Remote Learning - Lessons From Lockdown

Without any shadow of doubt, this whole situation surrounding the closing of schools and developing remote learning has been a very steep learning curve and a roller coaster of emotions, problem solving, upskilling, panic, trial and error and on the spot reflections to try and make sense of it all and make the best of a crisis situation.

During the past week, we have all had an opportunity for some check-in, catch-up and prepare. This morning, a colleague sent me a quote taken from this book:

“The pandemic teaching of mid-2020 was not really distance learning, but rather crisis teaching. But starting now, teachers have the opportunity to prepare for distance learning with purpose and intent—using what works best to accelerate students’ learning all the while maintaining an indelible focus on equity”.

This will strike a chord with many I'm sure and there have been some excellent blog posts offered by teachers, found here, which really sum up the journey well when taken together as a whole. However, seeing our learners face to face for the first time has allowed us to dig a little deeper into the whole situation from their perspective and the purpose of this post is to draw together the themes, problems and successes in order to steer our PLN in preparing for an effective and meaningful blended learning offer and hopefully support others as they wrestle with how to provide the best for our learners should this be the case in September.

• The overwhelming feedback from many learners is the amount of work and the time it takes to get it done. They've spoken about logging in and just seeing so many things to do that they either panic or give up. Either way this is not a good start or experience for our learners and any blended offer needs to consider and plan carefully for the amount of work, subjects and realistic expectations in terms of time - both in terms of motivation and wellbeing. Ideally, this should be planned whole-school as our learners were clear that not having the structure of a timetable that clearly and carefully set out what subjects to do, when to do them and how long to spend doing them was a barrier. This should be organised on the basis of all subjects being studied being included but without overloading the learners. Our learners were clear they want a timetable to work to and structure their efforts.

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• In a similar way, many learners raised issues surrounding deadlines. Some teachers set them and some don't. They spoke of frustration with subjects that did not set a specific deadline for the work to be completed and that this either added to their anxiety or meant that it wasn't a priority and often got lost during the pressures of other work. It was clear that our learners want clear expectations and deadlines for work to be completed. With this in mind, a blended learning offer needs to establish clear routines and expectations in terms of setting and completion of work.

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• Another aspect learners raised was they didn't always understand the purpose of the lesson, activities and content and felt that sometimes the work being provided was a bit random and unconnected. This came as no surprise to me as it's super difficult to get any progression and sequence across activities in a remote setting and this is an area many teachers need to think carefully about within the planning for a possible blended approach. Learners want to know the purpose and want to see the links between assignment; and from a blended perspective, this will be even more difficult than for just remote learning as the input may come in different formats within the offer and at different times. Ensuring there is clarity across all input options will be crucial to avoid learner confusion and impacting motivation. For this reason, we believe it's vital to ensure any blended learning offer establishes clear guidance and expectations for teachers to provide clear links to syllabus, knowledge, skills and plan sequences of learning not isolated stand alone lessons in order to support the learners to stay in the learning zone.

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•    A surprising bit of feedback was with respect to the level of challenge and amount of new content. The surprise came in the form of a few learners talking to me about the difference between work based on prior-knowledge and work based on new content. They stated that work based on new content takes longer even if video support and additional scaffolding is provided. In all honesty, I hadn't really considered it from this perspective but upon hearing their words it became blatantly obvious. Working in your comfort zone takes less time than working in the stretch zone. The learners felt this caused them lots of anxiety because wrestling with learning new knowledge, content and concepts was harder but the amount of work to be completed was the same. This led on to discussions about breaking the work down into smaller chunks to make it more manageable. In discussion we feel this is a vital area to be addressed particularly in the face to face aspect of the blended offer and that subsequent work should build on this. It is our view that a blended offer should involve creating a weekly or fortnightly cycle along the lines of:

• feedback from previous work and summary of connections to syllabus/sequence/objectives (many feedback approaches may be appropriate but the offer needs to consider a small range of approaches to support their learners - whole-class, individual and also differentiated feedback)

• introduction of new content in small chunks with opportunities for learners to ask questions and seek clarifications

• modelling of assignment/task expectations - walk through tasks with examples to establish clarity

• independent work based on prior-knowledge and new content

• assess outcomes and generate feedback

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• Motivation was another clear message from our learners. They struggle a lot with keeping going and establishing a routine. They spoke of being easily distracted or finding it difficult with family around etc. They spoke of a lack of feedback on their work and posing questions that were never answered and as a result losing interest. There is no easy solution to this and the face to face aspect of blended learning would definitely support addressing this aspect. However, it may be possible that a blended learning offer could include a tutor drop-in online. This could be achieved with form tutors acting as conduits of information regarding specific issues and a wellbeing check-in. The blended offer could include a regular time where form tutors would be available for learners to drop in and share any specific issues (although clear protocols would be needed for this to occur online of course). Establishing clear lines of communication that aren't onerous or problematic is vital to both engagement and motivation. Keeping learners motivated is a consideration we cannot overlook as it's crucial to do all we can to keep them in the learning zone without undue pressure on their wellbeing. How can we transfer those positive comments and encouragements to support learners if the contact time is significantly reduced? We cannot underestimate the power of "You are really doing well, keep going!"

Remote Learning - Tips For Learners

Having written about tips for teachers regarding remote and blended learning, we felt it was important to also look at the whole digital relationship from both sides and provide some helpful advice to learners to help them stay healthy and keep the learning going as effectively as possible. This post is aimed at discussing some of the points raised in the graphic above in the hope it provides helpful advice to share with learners.

Read the assignment 'blurb' carefully

This sounds like common sense but is often a step that is missed by the learner. Usually the eyes are drawn to the links or documents and click happy learners go straight to the resources and begin to make sense of the work and assume they understand what to do. Unfortunately, Google Classroom is not the best in terms of the assignment page in drawing the learners to the instructions. These can often be wordy and lengthy explanations where the teacher has no options in terms of editing the fonts, size, colours or bullet points although you can add keyboard symbols. It's therefore very important not to rush in and take some time reading the explanations the teacher has given and will certainly prevent undue frustration or completing the task incorrectly. This should be a part of the normal routine for learners so make sure this message is always given clearly in supporting our learners at the start of an assignment to develop good habits.

Identify the steps needed to complete the task

Following on from reading and processing the assignment task, the next step is to think about the order or sequence the task should be completed. Often times the teacher will put together the work with steps that need to be completed. Taking time to understand this order of tasks is a key aspect, particularly if there are a lot of steps. It might be helpful to note down the steps on a piece of paper in numbered points and can then act as a checklist going forward. This may also help with identifying aspects of the task that are difficult or confusing. A good combination of the above points will put the learner in a position where they are likely to have success and see their progress and help to chunk the overall task down to realistic steps that can be completed in a shorter time. 

Ask very specific questions

Both teacher and learner need to communicate effectively via the chat feature on any platforms being used, or even email. Care needs to be taken when wording these messages as it's so easy for miscommunication and frustration for both parties. Comments such as 'I don't get it.' or 'So what do we have to do?' can be a real challenge for the teachers who has spent time putting the assignment together and ensuring all the resources are available. The key is asking specific and assignment related questions. Yes this may take a bit more effort and thought but in the long run it will save time and stress, particularly as asynchronous work can often have gaps between the interaction. Give details such as what part of the task, what page or slide is causing the issue. Explain what has been completed and what is left to do. Ask questions that are specific to the work you are doing as the teacher cannot know what is causing the issue as this will be different for all. Maybe the most important tip here is to make sure you are asking a question and that this question can be answered easily.

Learn to touch type effectively

Having to type work can be both a bonus and a pain and is usually dependant on how effectively you can touch type. The reality is that this is a life skill needed in our modern world. Without this skill, typing lengthy pieces of work is difficult and frustrating and can also demand quite a cognitive load on top of the actual work bring produced. We usually measure this in 'words per minute'. Consider the time spent producing a 1000 word document and the time spend if your typing speed is 10 wpm. This will potentially take 100 minutes. If you can increase this to 20 wpm then you can potentially half the time it takes to complete the task. Of course, learning to touch type takes time and some effort but in the long run, it can save considerable time and so it makes perfect sense to do so. Check out this free website and spend some time improving your touch typing speed to make completion of work easier and to save time as well as develop an important life skill.

Learn keyboard short cuts and simple hacks

Another huge time saver is the ability to use keyboard short cuts and some simple hacks to improve workflow and save time completing simple tasks without having to reach for the mouse. Simply by learning how to do frequent tasks quickly from the keyboard helps to keep focus on the work, save significant time and prevent frustration. There are many examples of these available with a simple internet search which can be printed our for quick reference which will lead to them being internalised over time and be of great benefit. Here are some examples to get you going:

Learn to use capital letters and punctuation when typing

Typing work can often lead to poor habits given some of the issues raised above. Add to this there is an element of autocorrect with most word processors, there really isn't any excuse for not proof-reading work for correct use of capital letters and punctuation. My tip here is really about working in two stages. Firstly, get the work typed out as quickly as possible and secondly go through and correct these simple errors. This is a good habit to develop and enables you to check through for meaning and accuracy without being distracted. Managing the cognitive load in this way will be beneficial to the accuracy of the work produced and save time.

Learn to split screen for multiple resources

Depending on how the teacher organises the work, there can often be a need for accessing two resources simultaneously. Of course, flicking between two tabs is not that difficult but it can cause additional cognitive load and just a little frustration depending on how much information is being held in the working memory to complete the task. A simple hack to avoid this and speed up workflow and reduce overload is to split the screen into two.

For Windows 10

For MacBook 

For Chromebook

Routines and managing the workload

I am going to summarise the last few points into this sections as it's really all about the routine and working practices. If the amount of work to be completed is not managed and organised well, then the whole experience will be negative. Developing a timetable or to-do list with deadlines is desirable so at least you can see exactly what needs to be completed and by when. From this you can develop a plan and work schedule. This is best achieved over a weekly view which can then be broken down into a daily list. This may still be difficult to achieve but at least you can see easily what has been completed and what has not.

Finding a suitable space to work is also desirable so you can set up that space as a work area that you can leave and come back to to continue the work. This may not be possible but it can be really helpful to create a mini classroom area which is your workspace with everything set up and ready to use. If getting to the point where you can work takes a lot of time and effort then this will cause undue stress and reduce the efficiency of the time spend on work.

Developing a routine takes time initially but will improve the whole experience and save time. Working in short 20-30 minute bursts with a short break away from the screen will improve productivity and help to reduce stress and frustration. Sitting for hours completing a task without a break is not a good habit to get into and demands discipline to stick to the plan. However, the benefits of this will be more work is completed and wellbeing is promoted.

I hope these tips for learners are useful and go some way to supporting learners, parents and teachers in going forward.

Remote Learning - Tips For Teachers

The aim of this post is to offer some crowdsourced tips for teachers to consider in developing their approach to remote learning in response to this post: See it from their perspective! which asks us to consider what remote learning looks like for our learners. The post is a deeper look at the points raised in the graphics created based on teacher feedback and other sources that have been shared so kindly to inform the content of this post. Please feel free to share the graphics and blogpost to any educators developing their pedagogy and approaches to remote learning; and asynchronous approaches in particular.

> Minimise the range of platforms used

There are a whole range of platforms and apps available and they can all be very useful in meeting different needs. Alongside the big hitters such as Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams and Apple Classroom, we also have Purple Mash, Class Dojo, J2E and a whole range of additional apps such as Flipgrid, Adobe Spark, Show My Homework and many more. Whilst having the choice is very positive on one hand this can be problematic for the learners on the other. If the work being set requires multiple logins then it's causing an additional layer of struggle. In practice, this means that individual schools need to make a clear decision on what platforms are used. Consider the learner having to use one platform for one subject and a different platform for another! If we add some apps on top of this, the demands on the learner can be high and especially if they are new to them. Developing a bank of basic how to videos and explanations of how the platform works and how to complete the tasks can go a long way both for learners and parents. Building familiarity and good habits with learners is key to successful learning experiences. Less is more and any change or introduction of a new platform needs to be thought through and managed at school level. Of course, if you're confident your learners can use an app or platform confidently because you have used it in class as part of their normal lessons then this aspect is less of a concern. A simple audit of what platforms staff are currently using to share work with learners can help to provide a realistic picture of what it's like for them.

> Break it down to realistic 'chunks'

This is a crucial aspect not only for remote learning but for learning in general but is even more important when setting work remotely. The general advice provided by teachers on this aspect advise breaking the whole task down into steps. These steps contain one or maybe two activities to be completed. These can be set as separate assignment and should be clearly labelled in the title. This can also be achieved by creating a document with the steps broken down into sections. Doing this before sharing the work allows the teacher to organise the learning into realistic steps and prevent the learner from having to work out how to do the task and in what order.

> Make instructions specific

The general advice of less is more is so important when wording and presenting the instructions to the learner. Short, memorable and clear. 'Read the paragraph' works but is not as good as 'Read the paragraph twice carefully and slowly' It's important to ensure the learner is not second guessing what they need to do. Another example to drive the point home is 'Write your answer in the box'! Again, this works but can be improved by adding specific detail, 'Write two sentences in the box accurately to answer the question'. Aim to leave no area for misconception or misunderstanding. Without that face to face contact, it's really difficult to know if the words you're using are understood so the instructions need to be bullet proof. Some teachers have also suggested that a video talk through and explanation with demonstrating and modelling the work to be completed with your familiar face can have a very positive effect and clear up any potential areas of confusion. Embed this video in the document or hyperlink to it into a new window to avoid additional resources in the assignment. 

> Make instruction concrete, clear and actionable

This links clearly with the point above but asks us to consider at a deeper level what exactly we want the learners to do. The main consideration here has to be can they easily access what they need to do without any prior knowledge. If prior knowledge is needed, has it been provided with it. I have said things like, 'If you're not sure, then look back to the previous assignment.' I realise now that this is another layer of hassle and could be prevented by providing this in the form of a link or text call-out box. Reducing any possible confusion about what to do exactly will free the learner to focus on the learning and not second guess what needs to be done. In a classroom situation this would be addressed with questions. Pre-empt those questions and fill in the gaps. This is a powerful tip that will allow you to get right down to what you want the learner to do and enable them to do it confidently.

> Sequence the work carefully

This tip is about pedagogy and is key to remote learning being effective. There have been many comments recently about one of the main barriers our learners are facing is organising all the work and organising themselves to complete the tasks. Organising the work into chunks and setting these out clearly in the order you want things done with clear and concise instructions will remove this barrier many of our learners are facing. Thinking about this in designing the assignment will enable the learner to focus on the work. In our PLN before the closure, we decided to use an adapted form of Rosenshine's Principles to help us design the work. This roughly boiled down to:

1. A recall quiz of prior learning

2. A short video presenting the assignment and any new content and including the assignment resources

3. Practice or activities to scaffold any new content - gap fills, missing words, short listening tasks etc

4. Produce something - paragraph, diagram etc

5. Reflection or exit ticket

This is only a suggestion and then raises other issues such as quality of videos and careful scaffolding of tasks. However, managing the challenge is much more difficult remotely so be sure to make it easy and build in the habits. This will build confidence and the reflections should tell you if you're pitching the work at the right level. Learner feedback from each assignment either via the work produced or their reflections should be a constant guide to the teacher. 

> All work should be purposeful and clear

This is a very interesting point raised in a comment on Twitter and in reflecting on it I had to include it in the graphic. There has to be a purpose to the work! This has to be clear to the learner! If they cannot see how this work links to their learning or wellbeing, then why would they be motivated to complete it? I think it would be very interesting to survey the tasks teachers are setting. I'm the first to admit that sometimes I throw in a time filler in class or go off-piste and develop a random fun activity just to have a break from the norm. I have also been in the situation where I'm dry and cannot think of a suitable activity to do and just thrown something in because I'm burned out. The advice here is hard but fair - take a look at the assignment and activities and reflect on the purpose, the learning goals, the links to the curriculum and the assessment criteria. Is it purposeful and worth the investment of time for the learner?

> Connect new content with prior learning

In reality there is nothing new in this tip but is really important and also interlinks with many of the other tips. If you're attempting to present new content you must link this to prior knowledge or it will be lost in moving forward. Any new content should be delivered in small bitesize chunks and clearly linked to knowledge they have already acquired. This is where retrieval self-marking quizzes can be very helpful in deciding how to manage new content as they and other completed work tell us a story about the knowledge they've acquired and when it's appropriate to introduce new content. Scaffolding can also be used to address this issue but be aware of the potential issues of wasted opportunity.

> Give clear due dates and times to complete tasks

Each platform has its own particular way of setting the due dates. If you do not set a due date then how will our students know when it needs to be done. I have seen teachers write the due date on the assignment but not put them in the assignment settings. This can also prevent any notifications reaching the students and also does not show up on their calendar and to do list, so it's quite easy for them to go missing. Some teachers have also suggested that adding approximate times for each of the steps is a good idea to further guide students. They are potentially getting even more screen time than usual and this situation has been going on for quite a few months now so giving them approximate times to spend on each step will help them manage that time and workload. 

> Ensure rubrics are specific and short

When using rubrics or assessment criteria to guide learners in their thinking and work then make them short and very specific to the task. Avoid putting them as a separate resource in the assignment and put them in a call out box on the document you're using exactly where the work is to be completed. This reduces the amount of clicking or simply ignoring. Target the strands, knowledge and skills specifically for the specific task and make it very accessible.

Here are two graphics that are very similar to each other simply because the issues are not specific to the platform but are quite general. There are simply two clear messages contained in the tips.

1. Set all work as an assignment and fill in as much detail as possible. Think carefully about how you label the assignments and use the topics/categories to organise the assignments so learners can access the structure over them over time by using the classwork tab in Classroom. Using numbers for the assignment is also a very good tip. One teacher has also suggested that this is really important in terms of naming the classes or team. If you put the subject first, it makes it much easier for the learner to identify the correct class/team without getting distracted.

2. Use the right tools for the platform. If using Google Classroom then use Google products. If you as the teacher have Microsoft documents and PowerPoints then convert them yourself and sort out any formatting issues before sharing with your learners and make sure you create a copy for each learner using the drop down box in Classroom. I would also add that if completing writing tasks then create a document with a title and all the information needed and then share this with students with a template if appropriate. This is also true of any PDF or any other formats being used. Take the time to convert them to Google yourself before sharing. This is also true of Teams and Microsoft tools. Select the right tool for the platform you are using to minimise problems for the learner. 

A good rule of thumb is to create a pupil account or ask a colleague to check the assignments from the student end. There are ways around this like having a shared classroom or collaborative classroom/Team so you can check each others assignments before going live. The danger lays in assuming it will be OK and please spare a thought for those working on mobile phones or tablets. I have learners who still convert Google Docs into a PDF to annotate when using an iPad. If they just download the app, it will work but getting the message to them is difficult. Check and double check if you can. 

I hope this is helpful to teachers in getting to grips with remote learning and some of the issues faced by learners. 

I owe a massive thank you to everyone who has responded to Tweets and freely shared their tips for me to include in this post. #Poblwc #StaySafe