Shifting to
fulltime distance learning during the COVID-19 crisis has been an unexpected shock
for even the most prepared schools. Moving from a controlled and structured school
environment to supporting learners at home has created a whole new set of
conditions for teachers and students alike.
As the publishers
of BrightFish Reading, we made the decision early on to offer our online
instructional program at no charge during the closures. That was the easy part.
The avalanche of requests that followed made things significantly more
complicated as we rushed to get hundreds of new schools set up in a matter of
days – and in some cases, hours. While I won’t go into the gory details of the
myriad devices, browsers and Wi-Fi issues we’ve encountered in these past few
weeks, there are a few interesting themes that have emerged so far.
Here are some
of our “lessons learned” from the brave new world of virtual education:
1. You really can have too many
enrollment options:
Getting teachers and students set up for online programs is relatively straightforward
in a typical school environment. We provide several class rostering options –
Clever, ClassLink, Google Classroom – and offer import tools for enrolling
students directly in the BrightFish platform. In the rush to get going, many
teachers chose multiple methods, resulting in duplicate classrooms and general
confusion. All of this was fairly easy to straighten out but left us with a major
action item to rethink the whole sign-up process. (When things settle down we’ll
get to it.)
2. Email is good but live chat is
better: Since
teachers and students are working from remote locations, there is no school
office number to call to provide support. Usually we have only an email address
for teachers and no contact information for students. Live chat has been a
major tool in getting teachers and students the help they need in the moment.
Email is OK for follow-up, but there’s nothing like having an interactive conversation
to answer questions and troubleshoot tech and setup issues. Our live chat
traffic has increased 10-fold and most issues can be resolved in a matter of
minutes. It was an important tool before the closures and absolutely critical
in this environment.
3. Expectations matter: If anyone ever questioned the role
of teachers in online learning, the experience of the past few weeks underlines
how critical teachers are to the process. Video conferencing, messaging, email,
phone – teachers are finding creative ways to provide instruction and guidance
to their students. We can see the impact in the data. Teachers who have been
rigorous in setting clear expectations, monitoring students’ work and providing
regular feedback are seeing really high usage rates and continued improvement in
scores for their BrightFish Reading activities. Many students are getting
higher time on task and we’re seeing spikes in weekend and evening usage.
4. Screen time is irrelevant: Many of our teachers are reporting
parents saying “Johnny and Janie have been on the computer for 2 hours this
week.” Yet our usage reports show only 30 minutes of work in BrightFish Reading.
There’s nothing wrong with the data – just that we report on time on task (TOT)
based on completed work. TOT is a really useful productivity measure when
you’re teaching students remotely. It doesn’t matter how long they have
been logged into their device or staring at their computer screen. Measures
that capture completed work, such as time on task, help teachers see exactly
how focused and productive their students are in whatever program they are
using. In distance learning, access to data showing time spent on completed
work is an important tool for teachers to monitor their remote learners.
5. Self-paced learning gives students control: One of the benefits of self-paced learning
programs is that they put the student at the center. The role of the teacher is
to guide, monitor and remediate. Students gain more
control over their own learning – and more responsibility for using the available
tools to track and improve their performance. In a virtual learning environment,
teachers can review their students' data and provide personalized feedback
and remediation based on individual areas of weakness.
6. Motivation is possible from a
distance: Teachers
are finding new ways to be present for students, whether it’s using video conference
tools or just checking in daily to provide support. Online tools can also be
effective in keeping students motivated while learning remotely. A few tools
that teachers have been using in BrightFish Reading include creating reward cards
that can be redeemed for extra credit and topping up points for achieving personal
best scores. We’ve posted ideas in our Virtual Learning Center
and we’re sharing tips from BrightFish teachers.
Visit our
Virtual Learning Center here.
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