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COVID19 Update | Creating a Digital Backbone for Your Teachers and Students That Enables Teacher Training and Learning Recovery
January 27, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to challenge teachers and students alike. Now, there is a new need: making up for instructional time and compromises made in the move to online. In summer 2021, teacher training and learning recovery will be key challenges for superintendents around the nation.  

At the start of the pandemic, many educators scrambled to move their teaching materials into online formats. Teachers and students had to access unfamiliar software. Many teachers had to learn new software systems and new approaches to teaching. With little time to prepare, students and teachers had a lot to learn and little time to learn it.   

This pressure and the timeline to move to distance learning was hard on everyone involved. Many students experienced heightened stress over the move to distance learning. In a survey done by the L.A. Times, 75% of college students that responded experienced an increase in depression and anxiety [1]. Being removed from the comfort of the classroom and figuring out how to learn online took its toll especially in the K-12 schools. Studies show that students are retaining 30% less reading knowledge and 50% less math knowledge from previous years due to learning loss during the pandemic. Additionally, the younger the child, the less they retained from the previous year. These are serious levels of learning loss in reading and math that will affect children, nicknamed the “Corona Generation,” throughout their learning journey [2]. 

Although the push to distance learning for all instructors hoped to inspire confidence in the future of e-learning, many teachers still struggle with adapting to this format. Less than half of surveyed instructors at the start of the fall term felt confident in their approach to teaching online. This is only up from 39% previously [3]. Being in a more comfortable and flexible environment might lead to teachers feeling more confident about teaching online.   

Creating a positive experience for all the users is a goal which has proven challenging. Finding the right tools to support you and your students will be the make it or break it decision to successfully enable teacher training and learning recovery.   

Key Considerations in Moving to More Remote Work   

At this time, we've had to accept distance learning as more of a long-term reality. Schools are finding the funding to generate better user experiences for their students and teachers. The challenge next is finding an online platform solution to use that budget on time.   

It takes time to build an online course from scratch, to learn the system and then determine what are engaging methodologies for your learners and taking the time to do this it is not an option for many educators. Program facilitators need solutions that are engaging and ready-made. Having ready built materials that are flexible and easy to assess will save time, money, and avoid instructor and student burnout.   

Instructors need specific turn-key programs and a digital backbone to build their classes around. The infrastructure that supports online learning is crucial to meeting learning outcomes and successful student learning. You want a program that is outstanding, one that meets not just the needs of your students but also meets state standards.   

Being able to launch an engaging and well-designed program quickly will help students retain and build on existing skills. This is particularly important for math and reading skills that can diminish quickly without regular practice.   

Amesite Offers a Single, Easy to Use, Scalable Solution  

Experts recommend the creation of catch-up programs. A successful case study for catch-up programs is in South Carolina where they “offered four-week academic recovery camps this summer, providing 25,000 students in kindergarten to third grade with literacy and mathematics instruction, including support in social-emotional learning” [4]. This recovery of learning time will be crucial in the development of learners effected by the pandemic. Catch-up programs can also be implemented during the school year to aid in learning recovery.  

What if you could just push a button and have engaging student materials ready to go? Creating a catch-up program with Amesite is easy and will provide incredible benefits to your learning recovery efforts. Amesite delivers a fully-managed learning platform where you can design customized courses for your high demand classes. The interface is engaging and built with social media in mind. This allows your students to feel a high level of comfort from the moment they enter the course.   

Many of the mechanisms of social media are put to use in the Amesite system. Instructors and students can use upvotes and endorsements. These provide a quick and easy way for the class to communicate with each other, a short-hand of understanding. There is a built-in video conferencing and messaging functions. This allows a real time connection to be maintained with the students and the instructors. Showing up is particularly important in distance-learning and these technologies make it easy for the students and the instructors.   

Amesite’s programs are intuitive and easy to learn. This cuts down on the training time for your instructors. The customizable content allows your team to get online and get a course set-up in as little as 30 days. The digital backbone gives your teachers the structure they need to get started and moving quickly through the course design process.   

If you ever wanted an easy button to help you get started on your course design, Amesite’s solutions are for you. Launch customized online courses now with Amesite, to prevent more math and reading losses!  

References:

[1] LA Times. 2020. College Students Anxiety and Depression Coronavirus Survey. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-25/college-students-anxiety-depression-coronavirus-survey Accessed Jan 19, 2021.  

[2] Brookings. May 27, 2020. The impact of COVID-19 on student achievement and what it may mean for educators https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2020/05/27/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-student-achievement-and-what-it-may-mean-for-educators/ Accessed Jan 25, 2021. 

[3] Inside Higher Ed. 2020. Covid Era Experience Strengthens Faculty Belief Value Online. https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2020/10/06/covid-era-experience-strengthens-faculty-belief-value-online Accessed Jan 19, 2021.  

[4] The 74. 2020. Analysis: COVID Learning & Earning Losses Could Be Huge. But There Are Remedies Inside and Outside Our Schools. Here are 7 of Them. https://www.the74million.org/article/analysis-covid-learning-earning-losses-could-be-huge-but-there-are-remedies-inside-and-outside-our-schools-here-are-7-of-them/ Accessed Jan 25, 2021.