How’s Distance Learning Working For You? Ideas for the Fall

It is not hard to hear the cries of teachers, parents, and students right now. Distance learning, e-learning, or whatever you want to call it is not a big success. It is difficult and cumbersome. It is a very poor substitute for what happens in classrooms across the country. At best, it is a stopgap, and at worst it is a sham. 

And now we are learning that we may not be able to return to school as usual in the fall! Does that mean that teachers get all summer to get better at the bad solution? One could rationalize that we are only now learning how to do learning online and, by next fall, we’ll all be experts and do it beautifully! I don’t know who might say that, but whoever would has never been in education – or they are experiencing quarantine delusions.

Kids are disengaged, teachers are frustrated, and parents feel like they don’t have the tools to help their children. The technology is buggy, the content feels overwhelming, and so many other factors are at play. Providing an online analog for school is not working.  

So what do we do? More of the same? Amp up what isn’t working anyway? Become stricter and create more punishments if students don’t comply? Threaten kids with grades, demotions, or failure? What a great formula for success!

We must create better options and reinvent the way online school functions. Rather than a failing attempt to replicate regular school online, let’s use what we know about what makes learning successful to create new options.

The relationship between student and teacher sits at the heart of education. Anything that disrupts this relationship will have a devastating effect on learning. Whatever we do in the fall, it must allow teachers and students to build powerful interpersonal bonds. This is especially important since teachers and students may not have met each other prior to this crisis.

Students must be actively engaged in learning and that engagement must be maintained over time. Teachers are talking about digital fatigue. Students are complaining about school being turned into a series of worksheets, readings, online quizzes, videos, and Zoom meetings.

More is not better, no matter what the highly materialistic parts of our culture may argue. Students are not empty vessels waiting to be filled with formulas, dates, and texts. Education is not a constant barrage of information. Without active involvement, interactive experiences, and engaging ideas, students either disengage or robotically play the game.

So what do we do? How do we make the best use of this time with our students even though we can’t be in the same classroom with them? Here are alternative ways we might structure school in the fall:

Less is More: Some high schools have as many as nine periods a day. Some schools use a block schedule and have two, three, or four longer classes for any given time period. Beloit College in Wisconsin is considering  breaking its first semester into two parts. Students would only take two classes during each part. Teachers would teach fewer classes, too. These classes would be more immersive and in-depth.

What if, instead of taking five, six, or more classes, each student only took two? This would allow for more in-depth contact with the teachers, more time to explore in more depth, and prevent some overload. Instead of a long semester with many classes, what about two classes at a time for four weeks each? 

Teachers and schools must be flexible with their curriculums and standards. This is an unprecedented situation and insisting that we cover all thirty-seven chapters, quiz on each, and take the unit test is not the path to success now. Fewer classes give teachers and students a better chance to develop a relationship. It gives them more time to find engaging activities that might go beyond the computer screen. It could also provide a natural limit on the content.

Beloit is also using their two at a time as a way to be able to pivot when the actual building can be opened again. After the first set of two classes, maybe we can then get back together. If not, we do it again.

Interdisciplinary Teams: Another approach would be to bundle several classes together. Instead of a single teacher and twenty-some student several times a day, what if we had a group of teachers and a group of students working together? Instead of Science, Math, English, Art, and Social Studies, what if we had a team of teachers working with a group of students? They would not divide into individual subject areas but create an integrated curriculum. The group of teachers might also include a counselor or social worker. Perhaps these classes would focus on social issues like climate change, racial identity, or a particular art form, period in history, or scientific concept. Perhaps they would employ a variety of experiences both on and off the computer. Perhaps they could engage parents and community members who had specific talents or backgrounds.

This approach must not be “today is social studies day, look at the document.” To function well, each activity and assignment should challenge students to explore. The connections would be the focus of the course! We could feed one bird from several feeders!

Again, teachers and schools will have to say that they are not covering the entire AP curriculum and be willing to go deeper with a more narrow focus.

If they build it, you will come: We can take both of these ideas one step further. What if we let students drive the curricular choices? What if we put them in charge and make teachers their guides and coaches instead of their directors?

What if we ask kids what they would like to learn and organize courses around student generated interests? Students and teachers would be paired based on suggestions, maybe some from the adult staff and some from the students. These teams would then design their own courses as a team, students and teachers working side by side. Could everyone “do the work?” Could assignments, activities, and assessments apply to everyone, adults and kids alike?

This would also mean that some courses might need outside experts as consultants. Teachers might have to move beyond their areas of expertise and learn with the kids.

After school activities could be approached in the same way. Could we have e-sports teams? Could we move from theatre productions to short films? What about puppetry? Electronic music? The school newspaper online could be a critical piece of keeping the community informed and connected!

We must be able to relax rigid structures that stand in the way of student success during this time of learning apart. We must be willing to make relationships, engagement, and depth the educational priorities. Why can’t we have multi-age classes? Why can’t art, physical education, and world languages be integrated with traditional academic subjects? Now is the time to go as far as is necessary to help students learn and thrive. They deserve no less.