educating through adversity
reporting a spike in daily users to 200 million in March, up from 10 million in December, according to Bernstein Research. The company’s stock soared from $68 a share on Dec. 31, 2019, to $117 on April 8. As school districts scrambled to get devices into the hands of kids, Google announced it would provide 4,000 Chromebooks for California students and offered online resources to help students with special-learning needs use their devices. In addition to these general connectivity tools, some schools have found other commercial offerings designed to support specific academic aims. “As one of few institutions where foreign language is a requirement for all students, our language faculty have had to improvise in innovative ways,” says Jefferson Singer, dean of the college at Connecticut College in New London, Conn. The school has used Mango Languages, the vocabulary learning site Quizlet, multimedia annotation tool VoiceThread and Duolingo classroom in support of language learning. “Online learning tools have been invaluable as we support students in their educational journey,” Singer says. At Cedar Crest College in Allentown, Pa., Director of Graduate Education Programs Jill Purdy worked
52 BACK TO SCHOOL | 2020
with local K-12 teachers to help them quickly and effectively use commercial distance-learning tools. “Some teachers are reading stories. Others are teaching biology lessons on a whiteboard, and still others are just simply catching up with their students and supporting them in an emotional sense,” she says. “Without these tools, students would be working through email or packets of learning. With the short time permitted to begin teaching online, these types of tools have become invaluable.” Given how quickly educators say they were able to shift to online learning modalities, experts say these commercial distance-learning tools will likely play a bigger part in the education landscape going forward. The fall 2020 semester may prove a crucial turning point. “The COVID-19 school shutdown has revealed the vastness and breadth of online education tools,” says Lance Izumi, senior director of the Center for Education at the Pacific Research Institute, a California-based think tank. “Increasing the familiarity of education leaders, teachers and parents with these technological and online resources has the potential to dramatically change our practice regarding how best to improve the learning of our children,” he says. l
Security was front and center for educators as students shifted to learning at home. Schools sought ways to address student privacy, while also adopting tools to ensure the work students produced at home was their own. Here are some benefits and drawbacks of select tools: Online proctoring companies like ProctorU and Mettl provide live monitoring in classes where exams are administered online. PRO: Human eyes ensure students follow the rules and do their own work. CON: Some have raised concerns about student privacy in this high-oversight environment. The collaboration tools in Google Hangout/Classroom offer videoconferencing capabilities tailored to the needs of educators. PRO: The Google tools encrypt messages for added security in teacher/ student communications. CON: Hangout and Classroom reportedly do not utilize end-to-end encryption. The Zoom platform rose to the forefront among at-home workers and educators looking for an easily implemented video-conferencing tool. PRO: When password-enabled, Zoom meetings can be accessed only by invited guests. CON: In the early days of COVID-19, hackers gained access to some nonpassword-protected Zoom meetings. — Adam Stone
GETTY IMAGES
SECUR ING DISTANCE-LEAR NING