Hello everyone. Welcome to our OER: Learning in a Time of Crisis. A crisis may mean different things to different people. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of crisis is a time of great danger, difficulty, or doubt when problems must be solved or important decisions must be made. The pandemic has disrupted everyone’s lives and has uncovered the shortcomings of the current education systems.
Our OER explores the pre-COVID world of education, and an education system reimagined that is agile and resilient to the disruptions brought about by a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. We chose to focus on K-12 as they were one of the student populations most affected. We have curated many mobile apps and strategies that support different elements of learning in a crisis. We do not expect you to go through every app and every video. Choose what interests you the most and what you find to be most valuable.
Once you have finished exploring our site, please feel free to share your thoughts about our OER in the comments below.
How it has influenced you, or how you would approach learning in a time of crisis yourself, either as a learner or an educator.
Link: https://sites.google.com/view/a2-learning-in-a-crisis/home?authuser=0
Hello everyone! I really enjoyed your discussion and presentation, as I myself have found the pandemic to be a bit of a paradigm shifter myself. With how much the world’s outlook on the necessity of isolation and retaining a level of interconnectivity through that isolation, I think your project is extremely pertinent to today’s educational landscape. I myself had never drawn the line between the current need for separation and isolation to those in our communities that have that level of isolation and separation already integrated into their lives: senior citizens, especially those in care facilities, have pre-covid experience with a level of separation that many of us were forced to reckon with once the pandemic peaked, and as such seeing the connection between the two is an incredibly powerful insight.
My apologies about being late to the party here. I enjoyed your OER, and was particularly appreciative of all the resources that you shared in the well being section. I’ve bookmarked that page to revisit. In terms of your questions, of “How it has influenced you, or how you would approach learning in a time of crisis yourself, either as a learner or an educator.” This has been an interesting reflection for me, as the pandemic really has not been a time of crisis for me. You see my car accidents in the 7 and 3 years previous to the pandemic left me dealing with enormous periods of isolation that lasted years, not months, with none of the supports that people were granted almost immediately during the pandemic. So what struck me, was that I had a tonne of resources in the form of training around health and wellness in isolation that I could share with others to help the many, many people spiraling online with anxiety. And what made me pause and smile, is that I saw all the people I knew online from hospital programs doing the same – it was like we’d been in training for exactly that moment. In terms of my teaching and courses, it was business as usual, as we’d already begun to add these health and wellness resources to our courses in the previous year, due to my personal experiences. My one hope here, is that when everyone else returns to their regular worlds and lives, I hope that people are more understanding and empathetic to those who continue to be more isolated due to chronic health conditions.
Hi Erica, thank you for your unique insight! I’m sorry to hear about your accidents and how they affected you–it comes to show that there was no infrastructure or support in place for those who suffered a crisis before the pandemic. The pandemic served as a catalyst for highlighting just how inefficient school and work environments were at accommodating to those who may not be able to participate in a traditional learning and working environment. I have hopes that this is changing and continues to change, but it is unfortunate that it took a such a wide-scale global pandemic to really give some priority to offering support that extends outside the walls of the classroom.
Fantastic exploration of this topic week 12 group.
It really hit home to me just how lucky I am in that the high school I teach at was founded in 2016 with an ethos of high school redesign. https://open.alberta.ca/publications/foundational-principles-for-high-school-redesign-series
In particular I found your topics around embracing flexible learning environments to be really pertinent. When the pandemic started I had the unenviable task of shifting a Career and Technology Studies department online which included some easy ones like Legal Studies and Financial Management, but also had much more challenging propositions like Robotics, Fashion Studies and Aviation. In going through that process I realized that in addition to there being a digital divide with students there is a digital divide with educators. This divide isn’t means based like with students, but knowledge based. For the last two years you have been able to pick the non-digital-native teachers out by their stress level. We ran into having no choice but to adapt and I suspect you will find that the research on this pandemic for years to come will reveal a large number of teachers who simply gave up and quit or retired rather than adapting to a lot of the things you have expertly identified.
Well done.
Hi Mitchell,
Teachers did find it challenging to adopt the new form of teaching as many were accustomed to the traditional approaches. However, in retrospect, I think part of the struggle also stems from their well-being. Due to the pandemic, their mental and emotional stress level makes it difficult to adapt to change when going through a crisis. I think this contributing factor was overlooked where teachers were concerned. I have taken the dialogue in a direction, but it is related to your comment. The following article discusses the mental health of teachers concerning workload and the potential of leaving the profession: https://www.med.ubc.ca/news/majority-of-bc-teachers-report-deteriorated-mental-health-during-pandemic/
Thank you for your response.
Wonderful team work! Congrats on putting together such wonderful OER, very informative, detailed, and engaging. We know that this pandemic opened the eyes of the world regarding the “unpreparedness” of such crisis for education. Not that we need to be prepared of everything that is going to happen, but don’t you think school systems should be more prepared and better suited for situations where schools need to be shut down? For instance, do to the current floods in BC, Canada; several school had to shut down with no strategic plan of how to go about this crisis. I was off work for 1 week and was not given instructions by the district on how to carry on with the education for those safe at home. MICROSOFT TEAMS and ZOOM were a last minute solution for teaching during the pandemic, and even then it was messy and not very effective. We no longer have TEAMS active, not sure why? But, us teachers pretty much did nothing or couldn’t do much until we retuned back to school, which then placed us behind schedule in the learning. Is the Ministry of Education and other institutions currently working on better plans for moments of crisis? Is technology the only solution to these crisis? Is anyone creating books, resources, or packages that can be of good use to keep students up to date or busy in case of future school “shut-downs”? We are coming into winter and who knows what’s coming…? Are we ready to go back online? Are we ready to shut down schools and have a strategic plan in place? If there is no power, how can we rely on technology? Technology cannot be the strategy, there has to be better guidelines educators, parents, and students can follow in times of crisis.
Hi Miguel,
Your questions bring to mind that it takes a village to raise a child. School systems need to be responsive in times of crisis, so it is unfortunate, there was no strategy in place during the BC floods to accommodate students. However, perhaps the issue is displacement since many families did have to leave their homes (perhaps not your district). However, I agree there needs to be strategic planning to avoid such situations, so student learning is a continuum. As to your point that technology cannot be the sole strategy, it can be the primary and part of the strategic planning institutions can have a backup plan. For example, in some countries, they connected with students via radio, television, or delivered in person or mail: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.647708/full. However, the impact is essentially the same students struggle with remote learning regardless of content delivery. In the time of a crisis, students need the support of the village, i.e., parents, educators, and the community.
Hi Team! Great job on your presentation. It was very informative and you brought forward such a wide range of possibilities of what future classrooms can look like! The way that information is delivered and how students are learning in school has to be changed. Not only that the pandemic has made us realize that this system has to be changed, but I’ve hired young people who graduated fresh out of high school and they have such a hard time adjusting to a new role. The way that they need information is not how the workforce is delivering information. I also understand that the workforce training style is dependent on which organization it is, or we could be behind, and definitely we need to improve as well. I wonder if there could be some sort of coherence of the education system between schools and companies. The reason being is that if the school system is improving or changing their ways, it doesn’t make sense for the working world to be behind, and vise versa.
hi Sarah
Thank you for your response. Yes, you have identified the faults in the systems both academically and real world working. As you pointed out, workforce training is dependent on organizational objectives and most definitely will differ. The issue also seems to lie with how we are taught to think, or are we taught to think? ie. outside of a certain design. Schools and companies merging training styles also would implicate stifling of learning potential and ideas. School is really where this aspect is encouraged ( within the rules) but I think an alternative is re designing training. There is a gap in how we are taught to write whether emails. letters, or perhaps academic papers. This is further dependent upon the Teachers.” own perspectives and capabilities. School is not only about producing workers, it is also about helping students to create choices of careers where they will excel vis a vis a choice fostered by limitations in the curriculum. Achievement through passion and excellence is as important as being able to enjoy being an employee in an arena where your skills and contributions will be acknowledged and perhaps, rewarded.
Thank you for your engaging website. It’s a wonderful resource with an incredible amount of information. What resonated with me was the insight into accessibility to appropriate materials when learning goes entirely online. Accessibility and access is imperative to consider when shifting from in person to on-line learning, however we don’t necessarily know how this might impact learners until we’ve walked through the experience. Your work highlighted, the range of areas of inequalities and access that need to be addressed from financial road blocks, to limited wifi, to social emotional considerations. How might we ensure that everyone can engage and has access to what they need in order to be successful? You’ve highlighted how broad this question really is.
Additionally, the word responsive is incredibly powerful in how we address online learning. Responsive to learning needs, responsive to social economic concerns for learners, responsive to engagement or non-engagement and finally, responsive to the need for adjusting instruction. You’ve highlighted the complexity of multitudes of ways educators need to be responsive in online learning environments. “Reading the room” is more complicated and takes more awareness than when teaching takes place in person and in real time.
Thank you for engaging me with your presentation. It’s a useful resource for taking learning online!
Hi Grace,
Thank you for your feedback. Reading the room is challenging in more ways than one; how do we as educators know if we are reaching our students. I believe that engagement and collaboration may help with this challenge. If we can get learners to engage in the learning process, that is an indicator of interest in the content. Collaboration allows them to have some independence in the learning as well they. The become decision-makers along with their peers. The issue of technology equitability always existed; however, it rose to the surface during the pandemic. Pre-COVID, there were the 1:1 programs that benefitted students who did not have digital devices; therefore, it filled the gap. However, with the pandemic, students suffered whom either did not have devices and/or no internet. You are correct that the word responsive is powerful, as is the word agile, and as educators, the pandemic has taught us that education needs to be both. We need to accommodate our learners and implement solely online or hybrid environments. Learning environments cannot only be in the classroom.
Really enjoyed your OER. You provided a great overview of the challenges many of us faced and continue to face during the pandemic. As a staff member at a university, I continue to see the challenges faced by students, faculty, and staff despite experiences learned over the past 18-months. The challenges or struggles aren’t just related to technology, some are a result of people’s failure to embrace change with a positive outlook.
I particularly appreciated your “Education Reimagined” section as I think those elements need to be the foundation of any lasting change.
One of the other things that your presentation did very well was bring the discuss continuously back to mobile technology (whether it be the digital divide or academic conduct, flipped classrooms, etc).
Hi Sam,
People are often resistant to change due to fear of the unknown and not wanting to fail. They will need extra support and perhaps additional training (this has been my experience). As educators, we need to reimagine education continuously, and the pandemic brought this to the forefront. Educational technology is constantly evolving, and we need to integrate these applications into our teaching as seamlessly as possible. To open opportunities for learning for students; therefore, mobile technology became critical in the pandemic. However, there are challenges that we as educators need to address along with new strategies for us to explore when teaching remotely or in hybrid environments.
Hi crisis management and response team. Thank you very much for addressing such a timely issue linking the dots of technology, education, well-being, and crisis! This OER is very informative, and there are many resources and links that are thought-provoking. I think that the recent pandemic and the experiences we had to go through in these dark times taught us so much about how critical digital connection is in academic and non-academic mediums. The pressure of total lockdown pushed us to stretch our capabilities to address the primary needs, physically and mentally. I think the technologies you mentioned such as the ability to download and manipulate offline content and screencast the lessons have contributed to thriving in crisis time. I grew a particular interest in an adaptive assessment, and I actually did much research on how reliable it is. It seems that using AI in adaptive learning is highly reliable and valid, and it is becoming even more accurate with the growth of AI technology. Indeed, there has been a proliferation of well-being apps when the world realized that there is a possibility to effectively maintain our daily routines and fulfill our tasks from home. I was moved by one of the students in the videos saying “I miss school” because I know how frustrating it is to feel stranded from your learning community and be forced to experiment with alternative ways of learning, which may or may not work. I have to say that although the “digital divide” was discussed twice in two different parts of your OER, I find it extremely important to be mindful of this issue for its serious implications on human relationships. In times of crisis, people seek comfort by connecting online to keep up with others, neglecting the dearest and nearest in their lives. Here, I wonder if your digital divide defies the purpose of technology during crisis times. In other words, isn’t it contradictory? Moreover, I am surprised that there is little or no reference to VR technology and the huge opportunities it can provide to sustain education and avoid learning disruption during the times in question. To what extent do you agree that virtual reality classrooms can help to take education beyond physical barriers to cater high-quality learning experiences in a creative, engaging manner? Finally, I like that you tackled the issue of cheating and thanks for the funny video on that. I appreciate your hard work.
Hi Feras
Thank you for your insightful and factual comments. Your identification of core issues resonated with me, especially how important digital divide impacts students and families, globally. Ranging from learning effectively to dysfunctional relationships, it is far too easy to misinterpret without the human presence we need and indeed crave during times of crisis. With respect to your point on whether the digital divide defies the purpose of technology during crisis times, I think this must be viewed from more than one perspective. Technology historically, has and is assumed to fulfill a need, a gap primarily in communication across multiple arenas.Technology, despite the intensive research on AI, remains an invention by man to improve/ facilitate the conditions in our lives we believe to be stressful and see as gaps. Having said this, I think living amidst the unknown variables produced by Covid pandemics, the dust is still falling, so to speak, presents additional challenges which we subconsciously have chosen to ignore or never felt the need to face.This is an age old dilemma, because we as human beings, are simply unable to address areas in our lives which make us uncomfortable, uncertain or are simply too painful. Pandemic conditions provoked the emergence of these hidden areas and in addition, lock down and isolation reinforced the very conditions we wanted to ignore. I also believe that humans are very resilient and once we look deeply enough into ourselves, find that ability to reason, to know our strengths and .how to tap into them. Reflection is really important during these times. and in a way, a pandemic has provided us with that time to learn how to reflect and re-analyze our original opinions. There are many websites and apps for guidance if needed.
You mentioned VR and thanks for that. Having been part of a VR project for research among the Inuit looking at suicide, many ideas were produced from Inuit participants,- unfortunately this is under discussion right now.
However, generally speaking, VR has amazing properties and can enter and stimulate any part of the brain. The choice naturally, lies in the type of program and topic displayed and which area will be stimulated – It is different for everyone, meaning interpretation of what we see on the VR screen may also resonate differently with each person. A child is no exception to this, but a good VR program designed with a child in mind can raise the dopamine or feel good properties to the right levels without over-stimulation with a good learning curve as a result. . VR today, generally is less to inform and more to entertain. When VR programs address quality learning in depth, for all , this would be an incredible advance in education and perhaps bridge that gap of quality learning as well. . The cost of good stimulation programs, the goggles and all other material remains high so yes, to a certain level, it is a superb source of Technology. However, if we look at our sector on Equity, the core issues are finance, affordability and literacy. These are major barriers to education and maintain the rigid structures of public education right now. High quality learning experiences certainly occur in good private schools with smaller classes, competent teachers and all equipment provided. Public schools do not share the same riches. The source of learning using VR, virtual classroom and high quality learning experiences thus remains the domain of political mandates and national budgets. Decision making is less about the specialist knowledge and perhaps, more about internal networking, hidden policies of differentiation and pure economics.
Thank you Sheena for the highly informative response. There are so many pivotal points to discuss, and all of them are packed with possibilities and wonder. I agree that technology has always provided humans with solutions and ways to innovate, and that’s the main purpose of technology. However, we are growing more and more aware of the gaps that advanced technologies are leaving behind. A plethora of emerging technologies is not addressing genuine needs but secondary wants and desires. Look at Tik Tok, and see if the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Addiction and serious attachment to the online world are no longer individual cases, they are sinister as tech pandemics dysfunctioning our social relationships and shortening our attention span. In other words, the learners of the modern age seek instant gratification and are less patient or gritty .. even there is a lack of intrinsic motivation unless a considerable deal of technology is involved. Analogically speaking, as much as we now have cures for a myriad of diseases, the world has more types of diseases than ever. I believe this is going to be the cause with technology, as long as we are creating more solutions for major challenges of humanity, we are leaving behind more and more accumulating gaps. I am not pessimistic, but this is the overview I have so far on the subject matter. Curious to hear your opinion on that.
Interesting topic for an OER! The disruption of COVID has definitely pushed forward online learning in our educational systems. Many educators now have experience teaching and creating content for an online and hybrid learning environment, and hopefully, the experience and knowledge gained will drive the evolution of our K-12 educational systems.
One way of advancing the traditional education systems is by implementing a robust learning management system (LMS). By that, I do not mean Google Classroom, which is more of a web-based service. An LMS could host digital content and allow content to be searchable for teachers and students. Teachers could share content and curriculums more readily with other teachers. Educators could pull rich data from the LMS and track progress over courses and time by student, cohort, course, teacher. Data on students’ results could be accessed easily to identify issues and trends (e.g., what questions or topics students tend to struggle with). To address accessibility, educators could learn more about WCAG 2.1 accessible standards and apply best practices to digital learning design that will make it easier for students with disabilities of all types and ranges.
I was curious by this statement on the first page for 02 PRE-COVID EDUCATION: “The pandemic has introduced a much greater appreciation for the importance of public schools.” How so? I’m curious to hear your perspective on this. Teachers have shown tremendous agility during the pandemic. However, what struck me was that private schools seemed to adapt faster to the disruption of COVID than public schools. In my Toronto neighborhood, quickly after the March break of 2020, private school kids were regularly participating in Zoom sessions and seemed to be handling the transitions to online smoother (while public school kids were following a to-do list and watching lost of tv). I’ve been reading that private schools enrollments have been up in areas in the U.S. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertfarrington/2021/06/08/how-covid-19-boosted-private-school-enrollment-forever/?sh=2f40339d96fc) aswell as in Canada (https://www.theglobeandmail.com/featured-reports/article-families-continue-to-jump-to-private-school-amid-the-pandemic/) mostly because of the agility of private schools in the face of a pandemic.
Hi Elizabeth,
I enjoyed reading your comment very insightful. The statement “the pandemic has introduced a much greater appreciation for the importance of public schools” derives from the fact that public schools, unfortunately, do not have the resources as private. Therefore, they could not adapt as fast, but they did pool resources with the help of government funding (some private) and were able to provide support. They provided digital devices through community outreach or private donations to ensure that learning continued for their students. Also, their teachers do not have as much funding for professional development as private school teachers, so there was a learning curve. Here is an article that discusses how pandemic reshaped teaching for teachers and their teaching: https://www.facetsjournal.com/doi/10.1139/facets-2021-0084
Learning analytics is vital in student learning since, as you mention, teachers can track a student’s progress. Furthermore, to determine if a student is struggling in a course. Programs such as Threadz allow teachers to apply the social network analysis method in LMS and social media to analyze engagement. This is one way to track whether students may be struggling in a course because they may not understand the content. OnTask is another of analytics and can be integrated into LMS, allowing for analysis of meaningful learning, enabling teachers to send feedback or reminders. UBC participating in a learning analytics program here is the link: https://learninganalytics.ubc.ca/about-the-project/
You are correct educators need to learn and follow the best practices of WCAG 2.1 because accessibility is essential for all. Due to the pandemic, I realize there is so much we do not know about learners and how best to approach learning. Learning does not have one model since students learn differently, but it is complicated to overcome crises’ challenges while attempting to be responsive and agile as educators.
Hi Everyone
The discussion of elders anywhere today, during or before the pandemic, reinforced the need for chronic long term placement centers to update their mobile technology systems. This not only maintains the mental and spiritual aspect of everyone as individuals but engages mindful activities and in many cases, has been shown to reduce incidences of dementia, Alzheimers and other brain related conditions which can reduce life quality. Knowing that these activities on a daily basis will motivate, stimulate and endorse positive emotions through mobile technology is thoroughly worthwhile. Given the no. of used or discarded PCs, laptops etc. there must be a way to tap into this bounty and redirect it towards elder homes and chronic facilities, the marjorty of which still function under very limited and close-minded approaches, Everyone responds to positive stimulation, whether through games, FaceTime, Whats up or any other App which does the job. The gap is huge and is in need of urgent up-dating.
Hi Sheena – I agree wholeheartedly that the pandemic’s impact on LTC facilities was heartbreaking, especially for those like my Grandma, who is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. Still, I think you’ve highlighted a need that most would not realize. I know of several organizations that focus on schools, and many companies will donate their outdated equipment to be refurbished. A company, reBOOT Canada (https://www.rebootcanada.ca/), works with charities, non-profits and people with limited access to technology. I wonder if there would be a potential connection to expand their focus?
HI Nicole
thanks for this. Agree with your idea and the potential is enormous. Apart from the individual impact – another method of recycling. In the context of this entire presentation, the solution potentials are ripe for anyone wanting to engage. Great to talk.
Also enjoyed your A3 reading – super informative and so true
Hi group, I enjoyed reading through your OER, and many thanks for all the valuable resources you have sourced for us. A significant challenge occurred as I thought about your OER and how the pandemic has affected my life and those around me. The lack of global infrastructure and community. I think this applies to what Tasneem noted about collaboration and digital community in the “Looking Forward” section. I think one of the significant problems with the traditional education model is that it is not agile enough to meet the needs of such a diverse range of different students. Globalization has morphed the conventional learner. Today’s learners come from an extensive range of social, economic, cultural, and educational backgrounds, leaving current educators and administrations with the impossible task of finding a blanket learning solution that can meet the needs of such diverse students. In addition, the crises we face are also globalized; the pandemic has highlighted this. To deal with diverse, globalized learners, varied socio-cultural contexts that shape educational experiences and outcomes and global crises, should we not look to collaborate globally and build an educational community using the available digital and mobile tools? Would it not be incredibly beneficial if educators and learners in Canada could interact with, learn from, collaborate, and better understand teaching and learning in other countries. Allowing us to find solutions to and prepare learners for the global problems of today’s world. While political and financial grounds likely prevent this from happening and only further increase marketization and competition between students, schools, and systems, I think the pandemic has highlighted how localized k-12 education is and how it fails to meet learners’ needs as they enter an ever-expanding globalized world. As your group reimagined education, you spoke about equity. You suggested that “equity to the internet and devices suitable for learning means that personal or social circumstances such as gender, ethnic origin or family background, or geographical location are not obstacles to accessing education and achieving their educational potential.” While I agree with your suggestion, we should also consider steps beyond access to the internet and giving students digital devices in terms of digital equity. For example, when designing learning experiences, we need to consider how well our product will support learner variability and consider features that can be developed to reach more learners. https://digitalpromise.org/ has some great information and tools to help with this. Digital equity also requires deep, meaningful engagement with the
communities being served, and partnerships need to be formed to find solutions.
I wondered if, during your research, you came across any ways in which we could measure digital equity. One problem I have read about regarding measuring equity is often, the most disadvantaged groups at risk of exclusion are the most challenging to track. For example, they are often invisible in education data.
Hi Graham, thank you for your input! I absolutely agree that the current state of conventional learning models is not agile enough to support all kinds of learners, as highlighted in our “Reality & Challenges” section. I think the need to suddenly adapt to different learning environments is still a fairly new topic, because this is the first time in history that we face such a large-scale global pandemic during the Internet era, so learning models to fit a variety of learners is still in the works. We did mention in our “Reality & Challenges” section that there still is much room for improvement in reaching a larger audience, such as those with learning disabilities or those living within the digital divide. Like you said, supporting learner variability is one aspect of agile learning that I also believe has been lacking.
As for your comment on measuring digital equity, I agree that many of the measures are inaccurate or even misleading. In the US, the FCC measures digital equity and internet accessibility by census block, so even if there’s one household on that block that has internet access, then their measuring system regards the entire block as having internet access, severely overcounting how many households have internet access that does not accurately measure how bad the digital divide actually is. One article (https://ksr.hkspublications.org/2020/08/19/a-new-approach-to-measuring-the-digital-divide/) proposes a more accurate way to measure digital equity with three key pieces of information from each household: whether or not a broadband provider serves the household, what their subscription information entails in terms of monthly costs, download and upload speeds, and a self-assessment of the users’ abilities to use word processors and conduct research online. Of course, this would be much harder and much more tedious to measure out compared to measuring by census block, but would be a much more accurate way of measuring digital equity.
Hi Team, Excellent job on the presentation! This is also a fantastic topic to explore. I don’t think anyone would argue that the pandemic has been, and in many cases continues to be, a time of great suffering for many but I would tend to agree with your assertion that it has brought about meaningful change in education. Being involved in education from both a teaching and curriculum develop perspective can be extremely frustrating. As much as we like to promote educational change and progress, the reality is that much of the change and progress is small tweaks or refinements to a long established institution. Rarely is there ever dramatic change until the pandemic forced everyone to adapt seemingly overnight and, just like you mentioned in your OER, we have seen some fantastic developments as a result of the abrupt change. My concern is how the rapid implementation of online and blended learning has impacted its perceived legitimacy and subsequent longevity. I feel that, because of its hasty implementation, many parents and educators were unaware how to properly integrate these programs and the result has been that many people see online learning and blended learning as less effective forms of education when the reality is that, with proper training and time to develop effective programs, the educational ceiling of these forms of learning could be far higher. I am glad you have shone a light on some the “benefits” (seems like a poor choice of words on my part) that have resulted from the pandemic. Great job!
Side note: thank you for sharing the XRecorder app! I feel I am constantly looking for an effective screen capture tool particularly on mobile platforms. Now I have one!
Hi Benjamin,
Thanks for sharing your experience, and I’m glad you enjoyed Xrecorder! I also feel excited about the prospects of greater hybrid learning in public education, and much as I agree that many parents see online learning as a poor substitute for traditional schooling, I’ve also seen many acknowledge that their child can indeed be responsible for catching up on their learning online when away from class, and that certainly wasn’t the case even 5 years ago. This gives me hope that educational stakeholders can collectively construct a new framework for learning online and in person so that each aspect of a student’s education can be as meaningful as possible!
Hi Olivia
Thanks for your feedback. Working in health at this time demanded critical thinking and innovation on a continuum. Training and teaching also occurs for students in health related studies whether medicine, nursing or other human related aspects. At the risk of losing ground in studies and not being in the clinical setting, many technological programs as alternatives developed in a short space of time. While some are still being tweaked, the modicum of success was seen in the steady rate of student attendees with little drop – out, always a risk. The most striking aspect was the rapid dissolving of rigid beliefs around E-learning, influenced by necessity and the unexpected freedom to explore and improve. With our Northern Inuit Clientele, teleconferencing has now become the new norm where families, interpreters and the entire Health Team can interact with our specialists in the south. These actions alone vastly improve communication, personalize interactions, both for clients, their families and us. I can only envision this moving forward.
I thoroughly enjoyed your OER. Well done, crisis team. As you shared, the use and quality of online and mobile education was increasing prior to the pandemic. Many teachers were already using online educational tools to facilitate learning; many already posted all lessons and materials onto google classroom. One would think, the teachers and students of these classes would feel more prepared but this was not my experience. Going into the pandemic, no matter how “technologically” prepared, was an extremely stressful event. The video you shared ,”teens talking about mental health during the pandemic”, reminded me of this stress felt by all during those beginning months. In light of crisis, we need to care first about our mental health, and second about potential learning. Because of this, I appreciate that your group discussed the well-being piece and shared quality and diverse resources.
Thanks Katherine!
I felt the exact same way! My teaching partners and I were thoroughly versed in Google suite, but the biggest challenge was finding activities that we still felt would be enjoyable for our students without the face to face support of the teacher or their peers; needless to say we succeeded from a perspective of continuity of learning, but we all came away realizing how invaluable in person relationships are to meaningful education.
As for wellness, I had also integrated some meditation into my practice before COVID, but it seems all the more essential now, as students’ mental health has definitely taken a hit. We sought to not only emphasize it’s importance for meaningful learning to occur, but we also wanted to share apps that are instructive in their own right so that students and teachers can learn to apply these practices themselves. We hope some of them prove useful to you!
Hello team,
I enjoyed your OER. You highlighted the main obstacles in education that we are still facing due to Covid. It is essential to reflect on those challenges to improve our practices and help people learn in times of crisis. I discovered some new apps that could complement the learning experiences and alleviate learners’ pressure. They were well classified in the categories of the education reimagined section. However, I would like to know if you can suggest some apps to promote kids’ physical well-being.
Hi, Deisy! I’m glad you enjoyed our OER, and thanks for asking about apps for kids’ physical well-being. From my own experience, I found that around age 10, kids really like the idea of wearing technology such as a FitBit or Apple Watch. Both devices also allow for access to apps that provide workouts to follow and complete challenges. Of course, these devices do not help from an equity perspective due to the cost, but from my personal experience, my son really enjoyed wearing his and showing off how many steps he gets in a day versus my husband and me. We even created a family challenge to see who would get the most steps in a month. My husband quit after a week, knowing he would not get anywhere near us!
FYI All. Headspace offers free access for primary and secondary teachers (and supporting staff) in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. You can find out more here. https://www.headspace.com/educators
@SallyB I was going to reply to your post (since that’s what triggered my memory) but didn’t want to get lost in the replies
Thanks so much for sharing this Megan I had no idea! I will definitely be taking advantage of this with my students; I was so impressed they even had my middle school on file!
Oh, interesting! Thanks Megan!
Calm also has free resources for educators: https://www.calm.com/schools/resources.
Hi Team,
I really enjoyed your OER. The website was visually stunning and easy to navigate.
I particularly liked how your content unpacked the issues, at the same time provided solutions for those issues. For instance, I truly enjoyed reading your part on stress management in the time of crisis, and how you covered the entire spectrum; from physical self-care all the way to spiritual self-care. Additionally, the equity section was also well-written. I know through firsthand experience that the Covid crisis and the need for technology/connectedness further amplified the existing inequalities on the global level, where kids could not go to school due to lack of internet access/equipment availability in some of the developing countries. Again, great work, thank you for this.
Hi Saeid
Equity is most definitely a problem during a crisis, and as you mention, it was at a global level. In the Caribbean, many students did not have laptops; however, when that problem was resolved. The next obstacle was internet access; therefore, many governments and mobile companies provided free services to families. The problem existed in North America as well. As a society, we take access to mobile technology for granted, and the pandemic brought to the forefront the existence of equitability of technology, especially for learning. The pandemic heightened students’ stress levels which impacted their learning. The fear of the unknown (COVID), instability of the learning (remote then face-to-face), and the feeling of isolation (being away from friends) is challenging for students to go through. Therefore, finding ways to manage stress by using apps helps minimize mental and emotional stress.
Crisis management team! Your diverse backgrounds [Clinician Health and Researcher, Tech Writer and TA, Corporate Educator and Storyteller, Instructional Designer, Librarian, and Teacher….WOW] must have been a wonderful asset to the creation of such a thorough yet digestible OER.
I am always eager to learn about ways I can change my practices, not just to keep up with technology and 21st-century literacies, but to feel competent in those literacies that pose great opportunity [and security] in “unprecedented” circumstances. For me, it was my lack of preparation when it came to dealing with remote learning, exaggerated with the lack of guidance from the provincial → district → admin, that solidified my decision to join this Masters Program. UBC’s Masters of Education and the courses I have been immersed in have had the largest influence on my future preparation for learning in a time of crisis. Understanding the difference between using tech to enhance learning vs using it as a substitute, the plethora of resources I have been introduced to, and the networking that has taken place are now three of my biggest assets. For me, moving forward, I think it is critical that technology education (emphasizing the principles I just listed) be mandatory at the pre-service level. Teachers need to be educated in this field, trained adequately to support 21st-century learners, and learning in a time of crisis.
Thank you for your wonderful OER, I particularly enjoyed the interview with Dr. Karine Rashkovsky on “Surviving & Thriving in a Time of Crisis”, your emphasis on current realities and challenges (LDs, digital divides, and misconduct), as well as your final thoughts (with tangible suggestions that consider the challenges).
Thank you for your insightful words, Tegan. I completely agree with you on your points. It’s valid to say that the use of technologies should be used to enhance learning, rather than solely substitute practices that existed in traditional ways. I have witnessed firsthand, since moving to a remote context (and still do on a weekly basis), instructors wanting to use technology in a way that directly substitutes their in-person practices. In-person exams, for example, have become a major focus for many instructors as the challenges of maintaining academic integrity in an online format for a multiple-choice exam is nearly impossible. This is why I think it is important to use theoretical models for implementing education technologies in an effective manner (like the SAMR or SECTIONS models). It often requires a re-design of the teaching strategy and assessment practices. Many instructors have adapted and have begun the redesign, which SHOULD, in theory, move their curriculum away from the traditional model – making it more agile and responsive… as we’ve discussed. But many have not and are still trying to push a square peg into a round hole, as the saying goes. Nonetheless, I would like to believe major strides of been made in education because there was no choice.
The dreaded multiple-choice! When COVID hit my university, I was leading the team who supported faculty and I could not believe how many of our exams were multiple choice. Which I never would have learned about if the faculty had not had concerns about academic integrity! I think from the perspective of evolving post-secondary practice, COVID presented my team with many opportunities. For example, we had a captive audience for discussions about
-why online proctoring is not the answer;
-why online timed exams are not accessible;
-what is authentic assessment and why should I use it;
-using the LMS, what’s in it for me and my students (beyond not having to print the syllabus);
to name a few…
Megan, thank you for sharing. Your role would have been an interesting one. I am not envious of it under the circumstance but I sure would have a lot to say about it! ha
Agreed, although remote learning was met with urgency and there were many piecemeal practices turned out, the benefit has been in the aftermath – a clear illustration of the gap in effective technology, and much initiative has been taken in attempts to close it.
Thanks, Tegan! I agree; I think our diverse backgrounds were necessary to address our topic. I agree with you that moving forward, there needs to be a focus on education and training around the use of technology to remove any anxiety or fear that some may have from feeling like they are not technology savvy. Spending time at the provincial and district levels to conduct a “post-mortem” and reflect upon what went right or wrong and what worked or didn’t will do planning for similar situations in the future more manageable and less stressful to manage. Identical to you, I took the leap and applied for this course as I see from a corporate perspective where companies let their employees down when it came to supporting and training. My experience of introducing a collaboration tool and separate project management tool virtually overnight indeed highlighted that. As part of the Leadership Team, the differences in opinion and expectations were eye-opening. I hope to help reduce that stress and work with companies to improve their training programs.
Nicole, I think there would be a tremendous benefit for collegial debriefing at the provincial, district, and school levels. Taking the time to do this would not only help plan for the future but (as you said), help unload the stress that people are still under – to pump out materials in which they have no training on how to do or guidance on where to start. I have actually just been accepted to be a part of a new committee for our district, the Educational Technology Advisory Committee. I am thoroughly looking forward to bringing forward “voices” of fellow colleagues in the MET program (from the valuable dialect shared during the program), because these conversations are not happening at the school level. As you said, the differences in opinion and expectations are eye-opening and I too hope to help reduce that stress for educators and work with the district to create tools for teachers.
Hello Team!
Your OER has an intuitive and logical design and effectively distilled categories. (It may just be me, but the ‘Mentimeter’ on the “Pre-covid” page was didn’t display properly on 2 browsers and I was unable to submit to it.) I am particularly struck by the shift to ‘well being’ awareness we are witnessing in education and work-places as a result of the pandemic. I found it interesting that the spiritual/mental well being apps you highlighted on the page seemed to have more paywalls (and therefore barriers) than the other categories on the page. I wonder why? Perhaps the expertise/research behind these kinds of apps. is more expensive to produce and maintain than some of the other categories? It makes me re-contemplate the question posed on the bottom of your “pre-covid” page, about how education might be more responsive in the future. I wonder if there could be a way for schools to help students access an app like “headspace” (for example), perhaps by having some kind of credit system students could use within a school system to purchase approved or recommended apps. It would be interesting if you could “borrow” an app, much like borrowing a library book. Or maybe that’s thinking too small; maybe this is an opportunity for educators in the EdTech space to innovate something free and open for this space… This section of your site also reminded me of presentation I saw a year ago about ‘sustainable happiness’ and a (low tech) student journal designed to help individuals reflect on different values and aspects of happiness. If anyone is interested, the website is: https://sustainablehappiness.world/
Hi Sally! Sorry to hear that the mentimeter poll didn’t work for you; I will take a look and see if I can fix it! As for the meditation apps, I too was struck by how many are behind a paywall and thus far less attractive an option; I’ve made use of free calm lessons with my students, but admittedly these are limited, so some replay does occur. You raise an interesting idea however: that apps are equivalent to books in a library in a modern educational setting. I know several platforms offer educational pricing subscription models, however, it would be nice to see more made freely available for educational contexts, even if on a short term loan basis. Perhaps this is a change yet to come!
Hi Brendan, in case you have already troubleshot it… I thought you should know that the Mentimeter poll still isn’t working: The question can be seen, “What comes to mind when you think of education?” as well as the blue “submit” button, but the options for the poll themself are not visible (it is just empty space on the screen). What is launching a website without its kinks right!? … we had our fair share as well! Thank you for the fantastic OER (my response to the team’s question is above).
Hi Tegan,
Thanks for letting us know; where I failed, my team succeeded, and Jasmine has updated the site with a new (functioning) mentimeter poll so we hope you’ll give it a go, and thansk for your patience!
Ha Ben, that’s what the team is for! Up and running and I gave it a go 🙂
Hi Sally and Brendan,
It is interesting how so many wellness apps have paywalls, but I think it’s okay to repeat techniques/videos. Isn’t the purpose of these exercises is to add to our own personal wellness “toolkit”? While the novelty of new videos/exercises can be a good hook for students, students should be able to recall these exercises when they need them even when they are away from a mobile device, which they often are in elementary schools.
Terrific OER Brendan and team! Lots of useful resources to look through and prepare during the calm before the storm!
Sally – I love the idea of access to apps via school. There are several programs designed for schools to use; perhaps in the same way you add a Chrome extension, there would be a way to add apps or design wellness content right into the LMS. This would also allow the school to potentially choose additional extensions such as project management tools or other resources that would support learning. I wonder if the future will also include providing each student with a device to keep learning to remove the equity concerns. All students would be able to quickly move to online learning in the event of another pandemic or even keep up with classwork for students who have illnesses that keep them out of the class for extended periods.
You’re right about having to solve the hardware and software issue. I had a bad experience, almost 15 years ago, working in a high school where all the students were loaned Apple computers by the ministry of education. The laptops were treated quite carelessly and Tech Services was constantly fixing and replacing them. I don’t know what the solution might be though. I also love the idea of being able to pull a greater variety of apps. into our LMS’ more easily – that would solve a number of issues in itself!…I just posted about something called OpenAi Codex that is experimenting with being able to code using plain language. If this technology expands rapidly, it may not be long before teachers and students can create custom apps. for any class or learning situation! That could solve paywall issues for software fairly quickly, though we would still need a solution for the hardware.
Hi Everyone, Great job on your OER! Your presentation really highlighted how complex learning in a time of crisis really is. It is not simply about moving to an online learning environment. Teachers, parents, and administrations also have to consider learners’ well-being and all that impacts it, meet diverse learner needs, in addition to access to WiFi and devices. Oh and do all that with no time to prepare and very limited budgets! I sincerely hope that as a society we will learn a lot from this steep learning curve Covid provided and are well prepared for the next epidemic, pandemic, climate catastrophe, or other crises. I moved provinces right before Covid started so I was unable to secure work in my field of choice – adult education. However, I did work as an outreach worker with seniors living on low incomes for 15 months. I found that seniors face many of the same challenges mentioned on your website including limited or no access to the internet or technology, unable or limited use of technology due to mental and physical disabilities, serious strains on mental and physical health coupled with extreme isolation, and reduced or loss of access to community resources such as health care, libraries, and social centers. It was grim! Thankfully the small, underfunded agency I was working for quickly came to the realization last winter that we must do something to help seniors navigate these difficult times.
We developed some online and in-person technology help and information sessions. Not surprisingly, seniors preferred to work one-on-one in-person to learn how to use their devices and ask questions about technology rather than over a Zoom session. I also noticed during this time that it is not really age that limits technology use; it is the person’s mindset (as long as they had the money to pay for wifi and a device). I met a wonderful client who was 97 years old and he showed me how he video chats with his nephew in Texas on his phone. I am grateful that my perceptions of seniors and their technology use were very much challenged during my work at this agency.
Hi Olivia,
I believe the pandemic has encouraged almost everyone to connect and push their limits with technology, such as your 97 years old client. People want to feel connected with others, in that instance, his nephew. Also, interesting point about the similar mobile technology challenges that seniors faced. In Montreal, those who lived in elder care were isolated from their loved ones and probably experienced the same issues you have outlined. In reflection, depending on age group, SES, race, and cultural background, a person’s crisis experience will vary. Having access to mobile technology is not equitable, and depending on the severity of the crisis or the defined group, mobile learning may not be a possibility. Thank you for your enlightening experience working with seniors during the pandemic.