COVID 19 Remote Learning Support

COVID 19 Remote Learning Support Evidence Set Annotation

Standards: 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.7, 4.2, 4.4, 4.5

Synopsis of Evidence Set

In Week 8 of Term 1, 2020 Galilee School transitioned to a remote learning model with 4 days of preparation due to the escalation of the COVID 19 situation in the ACT. Most students were offsite for approximately 6 weeks but a number remained as digital learners for a 12 week period (Artefact 1). Teachers and Youth Workers at Galilee School have extensive experience in trauma informed approaches and differentiated learning and assessment but very little of this is delivered in an online environment as the work we do is, at its core, relationship based. This necessitated a very quick up-skilling and training process for all staff, students and families. At the request of the school executive, I developed a training program for all staff as well as extensive online resources for both staff and students to support them in using digital learning tools during the remote learning period - specifically Zoom and Google Classroom. For the majority of staff and students, these programs were previously unknown.

Artefact 14A and B

The emails included in Artefact 14A demonstrate extensive ongoing engagement with colleagues in email, in person and over the phone to assist my teacher and youth worker colleagues to create, select and use a wide range of resources, including ICT, to engage students in their learning during an unexpected period of remote learning (3.4). I shared how-to videos and supported teachers to engage with digital learning tools to support students learning in digital classes synchronously and asynchronously. I also responded to specific staff queries and concerns and shared new skills I had learnt about the tools we were using and how these could be applied to different student programs (3.4, 3.5) and modelled how different behaviour management and teaching approaches in our remote learning classes could still lead to positive student engagement, skill development and purposeful learning outcomes (3.3, 4.2). Artefact 14B includes survey results gathered from parents and carers to provide feedback to staff on how they were feeling about the learning approaches in place and how involved they felt - and wanted to be - moving forward (3.7).

I engaged with staff regularly in informal settings to assess the effectiveness of our processes - and the tools we were using - as well as collecting formal data via survey on how they had found using the tools and what further skills they wanted to focus on (3.5). This information was collated and shared with the Principal along with a recommendation for the Communities@Work Board around ongoing use of G-Suite for Education and Zoom moving forward due to staff and student comfort and additional safety features evident in these programs (4.4).

Artefact 15

Artefact 15 consists of two Google sites created to support staff, students and families who had very limited technological skills. I developed a number of how-to videos specific to our school's unique context, sourced useful online resources and also assisted in sharing important updates and information relating to COVID 19 to families. These websites also enabled parents and carers to access easy methods to contact the school for support with their child’s learning as needed (3.7).

Artefacts 14A and 15 provide a number of examples of modelling strategies to use ICT with students effectively. Additionally, under the “How To” resources section on the staff google site, staff had access to two process documents which were developed with executive staff to support all staff to develop, strategies to promote the safe, responsible and ethical use of ICT in learning and teaching and to maintain student safety in line with school and legislative requirements while balancing the complex eneeds of Galilee School students during remote learning (4.4, 4.5).

Impact

The impact of the support resources and training for staff is evident in the data collected in Artefact 14B. The staff survey question 9 demonstrates that 100% of staff identified that they felt the support they received was sufficient to use these tools, despite the fact 61% had not used Google Classroom before and 77% had not used Zoom. Question 6 also indicates that 93% of staff preferentially used the resources developed by me to support their skill development during the remote learning period. The data from parents was also very impactful as while it indicated a strong desire to return to face-to-face learning and unsurprising concerns about student engagement while learning from home, it also reflected that 100% of carers surveyed were either satisfied or very satisfied with Galilee School's response to COVID 19 and remote learning.