach when online.
Keep students accountable – no one gets to drift away. Follow up on any missed classes or assignments.
Advance the curriculum:
Begin the first week (maybe two) with lessons and assignments that review previously covered skills and concepts.
Especially with longer term closures, the curriculum must advance – this cannot only be about maintenance or reinforcement of previously taught skills and concepts. Get on with it and dive into new material.
This is not a drill – the program must be delivered in the best way possible. Implement and adapt.
Develop units and lessons that adapt standards and outcomes to the new reality (and constraints) of online learning. A tried and true unit may need to be reworked – you can still meet the standards, but in new ways.
Seek to understand the parent experience:
Help parents provide at-home routines, schedules, and physical learning spaces to support success.
Recognize that parents may want or need to have their children learn quite independently. When parents express concern about how much time they are spending “home-schooling,” pay attention. They need help.
At the same time, help parents understand the bigger picture. Remote learning will not fully replicate the classroom experience. How can schools help parents provide an appropriate level of guidance and support for their children without this becoming their full-time job? How can parents best support teachers?
Understand that the parent-child relationship can be challenging in the best of times and can become even more strained when parents are more deeply engaged in the learning process. How can schools help parents navigate these two roles? What role can the school play with expectations (and consequences)?
Parents are going to have a lot of emotions, frustrations, and perspectives, especially in the first few weeks. They may have had other ideas and hopes for remote learning. Perhaps they thought their roles would be minimal. Seek feedback and accept suggestions and criticisms, make incremental improvements quickly, and be nimble. The feedback may be harsh. Get over it. Take it as an opportunity. Be a startup – fail, adjust, and implement.
Provide structure for students with learning needs:
This is a huge challenge. Students with learning and emotional needs normally have their teacher, and perhaps a learning specialist or counselor, to scaffold their learning and provide accommodations throughout the day. Suddenly, the student who struggles with attention, executive processing skills, or organization is being asked to work independently or rely heavily on their parents. How can learning specialists connect and provide remote support? How can counselors check in and provide guidance?
For ELL students, consider use of subtitles or online translators.
Consider non-screen alternatives:
Especially for younger children, provide guided lessons and resources to help parents set up art centers, cooking activities, and a maker space.
Weave specialists into the play deck or list of activities throughout the week. What activities can the art teacher develop? What can the PE teachers offer to encourage movement and physical breaks? And the music teachers – consider remote lessons, sing-alongs, or music appreciation.
Books, books, books. There are so many wonderful audio books. Famous authors reading their novels. Adaptive reading programs.
Attend to social-emotional needs:
Relationships still matter! Find ways to connect perhaps through a shared social hour with middle schoolers, a read aloud for first graders, or a group snack in preschool. How could advisory classes take place remotely?
Provide social emotional support for students and parents. Counselors and teachers need to check in with families. Simply ask, “How is this going for you?”
Pay attention to who, over time, begins to disappear or disengage. Are there any students who start to miss classes or meetings? Why? Is it an emotional or social challenge? Perhaps a tech issue?
Students may become more insular over time – they begin to lose their social structures. Look for ways to build those in and provide students with examples of ways to connect outside of school, especially if they are “sheltering in place” and cannot meet in person.
Pay attention to the emotional toll on parents who are at home, where activity is restricted, and everyone is anxious. Ask how you can help.
Keep in mind that schools serve as emotional and social anchors, and when children are not at school this stability is lost. What school routines can be replication online? Morning meetings? Greetings from the principal or Head of School?
Pay attention to the teacher experience:
Teachers are feeling incredibly vulnerable. Parents will have unprecedented insights into their lessons. At the same time, parents are not able to see the usual in-class magic. So, the math lesson now only has the basic bones, without the teachers’ craft, nuances, and scaffolding that bring it alive. It can be hard for teachers to send out activities and homework that does not represent their usual approach to teaching.
Teachers will feel judged and criticized, especially if they are bombarded with feedback and criticism. It won’t feel fair, but put on the entrepreneur’s hat – take in the feedback, adapt when needed and appropriate, and keep moving. It gets better.
Teachers need structure and time to meet remotely in grade level, subject, and inter-disciplinary teams – time to plan and to learn from each other.
Remember, not all programs can be delivered remotely. Units must be adapted.
Teachers will adapt quickly – give them tools and training, empower them, and give them permission to be vulnerable (mistakes will happen; good ideas will flop).
Leaders need to create entrepreneurial mindset and embrace new school cultures of learning and risk-taking. Support cultures that embrace a cycle of growth and flexible mindsets.
Celebrate new successes!