The pandemic brought a technological revolution to schools. Is that a good thing? - The Hillsdale Daily News

Forced closures and quarantines astatine the tallness of the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to ramp-up their efforts successful 1 peculiar department: technology.

School districts that already had 1:1 initiatives — wherever each pupil is fixed a device, similar a Chromebook oregon an iPad — were capable to marque the modulation to distant learning easily. Other districts, often successful agrarian areas, struggled to link students with reliable net access. 

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Districts tried antithetic ways of creating virtual classrooms — done Zoom oregon Google — seeking what worked champion for teachers, students and parents.

Regardless of the path, by necessity, astir educators hold the pandemic electrified the usage of exertion successful the classroom.

“Absolutely,” said Becky Smith, manager of teaching and learning for the Public Schools of Petoskey. “We had nary prime but to spell virtual."

For Petoskey, the largest territory successful Emmet County, the biggest alteration to travel retired of the pandemic is simply a caller learning absorption system, a bundle exertion utilized crossed the full district. 

“The learning absorption strategy we usage is Schoology, and that conscionable made a accordant level K-12 wherever each the accusation was posted, parents knew precisely wherever (to cheque assignments) and truthful on," Smith said.

Stephen Seelye, superintendent of Pellston Public Schools, said the pandemic “certainly did (speed things up)."

Fortunately for Pellston, a smaller territory successful bluish Emmet County, the transition of the district’s first-ever sinking money successful March 2020 provided the funds needed to marque adjustments quickly.

“We’re truthful fortunate to beryllium capable to person the wealth to acquisition the needs that we had technology-wise to amended our students,” Seelye said. “It was a precise large woody for us.”

Pellston was capable to instrumentality a 1:1 inaugural and supply iPads to simple students and Chromebooks to older students. 

“I deliberation adjacent greater advances ... were the quality for teachers to scope students remotely,” Seelye said. “We were forced into doing that and it wasn’t a comfy situation. Teachers were heroes successful their quality to inactive marque acquisition hap done a immense array of exertion sources.

"They had to scope kids successful their bedrooms and connected their couches and astatine their room tables versus having them sitting successful beforehand of them for 7 hours a time and they did it miraculously.”

What happens now?

In an progressively online world, galore educators program to proceed with technologies that proved palmy during the pandemic. 

“We inactive are going to usage virtual parent-teacher conferences,” said Boyne City Superintendent Pat Little. “We did past week really — and the crushed for that, adjacent though we could person gone backmost to in-person, is that we really person a higher information complaint erstwhile we bash it done Google Meet.”

In Boyne City, genitor engagement is simply a beardown focus.

"They didn’t person to get a babysitter, they didn’t person to instrumentality clip disconnected work, they could bash it connected their interruption oregon portion they’re driving, and it’s a beauteous focused speech erstwhile it’s online due to the fact that it’s lone astir 15 minutes,” Little said. “That’s astir apt 1 of the astir affirmative (unintentional outcomes of COVID) that I’d accidental has happened.”

Boyne City plans to proceed offering online classes. 

“We bash person much kids taking online classes," Little said. "We had that anterior to the pandemic but we astir apt person more. I’d accidental kids are much comfy with online learning than they were earlier the pandemic. I deliberation everybody tried it, and them immoderate kids were like, ‘You know, this isn’t excessively bad.’”

At the district’s alternate Morgan-Shaw School, enrollment jumped from 29 to 44 this year. 

“The online world, for immoderate of our kids who are looking astatine an alternate setting, is moving for them,” Little said. “It’s a antithetic mode to get your acquisition but it’s inactive gathering each the requirements.”

Educators said exertion allows teachers to further individualize acquisition for students. 

“It accrued our quality to conscionable the needs of kids astatine a high, mediate and debased achieving level and effort and drawback everybody up to speed,” Seelye said. “The pandemic greatly accrued that.

"We’ve ever had students astatine antithetic levels, but the pandemic made that adjacent farther separated, due to the fact that immoderate students had to enactment location for distant learning and immoderate returned to schoolhouse and immoderate were quarantined much than others, truthful I deliberation the biggest velocity up was that quality to conscionable students astatine their level done technology.”

Is newer better?

While galore hail the benefits of boosted technology, immoderate educators lament the nonaccomplishment of a teacher’s idiosyncratic touch.

Don Hicks taught for 3 decades astatine Bronson Community Schools successful Branch County earlier retiring successful December 2020. He's acrophobic online enactment betwixt students and teachers stifles learning.

He utilized percentages to picture learning levels astatine Bronson, which utilized Chromebooks with immoderate computerized acquisition earlier COVID-19 pushed each classes online.

"The wide statement was they were learning astatine astir 30 percent (at the opening of the pandemic)," Hicks said. "We mislaid astir 70 percent. That was successful aboriginal 2020."

He believes today, aft improvements successful program and interactivity, pupil learning mightiness beryllium up to 50 oregon 60 percent.

“I just don't deliberation it's arsenic bully arsenic if you person a coagulated teacher,” helium said. 

Dave Mathis taught societal studies and authorities astatine Union City High School for 35 years until helium retired successful 2005. He aboriginal returned to substitute teaching astatine Coldwater High School.

Mathis said his classes person Chromebooks, but helium misses the days erstwhile students interacted with each other, alternatively than with computers. He turned classrooms into legislatures and courtrooms.

Coldwater Community Schools Superintendent Terry Whelan said computers marque teaching much businesslike and springiness students greater opportunities for learning. 

“They person Google Classroom wherever they tin spell and get each their assignments and search," helium said. "But that doesn't instrumentality distant from the teacher teaching."

Pellston superintendent Seelye said they're trying to find that “perfect balance.”

“We were sped up into the usage of technology, but I was conscionable successful my 4th people schoolroom and those students were moving connected their cursive handwriting,” helium said. “We privation to marque definite that we equilibrium ... not spell distant from the tried and existent things that are important to students.

"They inactive request to cognize however to instrumentality notes by hand, they inactive request to person bully penmanship and beryllium capable to motion their names successful cursive … They inactive request to cognize what it feels similar to cheque a publication retired of 1 of our libraries and crook the pages connected it versus speechmaking everything done a screen.”

What does the aboriginal hold?

What does the aboriginal of schoolroom acquisition look like? Certainly exertion filled, with immoderate students learning to code, alert drones and make robots. 

“We’re moving hard to amended our STEM advancements,” Seelye said. “We’ve got mini-robots successful our simple schoolhouse … we’ve got a precocious schoolhouse robotics squad and program."

Little successful Boyne City wants to spot advances successful virtual world scope the classroom. The territory invested successful 2 sets of VR instrumentality successful 2017, but helium envisions breakthroughs that volition let students to spell connected a tract travel to places similar the Colosseum successful Rome without ever leaving their desks. 

“I deliberation it could bring a batch to the classroom," helium said.

Smith successful Petoskey said radical volition spot much “project-based classrooms” with a hybrid of exertion and teaching.

“(It volition be) precise intentional wherever students are utilizing exertion much connected an individualized oregon tiny radical basis, truthful that you tin truly people wherever those students are with their learning,” she said. 

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Mathis said utilizing exertion successful the schoolroom is inevitable.

“We unrecorded successful a technologically driven world,” Mathis said. “I'd similar to spot a equilibrium betwixt a teacher that's providing accusation and a model for debate. I conscionable deliberation you tin truly person a affluent schoolroom that is mostly absent of the Chromebooks.”

— Contact Jillian Fellows jfellows@petoskeynews.com and Don Reid astatine dreid@thedailyreporter.com.