Ensuring Continuity of Instruction in Remote Learning Environments
The shutdown of schools and businesses due to the pandemic brought a great deal of attention to distance learning. Most of us were concerned about how businesses would continue operations and how schools would continue educating students. Continuity of instruction became a growing concern when we didn’t return to school as quickly as many of us had hoped. When most of us returned to our classrooms, things were staggered and restricted and the entire world of education was shaken. We’ve had to adjust to a new normal, but we learned that instruction can “happen anywhere, with the right tools in place to support administrators, teachers, students, and families” (CoSN, 2023).
Although early concerns regarding the continuity of instruction were linked to crisis schooling during the pandemic; there is continued interest, especially in distance learning. “To ensure students can continue learning away from brick and mortar schools, it is essential that educators collaborate to provide best practices and a framework for instruction” (SETDA, 2022). Distance education is not new; however, more people have begun to pay attention to online schooling since the pandemic. Ensuring student engagement (discussed in my last post) is one of the most important factors in an online learning environment. However, there are a number of other ways for institutions to ensure that effective learning continues taking place.
ClassLink (2023) created a Learning Continuity Guidebook where they outline “nine pillars districts need to succeed with remote learning in the future.” According to their website, “There is no one-size-fits-all approach to learning continuity” (ClassLink, 2023). ClassLink shares these 9 pillars in a nine-part blog series available on their website. The pillars are listed below.
Start With Your Vision & Goals
Establish Equity & Access
Secure & Sustain Funding
Build Your Technology Ecosystem Plan
Strengthen Data Privacy & Security
Develop Teacher & Student Capacity
Consider & Work With Families
Implement Remote Learning
Maintain & Improve Your Learning Continuity Plan
According to Simonson et al., “It is imperative that distance education activities take place in an environment most conducive to achieving success” (2019, p.290). In order to do this, continuity of instruction must be made a priority. ClassLink worked with The School Superintendents Association (AASA), the Association of Educational Service Agencies (AESA), the Consortium for School Networking (CoCN), and the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SEDTA) to create a Continuous Learning Rubric. The rubric was designed to “help guide leadership teams towards organizational self-reflection and improvement” (ClassLink et al.). The Continuous Learning Rubric is divided into four core elements and each element has a number of subcategories. The four core elements are Leadership & Policy, Operations, Access & Equity, and Instruction. For the remainder of this post, I will highlight a few important topics from the “Instruction” section of the rubric.
Curriculum
According to the Continuous Learning Rubric “Curriculum” should “provide prioritized learning targets that meet students' instructional needs and allow for the fluidity between remote and in-person instruction” (ClassLink et al.). Tailoring instruction to meet learning needs is key in any educational setting; even more so in distance learning environments. According to ClassLink (2023), “Districts can reduce the pressure and create clarity by prioritizing which standards students need to learn.” Another way educators can meet student needs is through the use of effective learning strategies. I recently created an infographic to compare distance learning strategies to those used during pandemic crisis schooling. The infographic is below and the successful remote learning strategies can be found on the right-hand side.
Professional Development
According to the Continuous Learning Rubric “Professional Development” should “provide opportunities for teachers and staff to receive the appropriate professional development” (ClassLink et al.). Most educators are lifelong learners and they are eager to learn ways to update their teaching strategies and keep students engaged. Institutions that ask instructors what training they need and provide professional development in easily accessible ways are more likely to have effective teachers with up-to-date knowledge of best practices. According to ClassLink (2023), “It’s critical to equip students and teachers with the skills, knowledge, and processes they need to succeed with online learning.”
Assessment & Data
According to the Continuous Learning Rubric “Assessment & Data” involves “Securely collect[ing] formal and informal data that is actionable and accessible to understand students' instructional and socio-emotional needs” (ClassLink et al.). Collecting data is an often underappreciated component of instructional best practices. According to Simonson et al., the “evaluation of programs is used to identify strengths and weaknesses as well as the benefits and drawbacks of teaching and learning online” (2019, p. 319). Educational institutions can improve their programs by collecting data and making adjustments based on that data. Similarly, instructors can collect information about the effectiveness of their courses and adapt them to meet learner needs.
“Even with overall postsecondary enrollments stagnating, distance education continues its upswing in the higher education sector” (Simonson et al., 2019, p. 213). Online learning isn’t going anywhere and the future of education is tied to its success. Ensuring continuity of instruction is therefore imperative to that success.
References
ClassLink. (2023). Learning continuity guidebook. ClassLink. Classlink.com. https://www.classlink.com/resources/learning-continuity-guidebook
ClassLink, AASA, AESA, CoCN, SEDTA. Continuous Learning Rubric.
Consortium for School Networking. (2023). The COVID-19 crisis changed education. Now teachers are rethinking the future of learning. CoSN. CoSN.org. https://www.cosn.org/the-covid-19-crisis-changed-education-now-teachers-are-rethinking-the-future-of-learning/
State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA). (2022, January 12). eLearning coalition. SETDA. SETDA.org. https://www.setda.org/main-coalitions/elearning/
Simonson, M., Zvacek, S., Smaldino, S. (2019). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (7th ed.). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.
I love your infographic on the differences between crisis pandemic education and virtual learning. It's also interesting at how "not new" distance learning really is. Simonson et al. (2019) state, ""The roots of distance education are at least 160 years old" (p. 38). Originally, distance learning was correspondence courses. The pandemic taught us even more how to reflect and improve practices in relation to virtual learning. The quality of the instruction still lies with the instructor, their training in best practices, and access to quality tools and management systems. I also appreciated the different areas of continuity explored in the ClassLink Guidebook for continuity. I particularly appreciated building capacity for students and teachers. It is key to model technology tools and systems for students. As an instructional coach, teachers must be provided not simply a brief training on tools but sustained, ongoing professional learning on innovative teaching and learning practices along with technology tools. Kemble and Rossitto (2020) state, "While most teachers have some training around online learning, most haven’t had to use those skills until now" (para. 9).
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Kemble, J., & Rossitto, S. (2020, June 15). Learning continuity guidebook: Develop teacher & student capacity. ClassLink Blog. https://www.classlink.com/blog/learning-continuity-guidebook-part6
Simonson, M., Zvacek, S., Smaldino, S. (2019). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (7th ed.). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.
Jessie,
ReplyDeleteYour infographic was exceptional and easy to understand. I like the discussion about professional development. In my personal experience, since the pandemic, all professional development opportunities have been lacking to say the least. Anything that we have been asked to do was either virtual or just something required. Simonson, et. al., (2019) discusses the importance of professional development for educators and the impact it has on teaching (p. 8769). There was a recent study of over 200 educators that found teachers have developed more issues with how to teach virtually and keep lessons engaging since the pandemic (Mathijssen & Hoogeveen, 2022). It is so important to ensure we are working on keeping up with the changing times in case we ever have to go completely virtual again.
References:
Jen, E., Mathijssen, S., & Hoogeveen, L. (2022). Supporting professional development for educators during the pandemic: Lessons from an international blended learning diploma program. PROSPECTS: Comparative Journal of Curriculum, Learning, and Assessment, 51(4), 583–587. https://doi-org.ezproxy.montevallo.edu/10.1007/s11125-021-09591-5
Simonson, M., Zvacek, S., Smaldino, S. (2019). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (7th ed.). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.