Best Answer
In our opinion, at this time the most pressing challenge faced by school leaders is safely continuing with student education while also managing the risk of disease posed to people by the current COVID-19 pandemic. Many school districts immediately scrambled to get technology into place to support distance-learning, but quickly found that while the technology is important for delivery of classroom materials, the technology is only a tool in the hands of educators. Educators need to be able to teach using the technology, and, if they are unable to do so, they put their students at a disadvantage.
Moving forward, one of the most important educational reforms is to incorporate the ability to go fully online in all school curriculum, with very little notice. This will allow school districts to be fully responsive if they face additional pandemics or other conditions that may require students to be physically out of school, while still learning.
Best practices for online education are still being developed and may depend on the grade being taught. It is important that teachers treat the online learning environment as a true virtual classroom. This means organizing it in a way that is easy for students to navigate and replicates, as much as possible, the same effects as an in-person classroom. Online teachers, unable to assess student progress in person, need to check-in with all students more frequently and continuously solicit feedback from students. Units need to be smaller, to make reteaching easier, and grades may need to be adjusted, with students given multiple opportunities for relearning for credit. Remote education also needs to focus on socialization because isolation becomes an issue, not only for students, but also for teachers.
Suggested Resources for the Essay:
Irwin, C., & Berge, Z. (2006). Socialization in the online classroom. E-Journal of Instructional Science and Technology, 9(1), n1.
Vercellone-Smith, P., Jablokow, K., & Friedel, C. (2012). Characterizing communication networks in a web-based classroom: Cognitive styles and linguistic behavior of self-organizing groups in online discussions. Computers & Education, 59(2), 222-235.
Carr, M. (2014). The Online University Classroom: One Perspective for Effective Student Engagement and Teaching in an Online Environment. Journal of Effective Teaching, 14(1), 99-110.
