Continuing Education During a Crisis
Crisis management has been a huge topic of discussion for leaders around the nation, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic. In the past few weeks, I have watched videos from colleagues and friends concerning the crisis. One common trend that I think every educator agreed on was that most educators were not ready! So, how can we change this? How can we be better prepared in case of another crisis such as a tornado, school fire, or in our recent cases a pandemic? Several entities have come together to create rubrics to help guide leaders in case of extended school closures The infographic pictured below was created by one of my colleagues in-regards to our crisis teaching study, much of what is on the rubrics is on the infographic. After careful consideration, there are three main categories on the rubrics that directly affect my continuity of instruction at the school level. The categories we will take a look into in this particular blog are: planning goals, instructor training and certification program, and mandatory course evaluation.
Planning is essential for distance learning, just as it is important to plan for a normal upcoming school year. Learning Continuity Guidebook (2020) gives eight steps to planning for distance learning whether you are a teacher, principal, or school board leaders these steps can help you plan ahead.
Start with your vision and goals
Establish equity and access
Secure and sustain funding
Build your technology ecosystem plan
Strengthen data privacy and security
Develop student and teacher capacity
Consider and work with families
Implement remote learning
Maintain and improve your learning continuity plan
To read more about how to actually implement these steps click here.
How important is it to have certified trained staff? According to Simonson et. al., (2019)
adequate teacher training is imperative to know if you are ready to start a distance learning
program. Imagine starting a distance learning program with unequipped teachers. If the
teachers are confused and unorganized it will cause students to be unengaged and
unmotivated. I think this is why we lost so many students participation during this Covid-19
pandemic. Simonson et. al., (2019) describes characteristics of successful teachers as VOCAL. Below is what the acronym stands for.
V-Visible channels; Teachers show presence through multiple means of communication
O-Organized; Teachers provide detailed instruction, clear course content, and specific
expectations
C-Compassionate; Teachers build relationships with students
A- Analytical; Build multiple types of assessments
L- Lead by example: provide constructive feedback, model learning strategies, and
follow through on timeline activities.
So how will you know if your program is working? Every program should be evaluated by
students at the end of the course (Simonson et. al., 2019). Some schools even recommend
students take a mid- year evaluation to try to address problems before the end of the year.
Choose a validated evaluation instrument and give questions that will reflect, overall
effectiveness, Overall program quality, and student support. Simonson et. al., (2019) states
that student evaluations with low response rates give skewed results. For me, I would suggest
giving an incentive for students to take the survey, you could add a 5 point bonus or attach a
small grade to it to increase numbers. The video below gives tips and measurement tools for measuring success.
References:
Learning Continuity Guidebook. (2020). Retrieved June 25, 2020, from https://www.classlink.com
/resources/learning-continuity-guidebook
Rubrics for Back to School and Education Continuity Plans. (n.d.). Google Docs. Retrieved June 23, 2020, from
Simonson, M. R., Smaldino, S. E., & Zvacek, S. (2019). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations
of distance education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
I agree with your comment that most educators and leaders, were not prepared for our recent experience with crisis learning. We had never been put in that situation before, so it was hard to anticipate it really happening. Now that we have experienced it, we can plan and be better prepared for the next time crisis learning occurs. Simonson et. al., (2019) discuss the importance of having strong leadership that has the authority to ensure quality outcomes (p. 281). Our state, district, local and school leaders are currently in the planning process to ensure we are prepared to provide excellent instruction in the coming year under current health concerns.
ReplyDeleteReference
Simonson, M. R., Smaldino, S. E., & Zvacek, S. (2019). Teaching and learning at a distance: foundations of distance education. Information Age Publishing, Inc.
Skyi,
ReplyDeleteI really liked the VOCAL acronym too! I feel like so many of us were thrown into our recent pandemic teaching experience. I feel like we will be much more prepared this go round. I was really happy to have had this course to help me find some neat resources and ideas of how to successfully engage my students in online learning this next year. Simonson et al. (2019) discussed how it would be beneficial for teachers to have effective PD to provide them with resources and training to better plan for effective online classes. I hope we will have some better guidance this next year and I plan on looking at the rubric to help plan some of my instruction.
Rubrics for Back to School and Education Continuity Plans. (n.d.). Google Docs. Retrieved June 24, 2020, from https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lXAwsLWBfNslkhIGxHqgojVjmV5n8KIrR7SCmZnNqsA/edit#gid=885611378
Simonson, M. R., Smaldino, S. E., & Zvacek, S. (2019). Teaching and learning at a distance:
Foundations of distance education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.