Entry #5: In a world of COVID

Hey, everyone! Welcome back! 

Since it’s been announced that FCPS will be all virtual next year until February, today’s blog post will be dedicated to COVID-19 and mobile devices. 

I’m going to be referencing this article from Edutopia a lot in this blog, so before we begin, please hop on over and read it! It’s a great example of how to use mobile devices for distance learning. 

All done? Great! Let’s get started. 

Let’s talk about how we educators have been forced to work remotely due to COVID. We’re learning so many new tips, tricks, and adapting so quickly to a remote classroom that sometimes it’s hard to keep up. We are now expected to be distance learning teachers even though we’ve never signed up for that! But drastic times call for drastic measures and we, teachers, are always up for the challenge! 

Holland and Kellogg’s article starts off by focusing on the many students who lack wifi, but I do want to state that at FCPS, we are lucky to work for a county that provides Wifi for students who do not have it. But with that said, what if there were technical issues? Or if FCPS takes a while to set it up? Holland and Kellogg pull a pretty prominent statistic stating that “96 percent of households have a mobile phone and 81 percent have access to a smartphone”. They do recognize that it doesn’t equate to Wifi and a laptop, but it does not leave the student without a means to an education, either! 

Holland and Kellogg’s highlight that a phone can still be used as a phone. While live virtual one-on-one meetings might be nice, the next level might be to call up the student. In fact, they might be a bit more relaxed or comfortable since they aren’t under the pressure of being on camera. On top of that, Holland and Kellogg point that even if a student can’t log on to the Google Hangout, they can most definitely call in. It’s sad that they can’t see your slides or the math equation that you’re presenting, but you can provide the handouts in advance along with after the virtual class as well. 

The next two examples that Holland and Kellogg offer go in tandem with one another: sharing learning and building community. They provide practical advice such as using phones to share notes, pictures, post on padlet, etc. Honestly, before COVID, students already had a group chat about your class already ;) this one isn’t new. With that, they also offer the idea of community. That is one of the biggest struggles I personally have as an educator working virtually. How do we build and foster a community with empathy, understanding, drive, and passion if we’re not in the classroom? Holland and Kellogg advise us to create a “tree” of communication. Perhaps partner up students in some way throughout the year like a “buddy system”. They also suggest a collaborative journal, and something my own professor conducts to help build community is write a blog and read/comment on other blogs! 

Realistically speaking, teaching virtually is going to be a lot of work in the first few months. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if by the time you “got the hang of it,” you went back to the classroom! But look at all the new skills we’ve learned! Could we take those skills to enhance blended learning? How could we help change education for the better through all that we’ve learned as educators? 

Just some food for thought :) See you in the next blog post!