The COVID-19 global pandemic has turned our day-to-day lives upside-down, especially for teachers and students. We’re used to being in full and rowdy classrooms. Yet here we are, teaching, learning, and engaging behind screens.
Online school/distance learning/at-home learning/whatever you want to call it isn’t new to me; I took one hybrid class and I’m now taking my fourth online class at a community college. For me, distance learning is okay because I have enough discipline to self-direct my learning and commit to the course. But for most other students, distance learning sucks. There are no words to describe how difficult it is for any student to learn online, especially a K-12 student who’s used to being in a classroom.
So, to all the students out there, here’s some advice from a high school junior who’s familiar with distance learning. Teachers, stay tuned. There’s something for you too.
*Before you dive in, you should check out this article from Educase Review: “The Difference Between Emergency Remote Teaching and Online Learning.” Shoutout to educator George Couros for the recommendation.*
- Check your school’s grading platform (ex. Canvas) every single day and turn those notifications on.
When you miss a day of school, you’ve got a lot to catch up on. It’s the same with online learning. You probably check Aeries, Canvas, etc., every day when you’re at school, so continue doing that and keep up with what’s going on. Don’t be like me and find out about a quiz five days after it was due.
If you don’t regularly check, you’re also going to feel so overwhelmed when you’re welcomed with a flood of announcements from your teachers since this is now their main mode of communication.
- Make an agenda.
Your teacher isn’t here to remind you every single day that you have an essay due in a week, so learn to be diligent.
If you don’t have a planner, now’s the time to get in the habit of recording your assignments. It helps with getting motivated to work and staying on top of things. Make sure you look at your agenda every day — tape it to your bedroom mirror, make it your phone wallpaper, laminate it and turn it into a necklace.
A weekly agenda works fine. I prefer calendars because I can see what I have to do for the entire month. Canvas also has a calendar feature that records all of your assignments and quizzes. You can make a digital calendar with Google calendars or print out a blank one and fill it in by hand.
- Don’t procrastinate.
Diligence, self-motivation and time management are key to succeeding in an online course.
Procrastinating is the worst thing you can do to yourself right now. Trust me — it’s torturous to spend seven hours of your Sunday reading two chapters, taking a quiz and writing a 750-word paper for just one class. One of my professors admitted that he attempted to finish an entire online course the week it was going to end and failed it.
Teachers are doing their best, but it’s really hard to teach all of the content virtually. With all online school comes some inevitable self-directed learning, so don’t even think of falling behind because there’s going to be a lot to catch up on when you didn’t do any reading for three of your classes. You will regret it.
If you’re in high school, I say expect to spend two to five hours doing work for each class every week, give or take depending on 1) how much work your teachers usually assign; 2) how much self-teaching/studying you might have to do; and 3) how hands-on your teachers are with distance learning. Many teachers are light on the workload right now, but the self-directed learning part adds extra time.
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
Maybe you have a lot of questions in math class but never raise your hand because you’re waiting for another student to ask about the same problem. Well, that’s not happening anymore. If you’re ever lost or confused, don’t hesitate to reach out to your classmates and teachers ASAP. Not understanding the material right away in online courses is normal because it’s not how we’re used to learning, but you’re going to fall behind fast if you don’t get the help you need.
- Take advantage of your online resources.
There are tutors on the social media app Tik Tok, Crash Course videos on YouTube, Quizlets to help you review Spanish vocabulary.
These online resources are endless. They won’t only help you get through the rest of this semester but also help you become a more self-directed learner. You’ll get used to being in charge of your learning as you comb through the Internet for resources that break down a hard chemistry problem or the Watergate scandal. If this article isn't enough for you, do a Google search for more tips on remote learning.
But, obviously, use the Internet to enhance your learning. Don’t use them to cheat and jeopardize your academic integrity just because you’re not using your school WiFi or GoGuardian.
- Actively participate.
“[Y]ou can only get out of online learning what you put into it,” Kevin Kruse, a CEO and leader in AI, wrote in “9 Tips for People Taking Online Classes” for Forbes.
Very true.
The hardest part about online school is that it feels optional. It’s so hard to find the motivation to treat remote learning as if you’re actually in class, but you have to in order to learn. Talk to your classmates and teachers and try to make it to the virtual meetings. Do whatever you can to participate and take charge of your learning.
- Send your teachers funny and interesting stuff.
This sounds weird, but it isn’t.
I sent my online professors groundbreaking studies, articles and, recently, Tik Tok videos. My United States history teacher and former human geography teacher made Instagram accounts for their classes, and sometimes I tag them in posts that remind me of them.
I felt disconnected from my professors because I never saw them face-to-face (we didn’t have any virtual meetings). Emailing them this content helped me build connections with them. My professors also loved it when I reached out to them. They felt that I was engaged in their classes because I thought of them, and I guarantee you’ll get the same reactions from your teachers who really miss you.
- My last words:
I empathize with all students who are lost and confused. This sudden shift to remote learning is hard to keep up with, and sometimes I still can’t process that I’m doing homework during a pandemic. Shouldn’t I be watching Grey’s Anatomy instead?
These next few months aren’t going to be easy, but following and/or remixing these strategies to suit your learning will make you a more confident and self-directed learner.
Teachers, by now you’ve gotten a lot of advice from fellow educators and are experimenting with what works best in the virtual classroom. Hopefully, a student’s perspective will also help. Here’s what my college professors did really well that made my online learning experience successful.
- Post weekly schedules and/or recaps.
My professors broke their courses down into weekly and biweekly modules with all the due dates. My biology teacher always shares weekly schedules. My English teacher now makes videos on Fridays that review the week and preview the following week.
Nearly all teachers already plan for the week ahead, but not all of them share the schedule with their students. Posting a weekly schedule at the beginning of the week lets students know what to expect. It helps us stay on top of things and allocate time to complete assignments, which is especially important because we’re not physically in class, looking at the agenda on the board. Doing so also helps you make expectations for the week clear and keep students accountable for their work.
- Chunk work into modules.
Modules are organized and straightforward, making them both an online teacher’s and student’s beloved.
Catlin Tucker, a Google Certified Innovator and educator who teaches blended courses, recently published “5 Tips for Teaching Online.” Tucker writes that translating a single in-class lesson to the online classroom usually results in that lesson being broken up into “discrete tasks.” As a result, a fifty-minute lesson can turn into a three hour one. She suggests teachers “break up the learning into smaller modules and discrete activities” so that students can better manage their time and feel less pressured.
It’s also a good idea to assign all the work on Sunday or Monday with all the due dates. That way, Tucker writes, “students have control over the time, place, and pace of their learning.”
- Talk to students in discussion boards/forums.
Many of the online discussions I’ve done in high school are exclusively between students, whereas the ones in my online college classes are between the students and the professor. I like it when my professors reply because they’re present and actively participating in class. It’s a way for us students to communicate with them throughout the course.
- Create a question-and-answer discussion board/forum.
Make these Q&A forums open to the entire class. Students can ask general questions or for clarification on assignments that might benefit everyone else. They can also help each other and even respond to urgent questions in case teachers don’t see them immediately.
- Hold live office hours.
One of my professors held optional virtual meetings every Monday from 6 to 7 p.m. Students could hop on anytime to ask her questions and get immediate responses. This time probably won’t be spent teaching material, but it’s a good way to touch base with students, recap assignments and see their faces a couple of times each week.
- Make your expectations and instructions clear.
One of the worst parts about remote learning is that students can’t walk up to a teacher’s desk and ask questions when they’re confused. Teachers can’t pick up on nonverbal cues either since they’re not in the classroom with their students. It’s important to be straightforward in your communication to avoid confusion and misunderstandings.
- Be flexible.
Traditional in-person classes are synchronous, but online ones are usually asynchronous or a blend of the two. It’s difficult to meet with all students at a certain time on a daily basis, and the reality of distance learning is that it’s also going to be largely asynchronous.
If possible, structure the rest of the course so that students can complete work in their own time, not according to some rigid bell schedule. For example, don’t punish students for not making it to virtual meetings. Audio record video meetings and share recaps for those who didn’t attend. If you plan to have online quizzes and exams, allow students to take them anytime throughout the day.
- Send your students funny and interesting stuff.
Your students can’t be the only ones sharing weird and enriching outside content. I loved when my professors reached out with studies, videos, and other recent findings that related to our course material. It showed me that they cared a lot about the courses even though it was entirely online and mostly self-directed. Interacting with students in this way makes us feel like we’re connected to you even though we’re not on campus.
COVID-19 can be related to a lot of material as well. For example, my English teacher compared what COVID-19 has exposed about American society, politics, and the public healthcare system to John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath. My math teacher talked about functions and flattening the curve. The economic effects and dissatisfaction of the American people parallel the Great Depression. Take this time to make relevant connections and share some valuable life lessons, whether they be about empathy or economics.
- Check-in with your students and include them in the decision-making process.
This is more personal advice than advice based on what my online professors did, but I think it’s important. This emergency shift to distance learning has disrupted our everyday face-to-face interactions, so please reach out to your students as often as you can.
Educator George Couros points out in his most recent Innovator’s Mindset podcast that “relationships are the foundation of what [educators] do in education.” Check-in with us through quick daily vlogs, podcasts, or announcements. Ask us how we’re doing. Make a class Instagram account.
And also include students in the decision-making process. In doing so, teachers “create the conditions that empower meaningful learning and inspire new ideas and interests; leading to passions,” which educator Elisabeth Bostwick writes is an empowering experience for learners. So, ask us what we want to do, what works and what doesn’t work, what we’ve noticed. Our only memory of distance learning shouldn’t be that it sucked; it should be that we were involved in learning more than we’ve ever been.
Right now, feeling connected and involved is difficult but it should be a priority. It should come before diving into the curriculum. It’s what us students need to want to learn.
- My last words:
All teachers are anxious to see their students’ faces and interact with them, but please don’t feel pressured or attempt to teach via virtual meetings. English teacher David Theriault, who teaches online/hybrid courses, reminds teachers that they are not “broadcasters on a news channel” or a “reality show.” He compiled a list of remote teaching alternatives that you can find here.
The virtual classroom also isn’t the same as the traditional classroom, and the emergency shift to remote learning complicates everything. Replicating your classroom amid this pandemic is a lot of work and doesn’t foster learning. Instead, take heed of Elisabeth Bostwick’s words. My English and journalism teacher Sean Ziebarth spent these past few weeks creating “A space where students can continue learning while living in a world upside down.” He calls it “COVIDucation” and has seen remarkable engagement and responses.
My final thoughts are something students and teachers have already heard but are worth repeating. It’s not going to be easy to bring your classroom’s engaging and welcoming vibe to a virtual setting, but compromise, patience, and sensitivity will get us through these next few months. This global pandemic has and will affect us in unimaginable ways. Treat every teacher, student, and parent with kindness and empathy because you don’t know how has COVID-19 changed their lives.
Feel free to share additional distance learning advice/resources for students and teachers in the comments.
