Online Learning

 Online Learning

    In 2020 the world shifted and morphed into new norms and expectations due to the pandemic. Masks, curb-side pick-up, grocery delivery, and quarantines became the new normal. Not only did the pandemic affect our day-to-day routines and procedures, but it also transformed the world of education-- forcing teachers and students to learn a whole new virtual world of education. As a 4th-grade teacher at the time, I transitioned from teaching using a whiteboard and encouraging class participation, card games, and endless side conversations about their baseball games, ballet recitals, and weekend plans to online teaching through videos, Google Slides, and digital curriculum. Now, "hundreds of conferences deal with some aspect of distance education, and almost every professional organization's publications and conferences have shown a huge increase in the number of presentations and articles related to distance education" (Simonson, 2008, p. 4). The switch to virtual learning had and still has its challenges, but it can also be successful in many ways when incorporating research-based practices.

Successes Online

    During the 2020 pandemic, I was extremely fortunate to be teaching in a district that already had one-to-one devices for students. In face-to-face instruction, our classroom already relied heavily on Google Classroom as a learning tool, so students continued to use many of their in-person learning tools at home. This made the switch to online learning easier, as students were already familiar with our online learning platforms and tools. Students could navigate through their assignments with ease and familiarity. Additionally, as their teacher, I felt comfortable using online teaching platforms to assign, assess, and evaluate student learning. Although each of my lessons was not perfect, we now have better research to use as guidance when creating online instructional material. According to Times, the characteristics for success in online courses include:

• Short videos of six minutes or less
• Interactive drills and tests
• Online discussions for sharing and collaboration
• Online mentoring

(Lohr 2020, as cited by Simonson, 2024, p. 5).

Challenges Online

    During my brief time teaching online, I realized how much my instruction and virtual classroom lacked a sense of community. Although my students were familiar with the academic side of online platforms, they were not familiar with online tools that increased classroom community. Recently, researchers concluded "from laptops and tablets to Virtual Reality headsets and digital whiteboards, these technologies have greatly enhanced the learning experience and made it easier for students to collaborate and engage with course material" (Garlinska et al., 2023, para. 4.1). If I could go back to that time, I would incorporate some of these technologies to keep students engaged and collaborating with each other. I would also prioritize meeting via video conference with my students as the benefits are numerous including:

• Real-time interaction
• Accessibility
• Improved engagement
• Cost-effective
• Increased flexibility

(Garlinska et al., 2023, para 3.9)

    I believe a classroom community is vital to learning, and that is something my class was missing during online learning throughout the pandemic.

If you are looking for more ways to increase classroom community in your online teaching classrooms, watch the video below for additional tips and guidelines to incorporate.

References:

Garlinska, M., Osial, M., Proniewska, K., & Pregowska, A. (2023). The influence of emerging technologies on distance education. Electronics, 12(7), 1550. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12071550

Simonson, M., & Zvacek, S. (2024). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (8th ed.). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.