How to Recover From Missed Learning Opportunities Due to Distance Learning Challenges?
February 3, 2021
Pivoting to distance learning proved challenging for everyone involved. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic left educators, parents, and students scrambling to make distance learning work. Teachers need help learning to teach online. Students need help catching up. With all the challenges facing teachers and students alike, accessing and using distance learning technology shouldn't be one of them.
A positive experience with distance learning technology can significantly impact how much students retain the skills they are learning. Both teachers and students need a positive user experience. Teachers avoid burnout and exhaustion when they have straightforward and readily accessible online learning tools. Many instructors have viewed learning new teaching technologies as just another burden. At the end of the spring semester, a survey found almost 55% of teachers printing materials out to send home to their students. Many of the teachers who switched to online learning platforms said they spent nearly as much time preparing for virtual classes as they did teaching them [1]. These statistics are unacceptable. Teachers need better support to instruct their students in distance learning effectively.
It's no surprise then to find teachers feeling conflicted about distance learning. Many teachers feel relief at the safety that distance learning provides from the virus but at the same time frustrated over their inability to reach the students in the same way they do on campus [2]. Video conferencing provides some connection between the students and the teacher, but a robust distance learning platform is needed to offer support for the instructors and the students.
Without a robust and intuitive digital backbone for online learning, many students find themselves falling behind. All students will be playing catch-up to some degree in the next year, but these groups will face a disproportionate need to catch-up on many necessary skills.
Similar to the learning loss students associated with chronic absenteeism, the months of being out of the classroom at the end of the 2019-2020 school year will likely affect students in the same way. "With respect to performance, the disadvantage associated with absenteeism grows as the number of days missed increases: students who missed 1–2 school days, 3–4 days, 5–10 days, or more than ten days scored, respectively, 0.10, 0.29, 0.39, and 0.64 SD below students who missed no school on mathematics performance for eighth-graders" [3]. Although students who are participating in distance learning are still engaging in learning new skills and reinforcing skills, they can anticipate a similar learning loss across the board.
A powerful distance learning interface tailored to student needs is the best way to support student learning and help them catch-up on lessons lost in the last year. What are the features that work?
It is essential for the system to be intuitive and straightforward to use. A turnkey program that you can have up and running quickly for your students, without burning out teachers, is vital to success.
It is critical to address the most important gaps. Math and reading skills are among the most important for K-12 learners, and a system that effectively supports that learning is key.
It is imperative to use technology intelligently.
Artificial intelligence that is powered by student data will help them learn better and faster. Retention of these skills is higher because the learning materials are grounded in data that prove where and how the students need help and support. Finding a program that suits your student's needs will help them close that learning gap and regain lost skills while giving them a great user experience. A turnkey program that you can have up and running quickly for your students is vital to success.
Amesite Offers the Solution to Learning Recovery
Amesite is the most advanced online learning platform in the market today. It benefits the school, teacher, and learner with its easy start and scalable program that will enable you to recover lost learning.
Schools and their teachers gain access to a series of helpful features and functionalities upon signup with Amesite that will help with recovery of lost learning, including:
Launch in 24-hours - without requiring additional staff or IT assistance
Easy and intuitive design providing retention
Customizable and branded platform
Easy integration
Custom curated content
Automation of administrative tasks
Data analytics
Amesite offers a quick launching, turnkey platform that is easy to use, requiring no training before deployment, equipped with a social media-inspired design to attract students and keep them engaged. This helps in the recovery of learning loss because you can start quickly and efficiently with no confusion or learning curve. Additionally, to recover from learning loss, students and teachers must have a positive experience to learn further and grow. The intuitive social media design combined with Amesite's other features provides this positive user experience. It allows students and teachers to focus on the course material and skill-building rather than learning a new platform.
A well-designed platform will support your recovery goals. Real-time, quick, and clear communication can help close the learning gap created by the pandemic and the transition to distance learning. Being able to respond to a confused or lost student quickly or see when an assignment or lesson resonates with the learners allows both the students and the teachers to feel empowered. Using video, text chat, upvotes, and endorsements are quick and effective ways for students to communicate what they are learning and feeling and for teachers to assess how to proceed. With over 98% retention of learners across all of its programs, Amesite gives customers an online solution for delivering learning that works.
Amesite offers a completely customizable online learning environment branded to your school and works diligently with you to meet your school's unique needs. Amesite easily integrates with existing educational tools and systems while also enabling the integration of best-in-class third-party tools and custom-built features.
In addition to a unique custom environment and easy integration, Amesite offers course creation services built by subject matter experts that meet state standards. Schools and their teachers can feel confident that their course content is made with the most up to date information and curated with ease of learning and teaching in mind. Additional features that teachers will appreciate include customizable grade books, automation of administrative tasks, and providing auto-graded assessments. The custom content offers peace of mind that your students learn in the most effective way to aid your learning recovery goals. The other features give teachers more time to focus on student learning recovery and less time on grading assignments and course creation.
Traditional teaching methods must advance to recover learning - this advancement is achieved through a critical aspect of any online course platform, data analytics. Amesite collects data to inform teachers with important information about how their students are learning. Data analytics allow educators to fine-tune their teaching style to best connect with the students' unique learning needs. It is important to note that any collected data is used only to improve learning.
The Amesite system enables your community to blossom and grow, creating and maintaining the connections that will result in the ultimate reward: student success and recovery of learning.
