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That sounds about right. We are going to leave an entire segment of children behind on education if we try to do online learning.
I can't wait to see how long it actually takes school administrations to realize this and then we will have to hear all the talk and media reports about how they did not expect this. Here we are discussing it. If you are in education, bring it up now but I'm sure they will ignore it and go ahead anyway until they finally realize 20 to 30% of the student population from last year is missing in action.
I am sure that a lot of children will survive online education. These will be the ones that are self motivated or have parents that will make sure they are. The problems are the children that don't have this motivation. Unless they log in every day and keep up with their schoolwork they will fail. If they were in a schoolroom the teacher could work with them and/or their parent(s). With online learning all they have to do is just stop logging in. The teacher will be at a loss to do anything about.
Most of the college classes I have taken were in person. However, I have taken at least 6 classes online at Calhoun College. It takes a lot of motivation to keep up. I am sure I annoyed a few teachers with all the questions I asked. The problem was communication. Communication was a lot harder when done online than it would have been in person.
So at the close of last school year, I had one child at the Academy for Gifted and Talented, and one at Providence Elementary.
When they switched to "blended learning", basically, what they did was have a few teachers make some pre-recorded lessons. The kids would watch the lessons, and then answer questions on the computer.
My child at Providence spent about 30 minutes doing the school work for the day. In fact, for elementary school, all the lessons for the week were published on Monday. You could watch them online or they were broadcast on free TV channels. My son did not know they were for the whole week, so the first Monday he did them all on Monday and had nothing to do the rest of the week.
My child at AGT had a bit more challenging work. She spent about 2 hours a day on her assignments. Most of them were pre-recorded by some other teacher than her usual teachers. She had one awesome teacher who made it a point to do his own lessons.
But basically, it amounted to "Watch videos and answer some questions on the computer." It was trivial work. They met with their teachers via Zoom for about 15 minutes once a week.
Now, they are saying we have two options, but there is no real difference between them. You have "Virtual Academy", which initially was touted as being "work at your own pace " (i.e. watch videos and answer questions on the computer again), and "Remote Learning", which was initially touted as being "log in at certain times of the day for real-time lessons with your teacher".
Mr. Tyrone Jones, Dean of College Academy, sent me this:
Quote:
From the HVA FAQ page on the Huntsville City Schools website:
Students will enroll as a full-time virtual student taking a full course load. They will work on classes at the time which works best for them. They don’t have to work during the normal school hours. They may work at their own pace under the guidance of a Huntsville City Schools Virtual Instructor.
The following is my wording:
For remote learning, the teacher will provide students with a schedule of assignments and log in times for instruction. If students miss their time, however, the lessons will be recorded for viewing later.
But the latest information was this:
https://www.myschoolcast.com/UserFiles/Docs/2292/Remote-vs-HVA.pdf
If you look at the PDF document, the only real difference is that if you sign up for Virtual you are stuck with that choice for the semester, whereas Virtual will go back as soon as the school decides it is safe. Also, Remote students will get lessons from their zoned school's teachers, whereas Virtual students will get lessons from some random teacher.
There is no clarity in the PDF to which approach is most like "virtual school".
What I was hoping for was "online school", where the students would use their computers, with webcams, to "attend" live class instruction with their usual teachers. I feel like it is important to have real, live interaction with an instructor in K-12 education. Yes, you can learn anything from Youtube these days. But it's one thing to watch a video in something you are interested in and learn from it, and quite another to watch a video you aren't interested in and learn from it. Live instruction give you a teacher who can keep kids' noses to the grindstone by calling on them and forcing them to participate in the class.
Because I was unable to determine any real difference between "Remote" and "Virtual", I did not sign up for Virtual, which means we will be Remote until they determine the Covid threat has passed.
It remains to be seen what the actual courses of instruction will look like.
I'm very concerned on a couple of levels.
First of all, if you thought there was an achievement gap before, just wait until you see what is coming. The public school systems have increasingly become in loco parentis because more and more parents are failing at basic parenting. Consequently many schools in HCS provide free breakfast and lunch to all students since so many qualified for it anyway. Likewise, many schools now shy away from graded homework assignments because they know there are no parents at home seeing it gets done. And of course we have seen the ever-revised Behavioral Guidelines over the last few years in an attempt to reduce kicking problem kids out of school, since they just stay home and enjoy the mini-vacation. I have had teachers tell me at parent-teacher conferences that sometimes when they call parents about problems with their children the parent says, "From 8am until 2pm they are your problem."
Now what do you think these children are going to do when presented with "watch some videos and answer some questions"? With nobody at home seeing that the work gets done, it probably isn't going to get done.
One nice benefit of going to a predominantly-poor school is that they sent out P-EBT cards to every household with kids that used to get free breakfast and lunch. This amounted to over $600 for our two kids. It was very nice to have $600 in free grocery money - I'm still burning through it. I'm hopeful they will "refill" them now that kids will be out of school for another 9 weeks. Would be nice to have another $600 refund of my tax dollars for free groceries.
Anyway.
A more serious issue is that if "Remote" and "Virtual" school ends up amounting to homeschooling-by-watching-TV, then teachers better watch out. If this "sticks" for any length of time, and becomes the new normal, then it is going to destroy public education as we know it today.
Last year, a handful of teachers made videos for the entire HCS school system. They could just as easily make them for the entire state. And companies like Schoology, which the state is now using, will no doubt be eager to provide complete lessons and computerized tests, eliminating the need for the state to have any teachers at all.
It won't take the state long to figure out the cost savings to be had when you have 50,000+ teachers doing next to nothing every week on the payroll. Not to mention the very expensive, empty, school buildings they will have to pay to maintain. I've already heard taxpayers rumbling about, "If teachers aren't teaching, then why am I paying taxes?" Nobody is going to want to keep paying teachers to spend 15 minutes a day with a quick Zoom meeting to take roll.
I worry about the quality of education that will be obtained by kids spending a mere 2 hours a day watching a few videos and answering a few questions on the computer. I've always heard from homeschool parents how little time they have to devote to schoolwork since they "get it done so fast". I've always been skeptical about the quality of the education they were receiving but if my kids were legitimately knocking out the entire week's worth of work in a day, hey - maybe they were right all along.
But you have to wonder what in the heck they were doing for 6 hours a day before if there was legitimately only 2 hours of work getting done.
I also predict a rise in alternative, high-quality, live online education in lieu of canned, pre-recorded lessons if this sticks. A lot of people will see their kids knocking out their school work in 2 hours and decide they want their kids spending more time doing school lessons and will be willing to pay for it. "Private" online school will rise for those able to afford it.
They said in one of the recorded school board presentations about Remote vs. Virtual that they would limit how far ahead the kids could get. You can't start the next lesson, for example, until the the due date for the current lesson passes. This is to prevent smart kids from knocking out the entire year's worth of work in no time flat.
But what if they did knock out the entire year's worth of work in no time flat? What if a private provider stepped in and let you "go at your own pace" and suddenly you are able to complete the entirety of a grade level in 1/3rd the time? You could knock out all of high school in a single year, if you included summer.
So it's going to be very interesting to see how this all plays out. I feel like the school system has been very cagey about how the lessons are actually going to be delivered and implemented. I didn't really worry about it at the end of last year because it was almost summer break anyway. But now I will be taking a keen interest. If lessons end up being "watch some movies and answer some questions" I'm going to be asking some pointed questions myself. If my kids knock out entire days' worth of work in a couple of hours, likewise I'm going to be asking some questions.
The problem with the watch a few videos and answering some questions approach works only if the student is self motivated. A lot of students won't be able to do it this way. What is missing is the in-person interaction. Zoom meetings are just not the same.
If the student is smart enough to be bored because the class is not moving fast enough then a more advanced class is needed. The student would then be given more challenging work that the regular class. That night not be possible this year but if remote learning continues then maybe the next year. On the other hand don't they already have advanced classes and do they have online versions?
It has been a really long time since I was in school but I think I remember that if I approached a teacher and told them that the work was not challenging enough they might assign me extra credit work. This extra work would definitely challenge me. Is such a thing even possible today?
The problem with the watch a few videos and answering some questions approach works only if the student is self motivated. A lot of students won't be able to do it this way.
Like I said:
Now what do you think these children are going to do when presented with "watch some videos and answer some questions"? With nobody at home seeing that the work gets done, it probably isn't going to get done.
Quote:
What is missing is the in-person interaction. Zoom meetings are just not the same.
No, they are not, but in-person interaction is not a possible choice right now. So, Zoom meetings or the like are the next best thing currently available. At least with live interaction a teacher can call on a student and keep them engaged. I think this is a better solution than "watch some videos and answer some questions".
Now what do you think these children are going to do when presented with "watch some videos and answer some questions"? With nobody at home seeing that the work gets done, it probably isn't going to get done.
No, they are not, but in-person interaction is not a possible choice right now. So, Zoom meetings or the like are the next best thing currently available. At least with live interaction a teacher can call on a student and keep them engaged. I think this is a better solution than "watch some videos and answer some questions".
I have used Zoom for over five years now. I just hosted a meeting a week ago and will host another one in a couple weeks. I do so only only reluctantly because I guess it is better than nothing. Still it is not the same experience as an in-person meeting.
I have a lot of talk about how many students in our area do not have internet at home. Supposedly, schools systems are going to have to provide these students with wifi hotspots to take home to use for the online instruction. Considering schools systems have been claiming for years they are so broke they can't afford chalk and toilet paper, this should get real interesting.
My school has had this for some time, or did a couple of years ago. They had a device that I think was a cellular-based wifi hotspot that you could request for home use. Verizon or somebody was the provider.
Schools are already providing the computers. They just need to provide the wifi now.
A significant portion of parents do not support their kids education even when they go to school as usual. Do you really think for a second that those parents are going to "teach" them or even make sure they do their online school work? Then there are those parents that aren't very educated and can't even do 5th grade math. How are they going to teach them?
On an entirely different path, there is a good bit of children that have terrible home lives. The only normalcy they have in their lives is school. For some it is the only decent meals they get each day.
Yet another thought, some kids just can't learn from online classes very well. Especially math, some have a hard enough time passing math classes with a teach almost holding their hand through it. They just simply are not going to grasp the concepts from online classes. Some are slackers and aren't going to put any effort into it and need to be in school with teachers riding them every single day.
So, where is the balance? Do we go ahead and open the schools so the kids will get an education or do we put a significant portion of them behind and likely never to catch up?
On the school topic, the President isn't in a hurry to spread Covid 19. Our government realizes the points I just hit on and want to get the kids back in school as soon as possible. They also realize that kids aren't susceptible to Covid 19 so why not have them in school? It is spreading regardless and will continue to do so whether schools open or not so really, what difference does it make anyway?
I totally understand your points with the parents point, there are parents that do not care and don't feed there children well. We need small class like settings in there area, less than 10 in a room maybe. Kids have gotten covid and summer school teacher got it and three from the same class room got it. One of the teachers died from the virus. We have to come up with a better plan than what the goverment keep talking. I admit we must get them back in school for there safty, learning and health, but we are in the mist of a huge outbreak and we are rushing it right now and we are pushing it too soon.
Wow! I have have not seen any evidence for this. Sound like political scare tactics to me. If you have any proof of this please let us know.
Children who participate in online learning are required to log on every day school is in session and do a certain number of hours of school work each day. How many students do you think will actually keep up with this? The parents with the least amount of money and have to work for a living will not be around to make sure this happens. Their children will be left further behind than ever.
If you think teaching children at home is not that hard either you have never done it before or you must be really smart. From experience I know that it is not easy at all.
I struggled in school as well and my mom had to find a way and i had to go to home school for awhile then priviate school for a year then back to public school. School and parents are horrible at working together and it needs to be the community not the state, or the goverment. The community knows whats going on witin and the best within it's self and with people and children. How does it react to is children needs the state has no idea what the children are struggling with at home or with schooling. It's the best to come with witin the community only. I belive each school system should make it own personal changes as needed. We need to save our children and families they come home too.
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