Due to the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus) throughout the United States, all non-essential people have been advised to self-quarantine.
At least 124,000 U.S. public and private schools have been closed due to the coronavirus, according to Education Week. Due to Washington being the first state with a confirmed case in the U.S., schools within the state were quick to transition to online learning.
For some, the transition online has been easy, while others have struggled with the digital format.
“I already make individual course websites because of past issues with Blackboard, and it’s fun for me to do things like make diagrams in Illustrator or use typography and color to make certain content stand out,” said Washington State University Clinical Associate Professor Lisa Waananen Jones.
Even with a background in digital media, the transition was not perfect. Jones is familiar with grading and answering emails at home, but teaching at home has proved to be difficult. A large factor is the lack of quiet spaces in a busy house. Having two kids who want to play all day makes it hard to host uninterrupted Zoom meetings throughout the day, said Jones.
Digital educational instruction is taking place at all levels of education. While it seems universities and school districts around the state were quick to help teachers best respond to the crisis. The lack of organization around online learning seems to be the main problem many have with how it has been carried out.
At Stevenson, most teachers are expected to use Microsoft Teams in order to disseminate information. A large problem a lot of teachers are running into seems to be a lack of understanding of how to navigate these online resources by both the teacher and student.
Teachers at Stevenson have been expected to have Teams set up for the last two weeks while supplementing enough content for their students. The problem is a lot of these kids do not have the literacy or media skills to open all the emails and assignments, or let alone find and respond to the questions said, Stevenson Elementry Kindergarten Teacher Megan Moreno.
“I think it’s challenging because kindergarten, and so much of elementary school is socially based and [many of our students with] IEP’s (individualized educational plans) their goals are social. So, it just kinda feels like this whole second half of their year is lost,” said Moreno.
These early educational years are fundamental to the development of a child’s social, emotional, and cognitive needs in order to build a strong foundation for future education and growth, according to National University.
The online model will have an impact on her teaching in terms of suiting individual needs, said Wilks Elementary School reading intervention teacher Amy Jernigan.
In Jernigan’s case, immediacy is integral in order to provide her individualized instruction to those who struggle with reading. While Jernigan believes the quarantine affects students’ education, “what is most important [right now] is that the students are healthy and feel safe.”
For O’Dea High School senior Logan Johnson the online curriculum has been everything but seamless. The faculty and students at the private school in Seattle have been using Microsoft Teams to teach.
For him, online learning on this platform has been stressful due to confusion around due dates and how Microsoft Teams is organized. Though it seems like other schools in the area are having similar problems, added Johnson.
“I feel like I have to be plugged into my laptop or phone at all waking hours,” said WSU Clinical Associate Professor Rebecca Cooney. “I often get up early and work late and weekends are now just a continuation of the workweek. It has impacted my posture, my energy level, and my sleep patterns. It is not that I am more stressed, it is that I am un-rested and un-restful.”
Educators like Cooney understand that many are having trouble with the online format. To better equip her peers Cooney has been releasing a microblog series titled “Online Teaching Tips”. Her current goal is to write two to three new posts each week.
Going forward it seems most educators plan to stay on course for the year while adapting content with each insight to better fit the online model. While online learning is still a work in process, it appears that many educators are hard at work supplementing content to best fit the educational needs of their students.
For more information, updates, and resources on how the COVID-19 affects schools and school personnel go to https://www.ed.gov/coronavirus.
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