By Julia Smith, General Member
Today, we students live in a society where technology and media are easily accessible. It seems like everyone is always on some kind of tablet, phone, or device. In a 2015 study on Screen Time for students by Public Health Ontario, they recommended that kids ages 5-17 should have limited screen time both for learning and recreational use. Isn't it ironic that Virtual School continues to be offered, more than 2.5 years after the beginning of the pandemic? Especially when the medical professionals discourage excessive use of computers and limited screen time etc… Let’s face it, virtual school was very challenging and mind numbing.
In order to educate the entire child, students need to have a balanced approach to their learning, which should include outdoor and experiential learning activities, physical movement, the use of non-technology resources for learning with regular breaks built into their day. This rarely happened during virtual school, and there certainly was no outdoor education component. There was no use of non-technology resources for learning. In fact, my teacher set us all up with many online accounts. There was one for reading programs, extra math practice, virtual library resources and more. In my experience, I honestly felt like much more digital stuff was thrown my way.
I know some students in need had trouble getting chromebooks and didn't have access to the internet. Schools should continue to reach out to those students and WiFi hotspots should be made available. It’s not right that only the privileged have access to online education. The necessary tools must be made available to all.
Learning tasks should also be designed so that they are culturally relevant. The digital resources that were made available to my class didn’t exactly reflect the identities, needs and circumstances for all the students in my class. I would say that teachers need to make virtual learning flexible, equitable, differentiated, accessible and responsive to the diverse needs and identities of all families. I'll give you an example: my friend is transgender and goes by the name “Josh”, but his name on his square/profile is different, so my friend keeps having to repeat his preferred name especially when there are supply teachers. It's very frustrating for him.
I also believe that there needs to be more consistent support in place for students who have an Individual Education Plan (IEP) or are English as a Second Language learners (ESL). So much of learning happens through group work; students pick up language and learn to take risks and build confidence. I found that some of the students with these profiles were not getting the online support they needed. Teachers could use Apps like Flipgrid, which add captions and translation to videos. Teachers could also use YouTube recordings of lessons that could be uploaded and viewed at a later date for those that are absent or want to review the lesson.
People are can be quiet on-line. Very few people turn their cameras on; it’s encouraged but it’s not mandatory. Some people go an entire day without talking or raising their virtual hand. Some people don't even type in the chat. Teachers need to find a way to improve participation in class, as the inconsistency affects everyone’s learning. Group work in break out rooms was much the same, with only the stronger students participating. The teachers would need to jump from break out room to break out room to check in. Once the teacher leaves the break room, everyone would stop talking. Something needs to be done to encourage students to engage more. Would it be possible to create a way that the teacher can see on their screen the break out rooms without having to pop in and out? This method would help to see if the students are engaged.
Students who would normally require additional support in their learning in general, (Learning Resource Teachers, Learning Support Teachers, Guidance, and Student Success) are taken out of the class to a break out room. My friend got extra support, but said she felt singled out. At in person school these support teachers were integrated into the classrooms; no one felt singled out. Is there a way to change this? Maybe the support teacher could come into the virtual class and work with several students.
Virtual school should be a place where students are expected to conduct themselves as if they were attending in-person school. Students are encouraged to approach a day in virtual school with the same preparation as they would an in-person school day. Teachers tell students to get some fresh air and exercise before school, and during breaks. In my experience, there are many students who are often lying in their beds, wearing pajamas, and eating. There doesn't seem to be anything teachers can do about it.
People are also often late after the break. Kids tell white lies and say they had internet issues whenever the teacher calls on them, but they are on another tab so they don’t answer. It's really disruptive to the class as a whole. I found lots of time is wasted; the teachers had trouble getting on with their lessons. There are lots of interruptions with people popping in and out of the lessons. I feel like there should be stricter rules to enforce a more “professional approach” for lack of a better word, to create a better learning environment.
I think teachers also need to spend more time encouraging students to demonstrate respect for the privacy of students. Teachers can't tell if people are taking screenshots. Some type of software needs to be created to help make kids who opt for online learning feel safer in class. Teachers need to remind students often that they need to refrain from capturing, sharing or posting images, video, audio, meeting spaces, or any identifiable personal information. Students would feel more comfortable turning their camera on if they felt safer.
The last way that I would change virtual school is to make it resemble more of an in person environment in terms of evaluation. There needs to be more one on one conversations with the teacher. It's also hard for teachers to make observations; they can't really see what the students are doing unless they go on to Google class and log onto their document. When the teacher is doing this, they aren't present to attend to the rest of the students in the class. It's also hard for teachers to see student work that demonstrates a student’s understanding of the curriculum expectations.
For example, in my sister’s class she had to create a bionic leg. I think my father made most of this “bionic leg”. If this were an in school project, my dad wouldn’t have been able to help her, so the project would have reflected more of her own work. The teacher can't see them actually making it so how do they know they in fact did it, especially when students don't have to turn their camera on? Teachers need to think of a way to address this issue in online school.
I feel like engagement and how to make sure students are engaged is crucial to ensure that students are getting a proper education virtually. One suggestion I have is imposing a ‘camera on’ rule for a building block time; turning cameras on is so important. Students must work on tasks such as creating art, making science models and conducting hands-on science experiments. This way, teachers would truly be able to see what they are in fact doing.
Another idea I had to increase engagement is to do the following: each block could be split into two learning sections, one asynchronous and one synchronous. The teacher could work with half the class at a time teaching the lesson while the other half of the class works on their work independently. The teacher could then switch groups and repeat the lesson. This would entail a lot more work for the teacher, but having fewer virtual students might encourage others to speak up, turn their cameras on and engage more. The number of students placed in the virtual classes seemed to be higher than in in-person school, especially in the 2019-2020 school year.
Society as a whole needs to applaud all of the excellent work educators have done to be able to make the shift to online learning so quickly. Yes, there are lots of challenges with virtual learning. It is very new and will take time to iron the kinks and come up with viable solutions, in order to continue to be able to provide meaningful education for students who elect to attend virtual school.