Home learning

With most pupils still having to carry on learning from home due to COVID-19, I, like colleagues around the world, have been thinking about how best to help their pupils. I have put my initial thoughts below and am updating these as I assimilate a growing body of research (see bibliography).  I recommend reading this document alongside my article on Big data.

Plan

Provide an overview of your topic to give pupils and parents a plan for the term. Emphasise the 'big picture' of why a particular topic is important, as this will help to motivate pupils. Design well-structured, differentiated lessons and share new resources and ideas week by week or fortnightly; this allows pupils and parents to get to grips with what you are offering and provides you with the opportunity to refresh your web pages so they do not become too cluttered. Project-based and enquiry-led research often works well. In addition to providing links to educationally appropriate websites, set up access to websites which allow you to set activities and monitor how pupils perform. Try to avoid sites which require too much personal information being collected, e.g. your phone number. Sites which are proving popular include: My Maths, Sumdog, Times Tables Rockstars, Numbots, Prodigy Maths, Spelling Frame, Writing Legends and Appshed. Some of these sites are free, or free whilst your school is closed due to the COVID-19. Although most websites can gather “cookie” data, some “free” sites may gather more data than you would want. More information on online safety can be found here. Think carefully before you decide to upload videos of yourself teaching; they can be recorded, remixed and shared online. Remember that once a video is shared online, you lose control of what happens to it and the video cannot be deleted from the Internet. There are safeguarding issues and online safety concerns to consider too if pupils are engaged in a class livestream. There are already plenty of others who have shared excellent video resources. If you do video yourself, think of using a school system such as Office 365 or your website/learning platform. Try to vary the types of technology-based tasks you set your pupils, many ideas are available on this website. Limit continuous direct screen time by setting non-digital tasks. Respect copyright. There may be children who aren’t able to complete online work, due to no or limited broadband connections and in these situations schools should set alternative or complementary learning activities that do not require technology. This is an ideal time to encourage reading…from books, if possible, along with more kinaesthetic learning activities. In the longer term, making sure that every pupil has access to the online resources that their classmates enjoy should be an aim. The government is providing funding for laptops but this will need to go further if its stated aim of reducing inequality is to be realised. The BBC are offering a variety of lessons which can be accessed via the Red Button and iPlayer.

Support

Pupils and parents will need support through remote learning. This could be via phone, email, letter, etc. Agreeing protocols such as responding within 24 hours of receiving an email or having staff contactable each morning is reassuring for those in need of support, as well as to ensure quality of home learning. It is likely that technical issues will need to be resolved, given the wide range of technology which families use. Some schools employ a member of staff to provide Talkspace, which can be invaluable. School staff will also be under increased pressure and it is vital for their well-being to establish support mechanisms such as regular meetings, either online or face-to-face, email or phone contact, as well as communication with neighbouring schools.

Collaborate

Maintaining a sense of community is important and so creating interactions between pupils and the teacher is vital. Try and maximise pupil engagement by using a wide range of stimulating digital tools such as quizzes, games, surveys, etc. Participatory activities such as singing along with others or sharing your work online can complement purely listening, reading or writing activities. Set up collaborative online tools, where pupils can share ideas and knowledge on a particular topic or question. Use sites which allow you to moderate comments before they go live, e.g. Padlet (free), Padlet Backpack (subscription), your school VLE (learning platform) Forum facility, Office 365 apps such as Forms, Excel or Word, Google Apps for Education, etc. Pupils should not use their real names. Using initials or pre-agreed pseudonyms is safer. Many pupils communicate with each other online via face-to-face tools and this can support not only mental well-being but educational support too. Furthermore these tools can be used as part of group activities and investigation-based lessons. Providing challenges between classes and schools can also be motivational.

Record

Assign, monitor and record what work pupils will do / have done each week, using the subscription sites above or work that is emailed to your class email account set up through your school email system or learning platform (learning management system). I use a spreadsheet to keep tabs on what work each pupil has done, as I use multiple online sites, which give access to specialist subject content, e.g Noteflight (Music) and Duolingo (foreign languages).

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Assess work

Pupils submit work on a weekly basis, either through photos (not showing their face) or 20 second video clips or online quizzes such as Socrative. Many subscription sites automate marking, e.g. Languagenut (foreign languages).  By continuing to record and assess this will:

Help to inform planning for when your school re-opens;

Enable you to set realistic targets for next year;

Provide you with data on the effectiveness of home learning provision.

Celebrate

Set up a special area to showcase pupils' work on your website. Use Class Dojo, Marvellous Me or a similar program to connect with parents to send them messages and let them know how well their children are doing. Teacher presence, even if remote, is vital in helping to keep pupils motivated.

Report

Use all the data gathered to feed into your summer term reports. This can:

Highlight the effort made and work completed by their child during the remote learning period;

Summarise progress made;

Highlight any specific learning loss experienced.

(Research suggests that pupils who have an average of 20 days absent per school year see negative effects throughout their educational journey –resulting in a whole GCSE grade deficit by the time they leave secondary education). Children who miss a substantial amount of school fall behind their peers, and struggle to catch up. Most of the work they miss is never made up, which can lead to big gaps in their learning.

Review

At the start of the remote learning experience the emphasis has been on access to resources. If remote learning is to carry on into the autumn, it will be important to review what has worked and which areas need to be developed, pushing the emphasis onto quality of provision and engagement. Many content providers have offered free or reduced cost services in the last few months but this is likely to end at some point, leaving the school to decide which providers offer the best value for money and have had the most impact on learning. It will be a challenge to compare so-called 'free' learning management systems (LMS) such as G-Suite or Office 365 with paid specialist subject content providers. Consideration needs to be given to how much, and what quality of, ready-made content is available in a LMS, if any, and how much time will be needed to populate such systems with resources of a standard matching subscription sites.  There may be a role for local authorities, EIPs or alliances of schools to centrally procure some services. There are likely to be increased gaps between what pupils have learned during remote learning and a recovery plan may need to be put in place when schools are fully re-opened.

Further sources of information

Using technology

Education Development Trust - Best practice in remote teaching

DfE - Planning a curriculum to teach at school and at home (one of many DfE resources)

Remote learning self-review framework

Mr P's ICT page

Top tips for teaching maths online

Add guests to Office 365 Teams

#remote learning

Safe remote learning from SWGfL