Post COVID-19 Ecosystem of Learning, the Starting Point
“We cannot look at the remote teaching and learning that is going on during this crisis as the model for online learning. Most of the teachers and students that were thrown into this were not prepared for, or equipped for any of this to happen, much like our medical community in handling this virus.”
Tom Whitby, Visionary education thought leader. My Island Blog Post, April 10, 2020, https://tomwhitby.com/
COVID-19 triggered stay at home and shelter in place globally disrupted every day normal living. In the United States, almost overnight, public schools have scrambled to transition from traditional, synchronous teaching to asynchronous online learning. The effort and actions of teachers and parents to adapt has been both courageous and inspiring. They are doing the best they know to do.
With no previous plan in place, teachers have demonstrated creativity, initiative, and a commitment to their students. Right now, it is “just don’t stand there, do something” teaching; even though that something may not be right or effectively reaching all kids. During this time of change, we must decide where we want public education to be before going too far. Today calls for an inclusive conversation of all stakeholders to envision the mission of the public schools.
The discussion needs to reach a consensus definition of family in the Third Wave Digital Age, including society, school, and parent responsibilities. How will social and emotional needs be addressed? Reading, writing, and arithmetic are crucial, but are they enough? How do we move from one-size-fits-all teaching to personalized, differentiated instruction based on a child’s learning style?
Foundationally, it all goes to author Tony Wagner's three basic questions: “What is it we want kids to know and be able to do?”, “How do we know they know it?”, and “What do we do if they don’t.” I would add discerning a learner’s passions, skills, and abilities, linking this to a profession, and realizing that a passion may not always link to a profession. You may have to have a ‘day job’ that allows you to pursue your passion.
We need to redesign the system first, with clear objectives and outcomes, discern the skill sets necessary for learning, and then provide professional learning experiences to build teacher efficacy. It is the application of Simon Sinek's thinking of starting with the ‘why’, and then following with the ‘what’, that then drives ‘how’ it is to be done. So, the starting point is ‘why’ for schools and public education. In business-management parlance, this is referred to as “starting with the endpoint in mind.”
The ‘Why’ of Schools?
Punya Mishra's blog post, "The Value of School" states that Schools historically have been:
- A place to keep kids safe so that adults can go about their business running the economy.
- A safe environment for emotional, civic, and social development.
- A hub for social welfare programs, often for individuals with the greatest need.
- A place to bring communities together.
- A place to address the unique and specific needs of all learners.
Are these the ‘why’ for schools as we consider the future of learning?
- Free child-day care enabling parents to work (fueling the consumer economy).
- Emotional, civic, and social development to instill a person’s moral compass and civic responsibility.
- A hub for social welfare programs.
- Community identity.
- A place to address the unique and specific needs of all learners and to fit them into the system with a focus on human development; not on content, creativity, imagination, or learning how to think.
School: a place to keep kids safe so that adults can go about their business running the economy.
Preschools, before and after school programs, and extracurricular activities in middle and high school have provided supervised childcare. From early morning drop-offs at the preschool to after school athletic practices, kids spend considerably more time in the care of others than in the care or company of their own parents. Because of COVID-19, for more than four weeks children and their parents have stayed at home and had to reconnect. With no vaccine in sight, and future stay at home orders a real possibility, working from home and ‘homeschooling’ have the potential to impact the need to provide that safe place.
School: provide a safe environment for emotional, civic, and social development.
Even before the COVID-19 shutdown, Public Education was dealing with children suffering from trauma and bullying. Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Zones of Regulation initiatives were becoming part of the school day. Districts were struggling to provide programs and funding to address student mental health. School counselors were being pulled in many directions, expected to provide everything from human growth and development to building schedules to overseeing state tests to career counseling and college scholarship coordination. School psychologists were joining school counselors to problem solve and serve children. Educators realized that basic human needs must be met before optimum learning could happen. How this is prioritized, funded, and whose responsibility it is will need to be addressed in the post-COVID-19 new normal.
Schools: a hub for social welfare programs, often for those with the greatest need.
Schools have been the physical place and neighborhood point of service for social welfare programs prior to COVID-19. Bringing help and support to those who need it, especially children, will continue to be a priority. The question is, “Will this continue to be a responsibility of schools?” Providing a physical space for programs, because of the school’s facilities and location, might be a consideration, but post COVID-19 learning may have different physical requirements. Something to consider.
School: a place to bring communities together.
Pre COVID-19, schools were an outward sign of a community’s prosperity and commitment to their children. Athletic complexes were bragging points, requiring funding for a maintenance operation, and upkeep. In small rural towns, the closure of the school was believed to be the death knell for the community. In the post-COVID-19 normal, online digital learning will greatly redefine the school's place in the community. Just as online shopping and telecommuting are reimagining commerce, virtual learning will redefine schools. No longer will students’ Zip Codes determine who their teachers are or limit their learning.
School: a place to address the unique and specific needs of all learners.
Ideally, this has been the desired goal of pre-COVID-19 schools. However, in truth, schools have had varying levels of success. The 20th-century industrial assembly-line system thinking applied to schools does not naturally accommodate individualized, personalized learning. Only students who have been ‘identified’ through testing as being disparate from their peers are entitled to Individual Education Plans (IEP) designed especially for them. It is important to note that the IEP purpose is to assist the student with the school system, not adjust the system to the student.
Growth Ring: An Ecosystem of Learning
For the first 20 years into the Digital Information Age, schools (public education) resisted change, clinging to the 20th century assemble line, standardization, time on task, linear thinking. High stakes standardized state testing to measure academic growth, evaluate schools and teachers, along with being that safe place for kids so parents can work, address student’s emotional needs, being the hub for welfare programs, being the community symbol, and being tasked to teach all kids, overloaded the system. COVID-19 showed that teachers can be courageous and innovative, but the school system’s flaws and inability to be flexible inhibit the teachers’ opportunity to innovate.
In the wake of COVID-19 school closures, school districts have spent cash reserves to purchase computers and secure internet access for their students, even though many teachers had no training, background for digital online teaching or understanding of what was grade/subject appropriate. In many instances, despite the availability of a device, internet access was not possible. With the economy shut down and the government not collecting tax revenues, a cataclysmic funding crisis for schools could be on the horizon for the fall.
Again, during this time of change, it is crucial stakeholders decide what we want public education to be. There must be an inclusive conversation of all stakeholders to envision the ‘why’ for the public schools and with that, the strategic allocations of taxpayer funds to support.
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