Transitioning to remote learning: Lessons from supporting K‐12 teachers through a MOOC

Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, K-12 education in New York City quickly transitioned to remote learning. We performed a structured interview with 50 consecutive families of children with developmental disabilities about their experience with remote learning 2 months after COVID-19 lockdown. We observed that setting up the remote learning system was challenging for families who were born outside of the United States, spoke limited English, or had a lower level of education. Though some special education supports were in place, remote learning for children with developmental disabilities led to gaps in their therapeutic services. Children with more severe developmental disabilities joined less than 2 hours of remote learning per day and had a decrease in their therapeutic services. Most children (80%) relied on their parents for education. Additionally, for low-income communities, with families who spoke languages other than English, remote learning revealed a new barrier to access: technology.

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A Comparison of Burnout Experienced by Family and Consumer Sciences Teachers With Other Content Teachers During COVID- 19 Remote Teaching

Journal of Family & Consumer Sciences ◽

10.14307/jfcs113.3.27 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 113 (3) ◽

pp. 27-35

Author(s):

Tony Durr ◽

Nicole A. Graves ◽

Alison Wilson

Keyword(s):

Social Studies ◽

Language Arts ◽

Learning Environments ◽

Family And Consumer Sciences ◽

Personal Accomplishment ◽

Consumer Sciences ◽

K 12 ◽

Remote Learning

During the spring of 2020, K-12 schools were turned upside-down. The COVID-19 pandemic essentially forced all schools across the nation to close their doors and move their learning environments online. The switch to remote learning put a great deal of stress and responsibility on teachers at all levels. The content taught by family and consumer sciences (FCS) teachers presented those teachers with unique challenges that differentiated them from other content teachers in programs such as math, language arts, and social studies. With a sample of 97 teachers from Midwestern states, this study found that FCS teachers reported higher levels of depersonalization and lower feelings of personal accomplishment.

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Recognizing the Inequalities in Remote Learning Education

Handbook of Research on Inequities in Online Education During Global Crises - Advances in Mobile and Distance Learning ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-6533-9.ch004 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 77-96

Author(s):

Deanne J. Tucker-White

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Special Education ◽

Institutions Of Higher Education ◽

Working At Home ◽

Disabled Students ◽

Marginalized Communities ◽

Students In Poverty ◽

K 12 ◽

Remote Learning ◽

At Home

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the instructional approach in K-12 and institutions of higher education to be almost solely online. The challenges for schools at the beginning of the pandemic were immense. Schools faced issues such as not having a plan for families to access WiFi, students not having one-to-one devices at home, parents working at home without anyone to help students log in, special education population/disabled students unable to acquire adequate learning services, and students in poverty or experiencing homelessness who were helpless to quarantine and did not know where their next meal would come from. The closing of school doors exacerbated the historical and pervasive educational inequities and generational implications within marginalized communities. Given the tense relationships and not-great experiences with an education that many marginalized families have had, remote learning progression was a rocky one.

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Remote Learning, COVID-19, and Children With Disabilities

AERA Open ◽

10.1177/23328584211058471 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

pp. 233285842110584

Author(s):

Kate Henley Averett

Keyword(s):

Public Education ◽

Large Scale ◽

Children With Disabilities ◽

Interview Study ◽

School Closures ◽

Learning At Home ◽

K 12 ◽

Remote Learning ◽

At Home

While the COVID-19 pandemic affected the education of nearly all schoolchildren worldwide, pandemic-related school closures did not affect all children in equal ways. Between March and August, 2020, I interviewed 31 parents of children with disabilities as part of a larger interview study of U.S. parents of children in grades K–12. In this article, I analyze these parents’ narratives about their families’ experiences of pandemic-related remote learning to identify the particular challenges children with disabilities and their families faced with remote learning. I find that most, but not all, families struggled with remote learning, both when children’s specific needs while learning at home differed from their needs at school, and when schools failed to provide adequate accommodations and services remotely. These narratives demonstrate how children with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to the type of large-scale systemic shock to U.S. public education that the pandemic has presented.

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TEACHERS' ATTITUDE TOWARDS REMOTE LEARNING: ANALYSIS OF LATVIA'S CASE

SOCIETY INTEGRATION EDUCATION Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference ◽

10.17770/sie2021vol2.6336 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

pp. 603-612

Author(s):

Svetlana Usca ◽

Janis Dzerviniks ◽

Velta Lubkina ◽

Aija Vindece ◽

Janis Poplavskis

Keyword(s):

General Education ◽

Online Survey ◽

Research Programme ◽

General Education Teachers ◽

Educational Institutions ◽

Social Resilience ◽

K 12 ◽

Learning Analysis ◽

Different Levels ◽

Remote Learning

The virtual environment has broken into all areas of our lives in the 21st century. Consequently, the issue of using IT at different levels of education, the usefulness or harmfulness of technologies, as well as the readiness of teachers to work with them is becoming more and more important. The Covid-19 pandemic activated the “technology revolution”, and Latvia's educational institutions switched to remote learning. Such a transformation revealed the strengths and weaknesses of education, as well as raised the issue of teachers' readiness for work in remote learning and attitude towards rapid change.The paper analyzes the data obtained by the State Research Programme “Life with COVID-19: Evaluation of overcoming the coronavirus crisis in Latvia and recommendations for social resilience in the future (CoLife)” on the attitude of Latvia's teachers towards the remote learning process.Research method: online survey of 559 general education teachers (K-12).

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Closing the homework gap in California: Promoting broadband for K-12 families beyond the pandemic

10.35542/osf.io/qfjsv ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Stephen J Aguilar ◽

Hernan Galperin ◽

Thai V. Le

Keyword(s):

Online Learning ◽

Learning Outcomes ◽

Parental Support ◽

Digital Literacy ◽

Demographic Characteristics ◽

Learning Activities ◽

Steady Increase ◽

Negative Impacts ◽

K 12 ◽

Remote Learning

Since 2008, the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) has conducted a statewide survey to assess California’s progress towards closing the divide in broadband connectivity across the state. Over the years, the results have shown a steady increase in broadband adoption, though the gains have been uneven across regions and groups. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the transition to remote learning across California, there has been particular attention to deficits in connectivity and device availability among K-12 families. Prior research has shown that these deficits are associated with demographic characteristics such as income and race or ethnicity, as well as place of residency. The concern is that barriers to online learning associated with broadband connectivity and digital literacy may further exacerbate existing educational dis- parities along income, racial and geographical lines. This policy brief examines these questions based on the findings from the 2021 Statewide Survey on Broadband Adoption. The results are organized along three pillars that, when taken together, have been shown by prior research to enhance remote learning outcomes and mitigate its potential negative impacts. These pillars are: (1) access to the appropriate devices for remote learning; (2) access to robust connectivity for remote learning activities; and (3) parental support for online learning, which include helping children with schoolwork, communicating with teachers, and checking on students’ progress. The results are disaggregated by race or ethnicity, income and other demographic characteristics that reveal disparities in the ability to cope with the transition to remote learning among California families.

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Perceptions of Online Learning

Handbook of Research on Lessons Learned From Transitioning to Virtual Classrooms During a Pandemic - Advances in Mobile and Distance Learning ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-6557-5.ch006 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 100-124

Author(s):

Robert John Ceglie ◽

Ginger C. Black

Keyword(s):

North Carolina ◽

Online Learning ◽

Public Schools ◽

Best Practices ◽

Online Instruction ◽

Parental Perspectives ◽

K 12 ◽

Remote Learning

This chapter examines the parent/guardian perceptions of the rollout and implementation of online instruction during the move to online instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors begin this chapter with an examination of how the transition to online learning occurred for K-12 public schools in North Carolina starting in March 2020. They explore the current landscape and environment for this type of learning within this state and describe what supports and tools were in place prior to the move to remote learning. They discuss the best practices for online learning in K-12 schools and explore the research that exists on parental opinions and beliefs of education and online instruction. While this literature is not particularly robust, it provides a foundation for the work of which they engaged. Next, they discuss the findings from a survey that was sent to parents in North Carolina and describe the implications for this information. Finally, they offer suggestions for future considerations of ways to act on the parental perspectives.

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Intersections of Micro-Level Contextual Factors and Technological Pedagogical Knowledge

Handbook of Research on Transforming Teachers’ Online Pedagogical Reasoning for Engaging K-12 Students in Virtual Learning - Advances in Mobile and Distance Learning ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-7222-1.ch009 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 170-193

Author(s):

Meredith J. C. Swallow ◽

Mia L. Morrison

Keyword(s):

Learning Environments ◽

Teacher Development ◽

Pedagogical Knowledge ◽

Traditional Schools ◽

Grade Levels ◽

Subject Areas ◽

Micro Level ◽

K 12 ◽

The Impact ◽

Remote Learning

Context is an essential component of educator knowledge development and practice. When K-12 learning environments shifted from traditional schools and classrooms to remote learning, teacher knowledge of context was challenged as students were situated in varied and unpredictable settings. In this chapter, researchers examine the ways in which purposeful attention to technological pedagogical knowledge in teacher development and practice can influence the impact of fluctuations in micro level teaching contexts in remote learning environments. To provide direction in enhancing knowledge across contexts, the authors focus on the cross curricular learning skills of critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. Particular attention is given to learning activities that can span across contexts, grade levels, and subject areas.

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A Light in Students’ Lives: K-12 Teachers’ Experiences (Re)Building Caring Relationships During Remote Learning

Online Learning ◽

10.24059/olj.v25i1.2486 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Karyn E. Miller

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Content Analysis ◽

The United States ◽

Future Research ◽

Social Emotional ◽

Graduate Course ◽

Comprehensive University ◽

Caring Relationships ◽

Authentic Care ◽

K 12 ◽

Remote Learning

This study illuminates the experiences of K-12 educators as they strove to (re)build caring relationships with students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was conducted during a graduate course for experienced K-12 teachers in the spring of 2020 at a four-year comprehensive university in the United States. Data was collected from reflective learning journals and asynchronous peer discussions, which captured educators’ experiences as they transitioned to remote learning in real-time. Qualitative content analysis was used to identify pertinent themes. Findings suggest that remote learning revealed relationships in need of repair. Educators practiced authentic care and cultivated connectedness by 1) acting as warm demanders, 2) responding to students’ social-emotional needs, and 3) trying to bridge the digital divide. The article concludes with implications for practice and areas for future research as schools, districts, states, and countries consider the “new normal” in K-12 schooling.

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Introduction to the Special Issue on the COVID-19 Emergency Transition to Remote Learning

Online Learning ◽

10.24059/olj.v25i1.2692 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Shanna Smith Jaggars

Keyword(s):

High Speed ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Extended Period ◽

The United States ◽

Local Context ◽

Special Issue ◽

The World ◽

Teachers And Students ◽

K 12 ◽

Remote Learning

The COVID-19 pandemic began in December 2019, and within three months had spread across Europe, the United States, and almost every other nation in the world. To help contain the deadly virus, countries across the globe closed the doors of K-12 schools and colleges. Students residing on university campuses were sent home. School administrators and instructors scrambled to devise plans for teaching and supporting their students from their own homes. Depending on their local context, their experience and training, and their students’ desires and needs, some teachers turned to teaching by correspondence, some to asynchronous online learning, some to synchronous remote class sessions, and some to a unique mix of these elements. Administrators, teachers, and students may have expected these emergency distance education practices to be temporary – a few weeks at most – but many were required to continue with remote teaching through the spring of 2021. More than a year after it began, the pandemic may at last be coming under control as vaccines are distributed across the world, and teachers and students are cautiously looking forward to a return to “normal” schooling conditions in the autumn of 2021. However, lessons from this extended period of universal remote learning will influence student instruction and support practices for many years to come, for both online and in-person courses and programs. The articles in this Special Issue provide a rich portrait of the teaching and learning challenges which characterized the initial emergency transition in Spring 2020, and detail the approaches of administrators and teachers as they attempted to overcome those challenges. Along the way, these studies provide lessons in terms of how to better prepare for future public emergencies, as well as how to improve student success more generally, in both online and in-person settings. Throughout the issue, readers will also see a multitude of challenges related to the “digital divide” – or the fact that students have unequal access to reliable high-speed Internet and other academic technologies, due to underlying inequalities in household income and regional infrastructure.

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