Here is the question from Dr. Terri's blog (1/30/11):
As the weather is looming, I wonder, how could schools be using technology in more meaningful ways to avoid snow days?
Here is an article from the Washington Post about one school that is doing this.
What kind of skills or training might teachers need? What about the digital divide?
Here is an article from the Washington Post about one school that is doing this.
What kind of skills or training might teachers need? What about the digital divide?
Response:
The first idea that comes to my mind to reduce the number of snow days is using technology like Skype. If a school has laptops that the students can take home, the school can send them home with students the day before a forecasted blizzard. Then teachers, during their regular hours, would teach from home. I believe this would work better in smaller schools or schools with block scheduling. The problem is that this method would be very confusing to students and teachers. Another idea, to avoid this confusion, is that teachers could post 30-minute long YouTube videos over that day's content. Students are expected to watch these videos at any point during that school day. Finally, I would suggest teachers updating on a class blog with the day's assignments.
Other than training for the technology itself (such as posting to YouTube, updating a blog, etc.), teachers would need training for pedagogy and technology. Distance education requires different instructional methods, and many teachers do not know how to change a lesson plan to fit the medium. Oftentimes, teachers just upload the in-class notes/PowerPoint online and call it a lesson. An important aspect of distance learning is motivation. Teachers must know how to motivate students who are not sitting directly in front of them.
As mentioned in the article, some students do not have access to a computer or the internet at home. This can occur in low SES urban neighborhoods, where families cannot afford the technology, or in rural areas, where internet is not accessible. I mentioned previously that schools could loan computers to students the day before a possible snow day. Similarly, teachers could have "snow day packets" that they prepare at the beginning of the school year to give to students. There could be one for December, January, and February . They could include DVDs of lessons, CDs with music/podcasts, printed articles, and assignments. Since teachers often know the subject that they will be teaching during certain times of the year, they can prepare the packets to fit that subject area. Additionally, each packet could be divided by the number of days off up to three, since that is difficult to determine in advance. So, students only do the Day #1 portion if schools are closed one day, the Day #1 and Day #2 portions if schools are closed two days, and Day #1, Day #2, and Day #3 if school is closed three or more days.
I'm not a teacher, so from a teacher's perspective, I would love to hear what you think about the snow day packets. Do you already do that? Is it possible for the elementary school level?
Emily, I think your response is spot on. School and districts that are well-endowed with available technology could let the students rent the laptops before potential snow days, but schools without the resources to sign out computers would be at an obvious disadvantage. Your idea about Snow Day packets is great. Teachers could prepare a simple lesson per unit or so ahead of time as a "just in case" measure.
ReplyDeleteEmily, I will second what Katie said and mention that I think the pre-prepared snow day packets sounds like a very plausible idea. I also wanted to mention the point you made about how online or distance learning requires different instructional methods. I think you are absolutely correct in this statement, and I think that motivation to complete assignments on snow days is probably the second biggest hurdle to overcome behind actually disseminating the necessary information. Do you have any ideas about how to most appropriately motivate students to do the work at home? Maybe making a portion of the assignment worth extra credit points? Or perhaps mentioning that at least one or two questions from this specific assignment will 100% be on the next test?
ReplyDeleteYes, I would also add that not only does the teacher need to motivate the students, the teacher should also know how to use the technology as well.
ReplyDeleteReferring to motivating students, I would say one of the best ways to encourage intrinsic (versus extrinsic) motivation would be to make the assignment as relevant to the student as possible. For example, instead of assigning 15 math problems and offering extra credit, give three word problems that relate to sports, music, or shopping. Make the problems something that students would perceive as important to their daily lives. I'm not an expert on motivation in high school math, so I'm not sure what research would say about my suggestions. The point is to make problems relevant and meaningful.
ReplyDelete