What Repercussions May The Covid-19 Pandemic Leave in the Education System and Shake the Universal Design for Learning

by Claudia Prada

Perhaps the best way to analyze the repercussions that the Covid-19 Pandemic may leave in the education system may be best explored through the following questions:

● What was your experience transitioning a high school class to an online format?

● What did you learn about student preparedness for online learning?

● How have you provided engagement?

1. What was your experience transitioning a high school class to an online format?

In my opinion, the concept of Universal Design Learning was tested during the second academic semester of 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic tested all mediums of communications and its efficacy or failure, particularly in education. For many educators, Zoom and LMS platforms were new words in their lexicon. Many were forced to swim fast up the current to find new ways to educate millions of students…. from home.

Once the LAUSD abruptly closed its doors on March 13, 2020, many teachers and students were left with the notion that it was going to be a two-week closure and that we were coming back after Spring Break. The LAUSD Spring Break was scheduled from April 6-April 12th. Faculty, personnel, and students were rushed out at 4 pm that Friday, March 13.

That Friday the 13th was a very convoluting time because grades were also due, and faculty was rushing to get done, pack what they needed to take home, and leave the premises. On top of that, I had another worry, ants! I was preoccupied with making sure the classroom was clear of any sweets and crumbs because I feared an ant infestation. Two weeks! Imagine that! These ants are having a party in my classroom!

Since Spring Break was coming up, my first thought was that we were going to take a couple of weeks early and go to school during the assigned break. All that sounded pretty feasible to me. But once everybody was rushed out by 4 pm, what about the instruction? There was no guidance because actually nobody knew anything. I packed my computer, as well as the school's computer and the teacher's edition book. I was also very new with the District: I began working for the LAUSD in November 2019, and I was barely learning the school's attendance, grading, and LMS system, Schoology. A week after everyone realized we were not going back to the classroom any time soon, the District enforced six mandatory webinars for professional development. I took the three related to their LMS system, Schoology, and this is where, I believe, Universal Design Learning began for me.

I am also an adjunct instructor at El Camino College, and I am certified in their LMS system, Canvas (I have developed an asynchronous course, Spanish 1), and I am also certified in Etudes and BlackBoard. I have considered having a flipped classroom since its inception began to be popular in 2011. Still, the whole idea of students watching recorded videos at home was not very popular with them, even in 2020. I tried many times to flip my classroom, but I think that even the parents did not even understand what I wanted to do. Most of the time, only 3% of the students did the work from home, defeating my efforts to have the students prepare at home and come ready to use the language in the classroom. Furthermore, who had the time to create that content? Many teachers are overwhelmed with their work, and adding more with the idea of flipping the classroom was just not efficient. On top of that, it is necessary to find the platform to post the content, cost, learning curve to do it correctly, etc. Teaching foreign languages is difficult, there is a lot of online content, but most of it is not simple enough for beginners. Confusing and difficult content discourages the learner, and it is frustrating. Many learners walk away from their goals of learning a foreign language because of this. Moreover, for my students, anything assigned to be done at home meant homework; therefore, the flipped classroom was bad. I did not want to send work home, I wanted to follow www.eschoolnews.com concept about the flipped classroom: "Flipped classrooms may look more like a "learning center" where students are working on different tasks at the same time." (p. 2)

While developing my lesson for the Schoology LMS, I began to visualize this great idea of developing online resources that would allow the students to work in the classroom with some sort of "un-programed" instruction, a learning place where every student or group begins at different points. This health crisis allowed me to think and create instruction that I can bring to a less structured learning environment where the teacher is truly the facilitator. No more need of learning stations, or small groups in one corner. No more need for computers for everyone, now that most students have a phone. Many of my students preferred to use their phones rather than the Chromebooks in the classroom. The theory of the "teacher working within their school community to give the learning back to their students" (www.eschoolnews.com p. 3) is for me, finally moving along to accomplish what I always wanted to do, get off the podium.

I see the future in this new 21st-century learning once we go back into the classroom, the students would be allowed time to complete their work, and the teacher can take maybe 10-15 minutes to explain a core point and leave them to explore the content. No reason to send work at home where many households may not have a reliable Internet connection. No reasons to make the concept of the flip classroom a bad thing. Unfortunately, it took a pandemic for me to realize the potential I had in the new LMS systems. I finally had the time to build the first draft for the 21st century online learning.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, I was given the opportunity to build content in an LMS system that is perhaps becoming universal in the USA and possibly all over the world. Building this content takes time, and a lot of effort but will establish a more equitable and accessible instruction for many students, not necessarily outside of the classroom but inside it. My least engaged student, whom I will call Travis to ensure his privacy, became one of my Students of the Year. He saw the lectures and began to work as a rocket ship! What he did not do since November, was done in 6 weeks. He just could not stop asking me for more work: "Ms. Prada, what else do I need to do," was his daily question: "I want to get an A in Spanish," he added. Boy! I am going to miss these words now that school is over, but he moved on with his education on his own. He had the tools to do it. Travis promised me to become a stellar student, and he said that he also finished all work for all his other seven periods! Thanks, Travis, for showing me that I made a difference in your life. My unengaged student in the classroom became my online prodigy. I can say the same about Mika, Sean, Nia, and a few other students who became online star learners. Take note that most of them did very little work in the classroom.

At the college level, I am an Adjunct at El Camino College in Torrance, California. I taught Spanish 1online this Summer 2020, and the immense wave of students trying to get into the online courses in the foreign language department was huge. Faculty was talking about classes that were full, with unprecedented numbers for Spanish 2 and 3, usually very unpopular and hard to fill up during the summer. The waiting list was humongous, but I was told there was no budget to open more classes. I hope the administration sees the value of ensuring online courses in the future. When I spoke about developing an online course for Spanish 1 many years ago, what I heard was: "How can you teach a foreign language online?" Like my mother used to say: "When you want it, there is a will to get it. I have wanted to teach foreign languages online for so long, and finally, my dream became a true reality.

My Spanish 1 online course turned out to be a big success. The students did all the modules, and each lesson had a 4-6 questions mini-quiz section at the end of the lesson to ensure understanding and mastery of the material and concepts. The modules also include audio and quick reference videos, as well as the book's online practice resources. 98% of the students did online activities, something that usually never happens in the regular semester.

During the college enrollment, I received daily emails from students frantically begging me to let them in my Summer course. I had to wait until the first day of school to give them the add slips. I had no reason for them not to be allowed in the course, which was set as asynchronous even though I did teach twice a week for two a half hours to support them. The students were very grateful. I hope that the foreign languages department is now more open to teaching foreign languages online and developing advanced courses for students to enable them to complete their academic requirements from anywhere in the world. Many of my students in my classroom were in other cities in the USA.

2. What did I learn about student preparedness for online learning?

Universal Design Learning concept was pioneered first for the disabled, as Selwyn Goldsmith described it. During this pandemic, my students were not physically disabled but constrained to their homes because of a deadly virus. I began to develop my educational webinars and found them not very easy to do. Online learning development takes a while to learn from both sides, the teacher and the student. I can say that my final three weeks of instruction went smoother because I figured out the tools to design more clear and focused modules. I saw my flaws and realized how difficult it was to find my own content. Not even having the content neatly in folders proved helpful, and students and teachers were both frustrated and swimming up the current! But I figured out a way to make my instruction clearer once I became more familiar with the LMS Schoology platform. To me, more clear designed lessons became more important than accessible. I had access to a lot of resources to learn the LMS system, but I still did not master it because some factors were not either explained well or are part of navigating the platform and learning how to use it. It takes time. The same applied to my students. I saw some of them navigating it very easily and turning in the work, while others were still struggling to begin three days before school ended. Yes, you heard it right, three days before, and many have not begun yet, and never will this past Spring semester 2020.

The Summer Canvas Spanish 1 students also found some frustrating learning up and downs, but at the end everyone turned to be successful. We were learning together, and the students had fun, learned a lot, and advanced on their college academic skills. I also learned a lot about course development and design.

At the high school level, I think the barrier that most students had was turning in their work. Schoology has several ways to do it, and a video of how-to, but either these students did not watch it or found it difficult to understand. I learned how to make a fill in the blanks assignments to ensure that they will answer there, but many still did not figure out how to even fill in the blanks. I believe that once we are able to go back to the classroom, we have to add to the curriculum LMS orientation instruction to ensure the students become familiar with navigating the technology they have. I am very happy to have learned it because if teachers are supposed to back off from direct instruction and become 21st-century facilitators, this instruction has to begin with clear lessons posted in the platform for students to get access, discuss and collaborate.

Canvas has all these capabilities, as well as Schoology, and this pandemic has made me think of my role as an instructor. Clear online designed lessons are the key now.

3. How have you provided engagement?

The usual way with the few tools we have today, video, audio clips, handouts, discussions, and Zoom meetings, among others. My most successful? Discussions, I was surprised to see how eager the students were ready to express their opinion. They read a cultural segment in the book and wrote their opinion about it. Even the ones who never did anything in the classroom were there, actively engaged!

● Did the students learn? I would say that I was able to accomplish more as an online instructor because I saw students finishing their work at a faster rate, and I was able to advance faster without the usual class disruption.

● How to assess? The students appear to have been honorable in showing that they did their work. I caught many of them with the same answers and not because they were copying from each other, but because they were using Google Translator. I had to threaten them by saying that any GT sentences will be labeled as such, and no credit will be given. The issue stopped. The sentences came clumsy and with errors, but that shows me it is their work. I do not penalize students for that.

● What is next? After listening to many experts in Ted Talk, I do not want to bring the classroom to the digital world. I found it a bit difficult and boring to sit down and lecture from the computer as if I were in the classroom. I believe that online learning is going to get stronger and more popular because of its flexibility, and that is why it is important to ask peers to comment on our LMS lessons to see if we are making the instruction meaningful and engaging.

● Do you have a success story? Travis did not do any work in Spanish up until May 11, 2020, after I sent a note saying that any student who gets a D in my class will be placed in Summer school. I did not make that up; it was a fact going to happen within the LAUSD. This young man began to work at a rapid speed. Was it because of the indirect threat of Summer school? Or Was it because I began a weekly online newspaper where I named the most improved student of the week? Later added the student of the month and, at the end, the student of the year. I also learned about online badges and mentioned that each student would receive a certificate. Travis completed his missing work and received an A in Spanish. He is very proud and wants to continue further in his education. He is excited about learning now. He said it was a lot of fun and easy. Is he one of those online prodigies that we are failing in the classroom? We have to consider when placing a student in a classroom, in what kind of learning he or she wants to partake. This is another reason to ensure our online instruction has to be very clear and available.

My dream is almost materializing: the possibility to engage and to inspire students in an environment where they have choices, where they can begin with the end and advance to the beginning, where they can be with the teacher or without him/her, and move on at their own pace and capability. This dream may be easier to accomplish at the high school level, and it has been accomplished with students with learning disabilities. It may be more challenging at the college level because of the vast amount of information needed to be covered, but we have to find a middle road.

The LAUSD was able to respond quickly and efficiently to provide the students with Chromebooks and hot spots. The fact that computers came from a centrally managed facility allowed for more equity in education at the high school level in this District. Many students responded to the call gradually, but many were not accounted for because they may have dropped from the system or moved. In my class, many students responded and completed their work, even those who had an A before March 13, 2020. This shows many students were committed to working and furthering their education. They did not need to do it, they had an A, but sadly many others did not do any work. The students with strong academic habits in the classroom succeeded better than those with poor academic habits and working behavior when we were in the classroom. The home environment does come into play.

The pandemic has helped to define the problem as an example of equity factor, human, and home habits. Students who were on task and engaged have advanced, and those who were disruptive and uninterested have not done any work. Is this a personal habit or a pandemic issue?

The colleges are inheriting many students with poor learning skills, and that will be an equity factor when they are there to compete with students who have better work habits even if they are coming from lower or higher incomes.

What can we still do from the tech point? Train the student to learn their school's LMS system even if the class is not hybrid. Now that Facebook is moving workers outside of its headquarters and paying their salaries based on the area they live, it is going to revolutionize how and where workers are located. The company will surely save a lot of money on amenities such as food and other perks.

What kind of strategies do we propose? Based on my experience, the human factor is very important, even via Zoom or video. Being able to connect with the instructor makes learning clearer and more personalized. Too much text is often not read. Giving clear directions in a video is indeed a must. I believe if the students are given the opportunity to work and multi-task with what interests them, we will get more students working. Again, the teacher has to create online modules to work in the classroom and give the students several ways to present the information via video, poster, essay, online test, etc.

In 21st century education, the student has the choice to begin their instruction with the end. And hopefully with no ants in the classroom.