Rolling with the learning curve
Restrictions that prevent schools from providing live, in-person instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools and teachers to rely on technology to close the distance between them and their students.
Schools use a variety of technologies put classes online and allow students and parents to see assignments, review previously recorded lectures and lessons and interact with teachers.
The Butler Area School District allows students to select their “learning pathways,” consisting of in-person, online and hybrid instruction. Hybrid is a combination of in-person and online instruction.
Every student in grades seven to 12 has been issued a Chromebook laptop computer. Most middle school students in grades five and six also have Chromebooks. Those who don't will gradually receive them and the iPads they use now will be handed down to elementary students, said Megan Ratica, the district's instructional technology liaison.
Secondary students use the Clever app and elementary students use the Seesaw app to log into the Google Classroom website for attendance and connect with Google Meet for live classes and meetings with teachers.
Google Meet allows students and teachers to share their computer screens and break out into smaller groups, and allows students to review lessons.
“It allows students to still have that connection with their peers and their teacher,” Ratica said.
The site also allows teachers to communicate with parents.
The technology is necessary when in-person instruction is prohibited, but it makes it difficult for teachers to read their students and for some students to ask questions.
“We face challenges across the board,” said Ratica, who was a teacher in the district for 10 years before starting her current position in November.
“It's hard,” Ratica said. “You talk about reading a room, reading people by body language, it's harder online, but not impossible by any stretch. It can be difficult. Everybody finds comfort and reassurance from a person.“It's different online. We try to make sure we communicate emotions to students as well as academics.”Online instruction requires that students work independently, which is a good thing. But teachers seek a balance between letting students work on their own and overseeing their work, she added.North Catholic High School in Cranberry Township also lets students decide between in-person and online instruction, said Michael Palcsey, school principal. A little more than a third of the school's 640 students in grades nine to 12 take classes online, he said.Teachers begin online classes using the Microsoft Teams app that streams live content to students at home and includes a screen-sharing feature, he saidThe school also uses the Schoolology learning management system to make assignments, class documents, worksheets, class presentations and grades available to students. In addition, the system allows teachers to share information.Palcsey said the school started using Schoolology before the pandemic to give students access to assignments.“Our teachers are rock stars,” Palcsey said. “They've been able to engage students at home. Students recognize their responsibilities have changed, and they complete their work and assignments. Teachers have worked hard to engage students at home and in class.”
Online instruction prevents the Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School from providing hands-on teaching of career skills, said Jared Ryan, principal and assistant director.“The challenge is that we're not seeing the students face-to-face, so you're losing that one-on-one connection you have. So much of our learning is hands on, so it takes adaptation to make the education as best as possible virtually,” Ryan said.Using laptops provided by their home school districts, students log into the Canvas app to find assignments.Ryan said the school had Canvas before the pandemic. Some teachers were using it to post their curricula and students use it to document the hours they spent working to obtain certifications, he said.The school obtained the Teams app at the early stages of the pandemic to allow teachers to meet with students online, host live classes and question-and-answer sessions and handle email with students, he said.The Loom video messaging app lets teachers record presentations that students can access, Ryan added.
Some schools have been offering online classes for years and had an easier time adapting.“(Butler County Community College) has done online learning as far back as 1999, so we're not a new player in the game,” said Ann McCandless, BC3's dean of educational technology.The college has used the Blackboard learning management system since it began offering online classes. The faculty uses the system to post instructional content that students access through user accounts, she said.Because some faculty didn't use Blackboard regularly, BC3 provided training and workshops in the spring to get them up to speed, McCandless said.In addition, the college loaned 30 to 40 laptops to students and faculty that needed them.Karen Riethmiller, a BC3 professor of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, said it is more difficult for instructors to read their students in online classes.“The challenge is it's harder to get close to your students, especially if there are a lot of students in the classroom,” Riethmiller said. “I can't see all of them in the room, so it's hard sometimes to read them. I call on students by name a lot.”In remote learning classes, the instructor teaches from home and students in a classroom see the class using the GoToMeeting app, she said. The app also has a chat room that lets student ask questions.Riethmiller said she posts assignments and answers questions from students on Blackboard.“It's hard to tell if they understand,” she said. “When you're there, they tend to ask questions. When you're not, they tend to clam up a bit.”Online and remote learning require that students work independently, but teachers still play a role in learning.“Students seem engaged,” she said. “A lot of that is up to the instructor, to force them into participation.”
In November, Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School in Beaver County celebrated its 20th year of offering online instruction for students in grades K to 12.Dean Phillips, senior technology director of the school also known as PA Cyber, said a Dell laptop with Windows, a printer, ink, mouse, backpack, computer tablet, headphones and school supplies are shipped to every student upon enrollment.“The laptop is set up,” Phillips said. “Students use browser-based apps that we host.”Students use the apps to communicate with teachers in the classroom, chat and message. Webcams are used when teachers and students have to see each other, he said.Students log into the Myschool portal to access app links and see their grades and schedules, he said.“We provide content filtering,” Phillips said. “We protect kids from malicious and bad websites.”
