How Do I "Mute All" When We're In Person? Reflections on Remote Learning

Now that most Barrington 220 students are back, we’ve had several conversations with teachers reflecting on their experiences with remote learning. In one of those conversations, a teacher jokingly stated that they wished they had a "mute-all" button for their in-person students. 

Although the statement was meant as a joke, it sparked a search to answer some questions. After all, the pandemic created a massive and sudden shift in how teaching and learning happens in Barrington 220. Now that we are nearing the end of this educational experiment (we hope), it would be prudent for us to ask two important questions:

1. In light of what we've learned and experienced as a result of the pandemic, what are the practices that changed out of necessity that we would like to keep—or at least keep exploring?
2. What old practices, structures, and strategies were abandoned out of necessity that we don’t want to see come back as we move forward?

Based on recent articles on this topic as well as feedback from Barrington 220 teachers, here are some key takeaways from remote learning. 

Please note: This list was drawn from conversations with Barrington 220 teachers, as well as a great number of articles from educational blogs, journals, and publications. The following observations do not necessarily reflect the specific experience in Barrington 220, but represent a broader set of experiences from educators around the country.

Grading and Assessment

• Flexibility with due dates—Many teachers have stated that they were more flexible with deadlines out of necessity. This doesn't mean that students were allowed to turn things in whenever they wanted and blame COVID. Students reported being more transparent about where they were in their learning and what they needed to move forward. Teachers said they were more likely to check with kids about workload, readiness, and quality, and were more likely to move a due date for an individual or group based on student feedback. 
• Reduction in workload—Teachers said that they used fewer data points to draw conclusions about student mastery of standards and to calculate grades. Teachers gave themselves permission to assign less work and grade less. 
• Alternate assessment structures—One of the biggest issues with students learning from home was the invitation to cheat on traditional forced-choice style tests. Tests that required students to identify facts and concepts were less likely to be valid because students couldn’t be supervised. While some districts attempted to implement remote supervision software and "lockdown browsers" to monitor test takers, others opted to change the format of their tests to new formats. Instead of having a student write answers to questions, they were asked to create a short video explaining their understanding of a concept. Math students created screen recordings of themselves solving an equation and explained their thinking. Instead of asking lower-level recall questions, teachers reframed assessments to ask students to use lower-level knowledge to create a product. 
• Lower-stakes formative assessment—As stated above, some teachers claimed that they assigned far fewer graded assignments; however, that doesn’t mean that students had fewer opportunities for formative feedback. At the same time, informal formative feedback increased. Low-stakes or ungraded student work allowed the student to self-assess—or allowed the teacher to give feedback without the anxiety of assigning a grade.

Delivery of Content

• Self-paced lessons—More and more teachers created and used self-paced lessons that students could access at any time. This included teacher-created or curated video lessons and/or lecture notes posted on the Learning Management System.
• Increased student ownership—With the increase in asynchronous learning, students reported experiencing increased autonomous decision making about the time, pace, and path of their learning. Students had more freedom to prioritize their work day and were forced to problem solve content they didn’t understand. 
• Improved digital learning management—Remote learning forced an increased reliance on Learning Management Systems like Schoology and Seesaw. Teachers who had only minimally used these platforms came to rely on them to deliver materials to students. With greater reliance came increased feedback from students when they were confused or couldn’t find something. Online organizational structures were either validated or improved. 

The Use of Videoconferencing

• Teacher office hours—Some teachers are now likely to continue to use Zoom to hold digital "office hours." Students appreciated the anonymity and ease of access created by Zoom. 
• Professional meetings—A great deal of time and travel was saved by holding meetings on Zoom. Teachers from all over the district could attend professional meetings without leaving their buildings or homes.
• Professional Development—Videoconferencing allowed easier access to out-of-district experts such as our successful workshops with an Apple Professional Learning Specialist. Teachers registered for national conferences and could quickly and easily access materials and speakers through videoconferencing that they otherwise may not have been able to attend. 
• The chat feature—Although difficult at first, some teachers reported developing a reliance on the unique experience of holding conversations on Zoom. While talking face-to-face, the chat feature allows you to get a "back channel" of real-time thinking from the listeners that you can respond to. Speakers who are monitoring the chat can alter their presentation in real time based on unspoken feedback or questions from the listeners. 

The Role of Technology

• Flexibility—Technology allowed for students to have more choice in the "when," "how," and "what" of learning. Students could access their classes anytime from anywhere. They could spend more or less time on a concept based on individual needs. In many cases, students were given more choices in how they demonstrated their learning. 
• Comfort with digital platforms—In some ways, this past year has been the best ed-tech professional development we have ever had. So many teachers grew leaps and bounds in this area out of necessity. We're not saying this was easy—or even a preferred way to learn. In some cases it was downright infuriating. But the number of teachers and students who are far more advanced in their understanding and comfort with digital tools can be seen as an unintended positive consequence of the pandemic. 

Teacher and Student Relationships

• Hyper-awareness of student needs and how stress and anxiety might affect performance—As teachers held class while students were at home, the background visuals and noise were a very real reminder of the stresses and responsibilities many students face outside of class. Seeing students help support younger siblings—or Zoom from the same room in which their parent is working—made it easier to show students grace and understanding with school-related deadlines and expectations
• Better partnerships with parents—Increases in parental involvement became necessary when students were at home. After all, it's hard to get a student engaged in class if they won't turn on their screen or log in to the Zoom. Teachers tried everything to get students to participate, including in some cases driving to their homes! Parents and teachers worked together to understand school avoidance or lack of participation. At the same time, parents grew in their understanding and appreciation for what teachers did. There were several times while we were working from home that I could hear the lessons my kids were participating in. I could see their reactions and body language. It led to many rich discussions about how they learned, what motivated them, what time of day they were at their best, and many more. 

Although there is much about remote learning we can use as we move forward, missed opportunities for informal relationships were among our greatest challenges. Staff missed opportunities such as professional learning during lunch. Students were unable to access their teachers the moment they had a question. Teachers found it far more difficult to "read the room" while in Zoom.

The goal now is to develop the best of both worlds. 

We want to keep the informal and casual connections, relationships, and spontaneous collaboration and networking that takes place when we’re all together. But we shouldn’t abandon the progress we’ve made with increased student autonomy and choice, new assessment methods, the increase in sharing ideas, and the collaboration while co-creating lessons that happened out of necessity during the pandemic.