Samples of  Educational  Technology Integration

The onset of COVID-19 during March of 2020 resulted in a rapid and dramatic shift in the way teachers taught and the way students learned.   With a necessary switch from teaching in-person to teaching class while students were fully remote, the ramifications extended beyond learning, also impacting teacher, student and parents' lives.  

Navigating Early Remote Learning Needs

Early on, as classrooms were closed for in-person learning, schools needed to quickly scale and navigate a series of unprecedented challenges as they worked to get students and teachers back to learning.

First priority was to get teachers and students the devices they needed, followed quickly by the need to get everyone access and training on the video conferencing tools needed to create a virtual classroom environment.   

Once devices were in-hand, schools immediately faced bandwidth issues and performance challenges arising from older Chromebooks, issues that stemmed from the rapid scaling of use.  Additionally, with students and teachers relying on technology in order to meet, the need for additional equipment, including cameras, tripods, headsets, and updated Chromebooks was critical to ensuring remote classrooms were as successful as possible .  

Beyond the challenges of ensuring that everyone, students and teachers, had the technology components and accommodations needed to make this new approach work, the learning curve continued.    

• Video conferencing software adoption posed the trending threat of “Zoom Bombing” requiring new protocols to help ensure student learning environments and scheduled meetings remained safe. 

• Early childhood teachers, who primarily use tactile learning, suddenly were required to create engaging digital content. 

• Younger students who had not previously actively used Chromebooks as part of their day, along with their parents, now needed to quickly understand how to log into a Chromebook to access the school content;

• Parents needed to balance their own remote jobs, while also supporting the needs of their remote students during the day.   

• Remote learning was particularly challenging for non-English speaking families.  To assist families, teachers went to students' homes to troubleshoot issues and demonstrate.

• Schools paired non-classroom teachers with students who were struggling with completing work at home (separate from Sped and ELL), and had daily small group meetings with students.

• Another challenge was online translation.  The learning grids provided for Elementary students had to be translated, but if a link was provided for more resources, assignments, etc. that would not be translated.

Professional Development Evolution

From March 2020 through the summer and fall of 2020 teachers fully ramped up their professional development with regards to managing digital content and engaging students in virtual classroom formats.  Teachers at all levels and grades spent weeks learning, creating and sharing their best practices and regardless of individual comfort levels pre-pandemic, nearly all saw their technology skills increase exponentially by the end of the 2020 school year.   

Navigating Hybrid Learning

With the pandemic restrictions continuing to shift and safety concerns still prompting the need to avoid large indoor groups, the 2020-2021  school year brought with it the uncharted area of hybrid teaching.  Hybrid teaching required another new skill set from all educators - being able to teach to students at home and at school simultaneously.    

In addition to its impact on teaching practices, hybrid learning also created yet another new set of equipment and software requirements.  

• In order to help teachers create and sustain engaged relationships with all students, regardless of location, one of the first technology priorities was to provide all teachers with double monitors.  The use of double monitors allowed the teachers to see their students who were working at home while teaching and presenting the content to both the students at home and at school.

• Teachers used standing desks because simply standing, vs sitting behind a desk was more engaging for students.  

• Math teachers were issued iPads to create more optimal teaching approaches to math.  Using iPads, they were able to demonstrate a math problem, and record the process used to solve the problem, allowing all students to see the solution flow in action.   

• Interactive white boards, projection, speakers, mics all became critical tools which helped teachers to literally be in two places at once.  

• Similarly to remote learning, teachers and staff continued to have the same challenges with hybrid learning; needing to support families to help younger students, and different and at times inadequate home setups for hybrid learning.

Overarching Elements

• Screen Recording:  Successful implementation of Screencastify, Screencast o matic, Video conference recording, iPad recording, Smartnotebook lesson note recording.  

• Classroom Routines, Google Classroom, Google Sites, Virtual Classrooms, SeeSaw.

• Student Engagement: Video read-alouds, Virtual libraries,  Flipgrids, Playlists, Peardecks, Flippity, Smart Notebook, Digital Notebooks.

• Collaboration:   Remote/Hybrid prompted the increased use/adoption of tools like Flipgrid, Jamboards, Breakout Rooms.

• Communication & Connection:   Video conferencing, Google classroom, Breakout rooms, Flipgrids, Screencasting.

• Equipment:  Double monitors, headsets, standing desks, speakers systems, cameras.  

What Worked | What Continues to Work

• Video conferencing:  Video conferencing skills, including breakout rooms and the use of closed captioning were a key element to the success during the pandemic.  Video conferencing continues to be used for professional development; which allows teachers across the district to work together during PD.  In the past, this was not possible because of commute times.  Virtual conferencing is used for training and technical support. Video conferencing allows screen sharing to solve problems and answer questions in a timely and efficient manner.  Video conferencing is used for open houses, conferences, IEP and 504 meetings.   We have found increased attendance from parents because they don’t have to take time away from their jobs or get child care to attend these meetings.  

• Video conferencing has been invaluable to EL parents.  The District offers live interpretation for parent/teacher conferences, as well as simultaneous interpretation in multiple languages in a webinar format for larger meetings.

• Equipment:  Teachers love the double monitors.  They have found that double monitors increase productivity.   Standing desks and  speakers are being used to assist with classroom noises associated with masks and air purification systems.  Teachers still use cameras because they attend virtual PD.  

• Although many teachers were happy to return to in person learning, including the use of in classroom non digital resources, many continue to use technology tools.  Teachers continue to use Google Classroom, Virtual Classrooms, Google Sites, Digital Notebooks, Peardeck, Screencastify, Flipgrid and Edpuzzle.  Teachers returned to their  pre-pandemic use of Smartnotebook and interactive whiteboards.  

What were the Biggest Pain Points of Fully Remote

• Students without support at home who had difficulties with technology - slow connection, freezing, delay, etc.  Especially with younger students, this made engagement very challenging.

• Especially at the beginning, uncertainty about how much academic work to offer and expect back from students versus families dealing with much more dire situations and not being able to focus on education.

What were the Biggest Pain Points of Hybrid 

• From an art teacher's perspective: “Despite driving around Dedham delivering materials (when curb-side school pickup wasn't enough) -- I still couldn't assume or guarantee that students would have the appropriate materials at home for remote learning. Using Pixton (comic design program) with 2nd-5th grade was a great alternative, when materials were nowhere to be found. I found that I needed digital ways for my students to create art, even though I would have preferred hands-on learning.”

• Hybrid learning made creating a sense of community difficult - particularly if there were tech issues (delay, freezing, etc.)  Kids in the classroom would be engaged, but those at home were not.

• One staff member added this comment:  “I felt like I was constantly switching between focusing on in-person students or remote students, but never both well enough. I couldn't move from my computer to support students in the classroom even when they were in school, and not being able to see students' screens at home when they had tech problems made it very difficult to offer suggestions.”

• Students couldn't engage with each other between mediums.  Staff constantly needed to act as a translator between the kids in the classroom and on Zoom because they couldn't see and hear each other well enough. 

Capturing Best Practices For Future Use

The SAMPLE directory below was acquired during this time as a snapshot of pandemic teaching.  The hope was to share best practices across the district and elevate our teaching practices in this extraordinary time. 

Below is a searchable EdTech instructional video library. The purpose of the database was to provide a central location for video instruction.  These videos were developed by teachers and myself with a hope of providing a quick access point of reference.  Technology changes everyday.  Therefore, this model is difficult to sustain and maintain. This is shared as a point of reference of samples and instruction that was used in the district during the 2020-2021 school year.   

Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC)

PreK and K 

Bridget O'Leary, Art Teacher, Vicky Rumpp, Library Media Specialist, Kristen Cannon, Instructional Coach

STREAM

Science | Technology | Reading | Engineering | Art | Math

Bridget O'Leary, Art Teacher, Vicky Rumpp, Library Media Specialist, Kristen Cannon, Instructional Coach, staff, teachers and Kim Taylor, the Principal have been collaborating to learn about BUGS! Everyone is buzzing about the new science curriculum unit which is supported by innovative educators teaming together to engage students across the curriculum.   Great way to engage students!