Category: Learning Technologies

EdTech: Start with the why?

Back in 2013 I shared a framework in relation to EdTech which consisted in 4 layers.   The bottom layer being focussed on understanding why EdTech is important, the next layer concerned with fundamental building blocks, before training/professional development, eventually leading to confidence.

Looking back at this framework, I think there may be some things which could do with being added, however largely I think it still stands.

Considering the first level of my framework, focussed on all involved being aware and embracing the reasoning as to why technology is important, I identified the following:

  • Technology Based World: The world is certainly more technology based then ever before as we live through the current pandemic, as we seek to keep in touch with others via Zoom, we seek to work and learn from home and we use apps in almost every area of our lives.
  • Manager of Learning: In the pandemic, we havent had access to the usual data associated with teaching face to face, however instead we have access to analytics in relation to student interaction with online platforms plus tools such as the replay function in OneNote which provides us insight into students learning in how their answers to questions have developed.
  • Deliverer of Learning: Online platforms can deliver the learning content to students and then guide students through additional materials based on their strengths and weaknesses, all on an individual student level.
  • Facilitator of Learning: Technology has facilitated learning opportunities which wouldn’t have previously been possible including allowing guest speakers to join virtual classrooms or students to explore space via VR.   There are still many further opportunities which we have not yet identified.
  • Research Evidence:  This point I am not so sure on; The evidence which currently exists often presents opposing outcomes.   I think in 2013 having been focussed on the benefits of EdTech I may not have truly appreciated some of the research which found against edTech’s impact.   That said, for me, there is enough research to suggest technology can, in the right context, with the right staff involved and applied in the right way, have a positive impact on learning.
  • Changing Brains: This is another point, on reflection, I am not as confident on now that 8 years have passed.   I think back in 2013 I was concious of evidence regarding changes in how we think, some brought about by requirements of the changing world and some brought about by technology itself.   Technology therefore is important in allowing us to be flexible, agile and adaptive.
  • Globalisation: As the world collectively suffers from the impact of a global pandemic, I think it is all the more evident that the world is getting smaller and that we are increasing living in a global world.   As such we need to embrace technology to help us to make the most of this globalisation.

Considering where we are now, in a pandemic, where technology has become critical to the continuing provision of lessons and learning, my hope is that within education in general we now better appreciates why we need to be making use, or even better use, of technology in our schools.  

Before seeking to use technology in our schools, it is important to start with the why, and understand the reasoning behind its importance.

Is online teaching as good as IRL?

I have read a lot about how online teaching isn’t as good as classroom teaching.   I myself agree that this is the case however I have come to realise that I have fallen into the generalisation trap.    I have bought into a simple argument that online teaching is either better or worse than real life, classroom, teaching, that there is a binary judgement to be made and that the world, in this case, is simple.    The world however isn’t simple and is seldom binary.     The line should read that online teaching isn’t generally as good as in real life teaching.

So, what brought me to this realisation?

I have seen some students absolutely excel in remote lessons, and not students who were previously excelling, but students who were struggling.    I am not sure if it is the added independence they have found online teaching has provided, the lack of peer pressure or something else, but they have excelled in terms of work rate, engagement and work quality.    Clearly for these students online teaching works better than teaching in a classroom.    These are the students who prove the assertion as fact, that “online teaching isn’t as good as real-life teaching” to be false.

Here for me lies the challenge as we move forward; How can we take these successes and translate them to the world of education as it will exist once we return to a semblance of normal, post pandemic?   How do we make sure that the students who have gained from online teaching, who find online teaching suits their needs, don’t lose out when we return to the bricks and mortar classroom?

Online Teaching: More tips

Following on from my previous post on remote teaching tips, I thought I would post a little bit more on what works for me and on some of the things I have found in carrying out online teaching of students.

Keep it simple – Likes

I had been looking at ways to get feedback from students and had looked at MS Forms as a solution before I was put on to Polly as a solution.   It was then that Sarah Clark ( @sfm36 ) suggested using the Like functionality in Teams.   In my search for wiz bang and something fancy, I had missed the simple and obvious, being the ability to simply post a comment, question or learning objective in Teams and have the students use the available Like options to respond indicating if they were happy, etc.  

The moral of the story being, keep it simple!

Agility – Use analytics where possible

I have been using Stream to create some little 2 or 3min video guides and other support materials for students in addition to recording the lessons for students to review post lesson or where they missed or had trouble accessing the lesson.   I normally make the recordings available for a week before removing them.

When using stream I can easily see the number of views individual videos have received which can give me a steer on how useful or not they are.   I am always conscious of the need to work Smart rather than Hard, and therefore if particular resources are not being watched by students it doesn’t make sense to continue spending time and effort producing them.   

And this is exactly what I have found with my little additional support video guides; students simply aren’t watching them, and instead are viewing the recorded lessons instead.   As such am going to produce fewer of these video guides going forward, focussing more on guides for difficult concepts or key areas only.

I think Insights within Microsoft Teams is also worth a look, however as yet I havent played much with it so this may be for a later post.

Questioning

This is difficult in an online space, especially where cameras might have to be turned off for bandwidth reasons, or due to school policy regarding online teaching.  You don’t have access to the normal body language info you would have in a classroom to help however I think the tips for questioning in an online classroom are similar to those in a traditional classroom.

I keep a list of the students and record who I have asked questions to and who has responded; That way I can randomly pick students to answer while ensuring I try to engage all students.   I also record whether student answers were in line, exceeded or were below my expectations, which can help me in later questioning, allowing me to identify where certain students may need a little scaffolding of the questions, etc. 

I also acknowledge that some students don’t want to talk in live lessons and therefore I invite them to use the chat functionality in Teams if they prefer this to speaking via their mic (or maybe they don’t have a mic in some cases).   This also works for where the lesson is delivered asynchronously, with students leaving their answers/comments as posts within Teams.

Engagement

I have read a few posts from educators over the years talking about the importance of engaging the students and of the stage craft which teaching inherently involves much like the stage craft required from actors.    In our current world of online education, I think this isnt as easy for reasons similar to those mentioned above in relation to questioning, including the lack of access to body language and other non-verbal communication.     I think it is therefore important to try and find ways to add a little engagement, fun and comedy to lessons.    One of my approaches to this in face to face lessons has been to start lessons with lateral thinking problems; This is something I now plan to restart within my online lessons.   I am also planning to make use of different backgrounds to my video sessions and a “where is he now” style lessons segment.   Overall, this isnt an area I have done much with so far however it is something I plan to address in the coming weeks.

Conclusion

The above are a just 4 more thoughts or ideas in relation to online teaching.   They may work in some contexts, in some classes or some of the time.    As this lockdown progresses it may be that I may change my mind in future and suggest that some of the above no longer work for me.    This continues to be an evolving situation and my experience and understanding of it, of what works and what doesn’t, continues also to evolve.

Remote Teaching: Some tips

As we are once again in lockdown and doing remote teaching I thought I would share some tips and things which have worked for me.

Big pointer

It a simple thing, but resizing your pointer makes it easier for students to see what you are pointing to.   Simply type Mouse Pointer Size in the search bar in Windows 10 and you will then get the ability to make your mouse pointer as big as you would like.

Lesson Holding Card

I now start the video feed on lessons just before the allocated time, using a holding card to display some basic info about the lesson.    The holding card is created in PowerPoint and I have set PowerPoint to display the slideshow in a window, which allows me to have the holding card on screen while also having other things on screen at the same time as I prepare for the lesson.

I note I could also use this holding card to list a starter activity for students to do; This is something I will be experimenting with over the coming weeks.    This just makes the lesson start that little bit more polished and controlled.

Thanks to @HecticTeacher for this suggestion.

@Forms; Quick Learning Polls in Teams

Thanks to @IanStuart66 for this one.    In Teams it is easy to quickly create a poll for students to answer.   This is really useful for a quick learning check at the end of lessons.

Simply type @Forms ? , , ……. Into the Posts within the channel you wish the poll to appear.   A poll will then appear under your message with a summary of the results showing under this.

So, for example, I might use the below:

@forms Are you able to add formula to a spreadsheet? Very Confident, Confident, Not Confident

Students can then respond in MS Teams with an instant summary display of the results also showing up in Teams.

Stream; Creating pre-recorded content

I strongly believe that when teaching online, it is best to mix synchronous and asynchronous methods.   For the asynchronous and for pre-recording lesson content or support materials my current go to app is Microsoft Stream.   I particularly love the ability to record picture in picture meaning I can demonstrate something on screen or go through a presentation, but with the students able to see me.   I think the ability to see me as the students teacher makes the content feel that bit more personal when compared with simply recording a narration over the top of screen recorded content.

Stream also makes it easy to control permissions so you can make it available to all students in a class or just some students in a class, or to the whole school, as needed.

The one additional point I will make in relation to stream, but also in relation to any pre-recorded video content, is to simply get it done.   Initially I found myself re-recording the content again and again to try and get it perfect, leading to a 5 min piece of video taking hours to produce.   I quickly realised this was unsustainable and that, like in lessons where we make mistakes or say “erm” too often, I am human so there is no harm in these things being included in the videos.  The videos simply need to be good enough for the purpose for which they have been created.

Conclusion

The above are 4 reasonably simple ideas which I have found to be quite useful in my teaching over the last couple of weeks. I hope that you find them useful or at least they provide you with another couple of items for your teaching toolbox.

Technology in schools

Let me first start by explaining I have purposely avoid the term, EdTech or educational technology in the title for this post.   I thought that would muddy the waters before I even started, so instead I will refer to and discuss technology in schools.  

The challenge here is that the subject in hand is complex and pretty broad in its impact on education.   As such I think it therefore is important to state this thought piece is unlikely to capture the true complexities of the situation.  It can offer nothing more than a simplified viewpoint.   But in offering that simplified viewpoint maybe, just maybe, I will offer something which others find useful.

So where to start?

I think the place to start is by trying to break down technology in education into a number of interrelated parts.    I note here, that the purpose of breaking down the technology in education concept is to aid with understanding and for clarity reasons, not because the distinctions I propose exist in any hard real terms.  I also need to stress the interrelationship and interdependence which exists among these parts.

So how might technology in education be broken down?

I would suggest the below areas:

  • Learning about technology
  • Teaching with technology
  • Learning through technology / Technology enabled learning
  • Assessment through technology

Lets have a look at the first two items which I think are the most critical, starting with the top one and most likely the easiest one.

Learning about Technology

This is in relation to how we teach students about technology.    In the past this might have been the Key Stage 3 IT curriculum, or in more recent times Computing, or it might be teaching students about the benefits and dangers of social media via Digital Literacy lessons.    This is where the learning outcomes are clearly related to technology related skills, knowledge and understanding.

The issue with our current setup, in my view, is that the Computing offering is far to specialist for most students, and the reduction in student numbers taking GCSE Computing or IT seems to be indicative of this.  When IT was removed the students didn’t move over to take Computing but instead went to other subject areas.      Additionally the IT qualification, which was removed at KS3, provided students a lot of the basic IT skills plus also provided an opportunity for Digital Literacy to be covered;   Without IT it is down to schools themselves to choose and to find time to cover these areas, with not all schools doing so in any real meaningful way.

In terms of my suggestion for this area I think Ian Yorston put forward a good suggestion via Twitter  with Computing becoming Computer Science and joining the other sciences as part of the core offering.   This therefore retains an element of computational thinking within the curriculum including in Primary education.  Computing would still then, like the other sciences, be offered as a separate specialist subject at GCSE/A-Level.   This would obviously require the science curriculum to be looked at as the time available would be split 4 ways rather than the current 3-way split.

In addition to the above there is a need to deal with the basics of technology.   Given previous perceptions of the old IT current I don’t think IT or ICT would be appropriate names.   I would go for Digital Literacy.   This would cover some of the basic of technology use, must in the same way that English lessons start with the basics of the written and spoken word.   It would then develop as students progressed through school to cover more complex issues such a the impact of big data, ethics and AI, and how social media can influence the general public, much again in the same way as English develops to eventually cover an appreciation of poetry and more complexity literary theory.

Teaching with technology

This area is most likely the one which most might refer to as using Educational Technology.    Here the learning outcomes can be related to maths, geography, history or any other subject you can think of.   The technology learning isnt the endpoint, but technology is a tool used by the teacher and students to get to their endpoint.

The key current challenges as I see then are investment and professional development.   Schools cannot make use of educational technology if they simply don’t have access to it and access to educational technology continues to be highly variable across schools.   It is also important to acknowledge that the technology in question needs to be reliable and also come with adequate technical support for when things invariably don’t quite work as they should.

Professional development is also key as having the tools available is not enough if staff don’t know how to use it.   Now my belief is that the professional development question goes much further than simply having access to it as I have seen many professional development courses which have had limited long-term impact.   The professional development available needs to be of high quality but additionally, and more importantly in my view, it needs to be underpinned by a school culture of continual improvement, of sharing or openness.    If the culture is right then internal self-fulfilling professional development, occasionally supplemented with outside visits or training, can be achieved.

Another related issue to be considered here has to be Initial Teacher Training (ITT).    Developing the knowledge, understanding and skills of new teachers in relation to how they can effectively use technology will be key in the longer term, as these new teachers join schools and eventually become the backbone and leadership teams of schools of the future.

The Challenge

The challenge in all of the above is the scale of the problem.   Changes to the curriculum, time to adapt to a new curriculum, professional development, infrastructure investment, etc are easy to write about on Twitter or in a blog like this however to make it happen is so much more difficult.   There will be those who oppose curriculum changes due to it being a departure from “traditional” education.   There will be those who see investment as diverting funds from other government priorities.   There will be those who are concerned that yet more educational changes would be disruptive.   There will be the issue of the actual timeline as changes would take time.

Change is never easy.

It also needs to be acknowledged that this change needs to be backed at the highest levels of government, of the educational authorities such as Ofqual and ner I say it, Ofsted.   This potentially makes the proposed changes political, meaning the good of education may be sacrificed in the interests of gaining or retaining political office.

So what are we to do?  

We could continue our current approach doing the best we can in our own schools, while coming together in groups wherever possible to proclaim the need for change.   I see this as the default position.   It may not quickly get us where I believe we need to go but as we share our thoughts and views I hope that momentum will build with regards the need for change.

We could decide to focus on one particular area, such as teaching about technology or teaching with technology, thereby allowing efforts to be more focussed.   The issue here is that this may lead to a lack of big picture planning and eventual inefficiencies or even issues resulting from overlaps in concepts or differing viewpoints over time.   That said, could we consider any progress made to be progress, irrespective of any issues which may, and I highlight, may, occur in the future.

I am not sure what the answer is.   I am not even sure there is an answer however I am sure there is a need for change.

Teams: Showing video and a presentation at the same time

When doing lessons with students with Teams I found a couple of little issues which I didn’t like. In a Teams meeting the page divides based on each participant where I simply want students to see me when presenting to them. I also wanted to them to be able to see my content, for example presentations, videos, etc but also to see me at the same time.

I found a YouTube video which solved these problems and you can view this here.  Thanks to Matt Wade for this. So yesterday I set about trying it practically.

Now the main trick here is that we aren’t going to share our video feed directly from our camera via the Teams app, but instead are going to use another app to place our video feed on our screen, allowing us to layer other elements such as a presentation on top, then sharing the whole screen via Teams.

So what hardware was I using?
When I attempted the below, I was using a MS Surface attached to a dock and a 2nd screen with the display set to extent across the two screens. This for me seems the best setup as it provides a screen to allow you to manage the Teams app and any other apps you want to display. This is basically your staging area, while your other screen is the one you will share with meeting attendees and therefore the one used to show your video feed.

So where to start?
First, we need to grab our video feed. To do this I simply used the inbuilt Windows camera app set to video.

Next, I maximised this window so that it was full screen.

Following this I dropped any additional content on top of the camera app video. For example, I could open a PowerPoint in a window and then lay this window on top of the camera app window. This could however be any window and could potentially include things like OneNote or the Whiteboard App.

A key thing here, if using PowerPoint, is to set it to display in a window rather than pushing to full screen when presenting. To do this select the Set Up Slide Show option under the Slide Show menu.

And then select the Show Type as “Browsed by an individual in a window”.

Now start the slideshow; It will display in a window which you can drop in on top of your video feed.

All that is left to do is to start your teams meeting. You may get a warning regarding your video not working but this is due to Teams being unable to access your webcam as it is already in use by the windows camera app.

As such don’t worry about this. Once the meeting is started simply share the screen where you have the windows camera app maximised.

All the attendees will now be looking at your video feed maximised in the Teams window, with your other content overlaid on top.

An alternative approach may be to use split screen in Windows allowing you to have your video feed on half of the screen and your other app such as PowerPoint or OneNote, etc on the other half.    To do this simply dock your PowerPoint or other app against the side of the screen.

Next Steps

The next thing I am going to look at is how the above might work if I have multiple cameras attached; Will this allow me to use the camera app to switch between video feed sources which might be good in switching from teacher view to class view assuming two cameras were attached; I will let you know how I get on with this.

Embedding in SharePoint Online

SharePoint Online can easily replace conventional school VLEs thereby saving schools money.    It may be that SharePoint doesn’t have some of the education specific functionality that dedicated school VLEs have, however there are easy work arounds for this or it is simply a question of whether the often high per student licensing cost is worth it for functionality which is often limited in its use.

One of the particular things I like with SharePoint Online is the ability to easily embed content from other educational tools such as Wakelet or Flipgrid.

The key to doing this is the Embed Webpart, which is available when editing a page.

Simple add this to a page and then past in the appropriate Embed code from the site into the relevant embedcode box which appears on the right of the screen.

Please note, if you are unable to embed from a given site/service it may be necessary to allow the embedding for this site/service or to ask you IT admin to do this for you.   This involves going into Site Settings and then HTML Field Security.

Here you will find a list of the domain names/web addresses which are enabled for your sharepoint site and therefore can be embedded.  To add additional sites simply add the web address.  E.g. to allow Wakelet we simply add http://www.wakelet.com to the list.

Alternatively you could change the setting to all contributors from any domain however this is a less secure approach and therefore isn’t recommended.

For me SharePoint online may not be filled with specific educational related functionality however it is quick and easy to use, is very scalable, allows embedding of common educational tools such as wakelet and lacks the high additional cost of traditional VLEs.  I think this therefore makes it an ideal tool to consider for use in schools.

 

 

 

 

 

 

SharePoint Online

I have been pushing ahead with Office 365 in school for a few years focussing initially on email and OneDrive before moving on to Teams and OneNote.   I didn’t give SharePoint online much of a look, until I started looking at alternatives to the often-pricey Learning Platforms or Virtual Learning Environments used by many schools.

I am not a fan of VLEs and haven’t been for many years due to the fact rather than being interactive and part of learning they often end up being little more than a repository of learning materials and resources.   It isn’t the nature of the VLEs as a repository that bothers me but the significant cost, often related directly to student numbers, which they command.   I recognise that many schools have them and need to continue to offer a nice and easy way for students to access resources ideally in a nice visual way so with that in mind I went searching for an easy solution.

Initially my thoughts alighted on MS Teams, as we use Office 365 heavily, but I felt teams is more a collaborative space for discussion, collaborative working, etc, rather than a repository of resources, plus Teams lacks the visual presentation side of things.     It may be important to demark which online spaces are for collaboration and which are simply sources of materials hence I thought this another reason to avoid using Teams for this purpose.

So, I arrived at SharePoint.   I was a little trepidatious initially as my previous interactions, albeit a fair number of years ago, with a locally hosted SharePoint installation had me remembering it as very fiddly and complicated.

Where SharePoint online is concerned these concerns quickly disappeared and I found myself identifying the below positive features:

  • Its simple to use. Training staff to create pages and build sites therefore takes little of the limited time that is available.   Yes, there are limits on design, layout, etc however this means the sites created simply work and display correctly across different devices and platforms.  In my eyes this is an acceptable limitation.
  • Its easy to integrate into Teams; I can make a SharePoint online document library appears as a tab in a Microsoft Teams so teachers can simply open the team and drag and drop files in, with these then appearing on the SharePoint site, via the appropriate document library webpart, for students to access.
  • Its flexible and scalable; I can use one site or many interlinked sites as is defined by needs, easily adding additional sites as required.
  • It supports several integrations with learning tools such as FlipGrid and Quizlet among others.
  • Its included within Office 365 licensing so offers a saving on commercial VLEs.

I am not saying SharePoint is perfect but with limited effort a site or series of sites can be created to act as your repository for learning materials, all without the significant cost of a VLE.

6 EdTech takeaways

Schools all over the world have had to switch very quickly to remote learning.    This has resulted in all manner of challenges in relation to hardware, software, deployment, use in lessons, staff IT skills and EdTech pedagogy and a variety of others.     Over this short period of time, I feel a huge amount has been learnt.  That said I think once the governmental lockdowns are lifted, a lot of what happens in schools will attempt to return back towards the way it used to be.    This attempt to return towards the previous normal is natural, it is an attempt to return towards what is comfortable, known and familiar versus the current situation which is uncomfortable and unfamiliar for many.   The danger here is that we may lose the lessons learnt from the last couple of months.    As such I thought it appropriate to write a post focussing on the learning points, or at least the 6 key learning points, I believe we need to take from the Covid19 crisis and the resultant period of remote learning.

  1. The importance of wellbeing

During this crisis we have seen communities come together to support each other, for example in the weekly clap for the NHS.   We have seen lots shared online on how to remain healthy and on wellbeing.   There has been recognition of the difficulties and challenges being experienced by teachers, parents and students, plus a real sense of community has become apparent.   The Covid19 crisis has been a turbulent time for many, in uncertainty, in personal loss and in change.   Even when lockdown is eased many will continue to have to deal with these issues and therefore it is important that we continue to be cognizant of the human element of schools and of the importance of community spirit and support.   This includes the health, both mental and physical, plus the general wellbeing of students, staff, parents and the wider school communities.   Before learning, before curricula, before assessment for or of learning, before everything, people come first, adults or children.   We need to ensure we consider them first in all we do, both online or in real life.

  1. More asynchronous learning

Pre-Covid19, learning was largely face to face in classrooms, conducted in a synchronous manner.   The issue with this is all students don’t work at the same rate so this doesn’t suit all.  Some students would benefit from the ability to review and recap learning in their own time.    There is also the occasional student absence to deal with and for independent schools with international students working remotely there are issues in relation to differing time zones.    Use of learning experiences and content delivered in an asynchronous style can help to address the above challenges.   For example, the flipped classroom model which some teachers already use.   As such I hope that the balance between synchronous and asynchronous learning will be readdressed to see greater value than previously put on asynchronous learning over the more common classroom synchronous learning.

  1. Professional development, but also the need to build urgency

Professional development has always been key to the successful use of EdTech and the current crisis has once again proved this to be true.  EdTech tools are after all just tools and to make effective use of them, like all tools, appropriate training and support is required.    Where remote learning has been successful there has been a clear programme of professional development and support often involving in-school resources supplemented by various online support materials including Wakelets, YouTube videos, websites, blogs and many other curated resources.     Going forward beyond the current situation, we need to continue to support staff and students to use the EdTech tools.   I also feel it is important to note that Covid19 has added urgency to professional development and training, leading to school leaders and teachers being more engaged and focussed on developing their skills and experience to manage the need for remote learning.     We need to somehow maintain this urgency where EdTech PD is a key priority rather than something over which lots of other school priorities often take precedence.

  1. Flexibility

Covid19 has seen a number of schools and teachers experiment and try new things, often in terms of using existing tools in new ways rather than introducing new tools.    Where necessary systems where adjusted and tweaked to meet the needs of students and teachers with changes being made on an ongoing basis as we all experimented with what worked and what didn’t.    This is very different from the often rigid and locked down nature of technology use and of school systems prior to Covid19.   Now I will acknowledge that a more flexible and less rigid or locked down approach to school systems, to allowing students to communicate, create their own online groups, etc. may introduce some risks however it also introduces opportunities.   Opportunities to get students more involved in creating their own structures, in peer collaboration and communication, in problem solving together and in other soft skills development as needed for the world we now live in and for the associated technologies.   It is also more closely matched to the world of Universities and the working world our students will go on the inhabit.   As such I think we need to acknowledge the risks which exist, manage them but try to be flexible in doing so.

  1. The Global Educator community

I have always found the global educator community to be very helpful especially on Twitter, which has been my go-to place for a number of years.    I feel, during this crisis, the Global Educator community has really stepped up its game.   I have heard new voices sharing their thoughts, ideas and resources while existing voices have generated new platforms to share including new podcasts and virtual PD events.   There has also been lots of collation of resources going on, with people trying to make it easier to find what you need by grouping it together in once place, using Wakelet for example.    It is important that we continue this and that we continue to make more people aware of the resources, and in particular the support available from educators across the world through the wonders of Technology.   I always remember Mark Andersons description of twitter as the “best staffroom in the world” and during this crisis I feel the online community of educators has only got better.   I think signposting the opportunities and resources available from the global educator community post Covid19 will be critical.   I think it is worth mentioned that this also links back to point 1 and a source of support, someone to listen, etc, to help with wellbeing where you need an impartial/independent view.

  1. (Digital) Citizenship in this changing world

Most of the above points have been positive in what we can take away from this period of remote learning, however I feel my last point is less positive.   For me the current crisis has highlighted ever more how short we are falling with preparing students to manage the digital world they have been born into.   Online safety in schools continues to fall short.   It doesn’t cover discussions of the potential impact of the data our lives leave strewn across the internet, the cyber security risks at home and as we use ever more apps and services, the potential implications of AI and machine learning or the potential for human behaviour to be influenced by targeted media, including not just fake news but also selective targeting of real news stories.   It also doesn’t cover the potential implications of viewing the world through posts of less than 255 characters or videos of 15 seconds or less, and how such a narrow view can lead to bias or events taken out of context.    The sudden shift to remote working and remote learning makes the need to address (Digital) citizenship learning with our students all the more urgent.

Conclusion

The last 3 months in lockdown and the resulting remote working and remote learning have been a roller coaster.   At the end of February and start of March things seemed normal with daily life experiencing its usual ebb and flow resulting from long established routines.    Then mid-March everything quickly changed and the world of learning and working remotely via online services took over.

My worry is that the return to “normal” could be equally swift and that in this we may lose some of the multitude of things we have learned during this hectic and challenging period of time.    The above highlights the 6 main learning points I currently am taking away from the last few months, however there are many other points which just didn’t make the cut.    I haven’t mentioned safeguarding, IT resilience, data protection, cyber security, online/remote learning pedagogy and many other possible take away points.

The last few months have seen a necessary momentum in relation to EdTech and online learning.   The key now is to grab the bits which matter most and sustain the momentum as things return to a new normal.

 

 

 

What does a great online learning experience look like?

I think many schools are asking themselves the above question as they look to improve on what they currently offer and as they prepare for what could be a long period where at least some students will be working remotely due to isolation resulting from Covid19 symptoms.

The issue with this question, is that if you remove the word online from the question, you arrive at another question.   What does a great online learning experience look like?  The difference is that we have had decades and even centuries to identify what makes a great learning experience whereas for online learning we have had only a couple of decades, and it has only been with the recent crisis that so many have found the need to give this serious thought.   Given we have been unable to reach a satisfactory answer for general learning I think it becomes doubtful that we will be able to come up with such an answer for online learning.    This, however, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try or that we shouldn’t share ideas or share experiences, indeed I think it is critical we do.   Each idea or experience is another thing learned and another step forwards and closer towards that which we seek: great [online or face to face] learning.

So now for my tuppence worth on great online learning.   Am just going to outline my thoughts as they stand as to things which great online learning needs to contain:

  1. Wellbeing and balance

Am putting this point first on purpose.  It is all too easy to be drawn into the world of students and teachers messaging each other at all hours of the day or night, or spending hours developing content or coursework.   The digital world as many an author has put it, can be addictive.   We need to be conscious of this and set clear boundaries plus we need to put in places structures and processes for all to seek support should they need it.   Above all we must remember the human aspects of learning, of schools, of education and of the wider world.

  1. Sync and async

Am not going to rehash my earlier post on the benefits and drawback of synchronous or asynchronous learning; You can read the piece here if you would like.    This is about balance and what works for teachers and students.   Start with a balance that works for you and then adjust until you find a point where you and the students have enough real time interaction and enough tasks which are self-directed.

  1. Regular check-ins with students

Linked to the above, to decide on the balance, we need to seek feedback from students.   We need to ask them if there is enough self-directed work, enough real time interaction, enough support resources, enough time for the work set, etc.    In a class we have lots of visual and auditory cues as to how lessons are going; We don’t have the same access to these cues when teaching online, so we need to find another method to check in with students and to gather this data.   This could use an online form or be a discussion point for a video chat or be any number of other methods; It isn’t important how the info is gathered.  What matters is that it is gathered and that the learning experiences are adjusted accordingly.

  1. Space for students to chat with peers, to be social and to decompose learning

We so often focus on the learning and this is vitally important however we mustn’t forget the social aspects of learning.  The classroom, the school corridor, the canteen, etc are all a very social experience for our students.   This is where students catch up with the latest goings on, the latest TikTok craze but also where lessons, homework, etc are discussed in passing.   As such we need to try and replicate at least some of this in the environments we create for online learning.   For some this might be as simple as a chit chat space used by the class for general chat or it might be a year group or even whole school online social space.   The important thing is we need to provide such spaces.  It is also the case the staff would benefit from similar spaces whether this be an online Staff Room or a virtual pub.

  1. individuals and Groups

There can be a tendency in online learning towards students working individually; Think the student working on their device at home, working through a task set by the teacher.   This is especially common where learning is asynchronous.    It is important to remember that in face to face lessons we regularly mix individual and group work dependent on the learning, the students, etc.    We need to remember to do this within online learning environments and to be conscious of the tendency towards tasks which are individual.   This may therefore require that more effort needs to go into providing situations for students to work together.

  1. Wider networks and crowdsourcing

Students, if encouraged, will actively seek solutions.   As a result of this there are significant opportunities where students are allowed to develop their own structures for sharing, discussion and other collaborative activities outside the formally create online structures a school will create (e.g. form groups, subject classes, year groups).   Just consider how some students have crowd sourced the exam questions, answers and mark schemes for GCSE and A-Level exams within days of the exam and long before the exam boards release any info.   I believe it is therefore important to give students some flexibility to create their own groups and online structures based on their needs rather than having a centrally controlled structure mandated by the school.  This might be a creating a book club or study group, project meetings for a class project or a group focussed on a civic movement; The main thing being the students are empowered to create such groups as the need and interest arises.

  1. Teachers and student professional development in IT and EdTech

EdTech tools are just that, they are tools.   Like any tool there needs to be support and training so that they can be used effectively both by the teachers and the students.   Only then can we possibly get the best out of the EdTech tools we have available.   A believe a key requirement here is a community and culture of sharing, a culture where it is safe to try things and admit and share where they didn’t work, a culture which is open and continually seeking to improve and/or develop, and a climate of warmth and positivity.

  1. Feedback

One particularly important benefit of EdTech in my view relates to providing students with feedback.    Technology allows this to be automatic in some cases, with feedback instantly given to students based on tests they complete.    Students can also seek support from teachers in-between lessons and teachers can provide guidance and correction where students are going wrong, but at any time rather than being forced to wait for the next lesson.  This all makes for potentially more dynamic feedback and opportunities to address areas of difficulty more quickly.   I will however note that balance is important here and care needs to be taken in relation to point 1 and teacher/student wellbeing where an “always on” learning environment may develop.

  1. Be inventive and seek new solutions, plus put on a show

Innovation is important;  We haven’t had the time to do countless research studies into what works in remote learning with the technology we now have available to us.   Yes, there are studies, but few are current enough to cover the current myriad of EdTech tools available to use in todays lessons and learning experiences.   This reminds me of the phrase, “building the plane while we fly it”.    As we don’t have plans and studies to go on, we need to try new things and to be inventive.   Linked to this is the need to engage and excite students with the learning experience.  This isn’t appropriate for every lesson as some content may need to involve desirable difficulty, however in any period of learning there needs to be something to grab students attention. Aligned with this is the need for a performance;   Teaching for me has always been a bit of a performance with the teacher as the main actor putting on a show.    Teaching remotely, whether live or on-demand, has the same requirement for at least some showmanship albeit it may not look the same as it does in the face to face class. The best online learning experiences are likely to contain at least an element of the teachers character in their structure and/or delivery.

  1. Engaging parents/guardians

Remote learning happens in the home and therefore it isn’t complete without considering parents/guardians and how they can support learning but also how online learning from home might impact the balance and flow of home life.    It is therefore important to build processes for communicating and keeping parents up to date and for involving them in decision making around the online learning experience.   Like with traditional face to face lessons in a classroom, an effective school-home relationship only benefits learning.

  1. Beyond the school

Online learning and the fact students are online allows them access to the vast resources of the wider world.   From websites or YouTubes videos covering maths subject content to skype calls with an astronaut.    In online learning there is an opportunity to reach beyond the curriculum, beyond the bounds of the classroom and give students a breath of experiences which in the past wasn’t possible.

  1. Safeguarding

It isn’t possible to consider online learning without considering the safeguarding aspect where students are online and engaging in lessons through a virtual platform of one type or another.    I am not going to be prescriptive here as to what this should look like as it is for individual schools to consider the risks and their risk appetite, to identify what they are willing to accept or not accept, and to put appropriate mitigation measures in place.   My biggest concern here is overly strict control being applied as I believe the comfort such controls may provide a schools leadership team hides the real world ineffectiveness of such controls.   If learning is online, and the schools platform doesn’t allow students to do what they want to do, then this may force them to other platforms out with school control or monitoring.   I would rather have students on the schools platform where the school can support them when they make the inevitable mistakes.

Closing thoughts

When I set out to write this post it was just going to be a couple of ideas dumped on a page.   As it turns out it is significantly longer than I anticipated and on reflection it still is rather limited.   To do the subject matter any justice I think this post would quickly turn into a book or a whole blog of its own.

For now I am going to leave it here in the hope that there is some value in these roughly put together thoughts.