Abstract
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many public schools opted to begin the Fall 2020 school year with virtual instruction, despite some parent’s preference for their children to attend school on campus. Like any product, virtual learning is only as good as the benefits to the customer. In education, the customer is the student, but in the aspect of virtual instruction, the parent is also a customer. This study strives to identify the benefits and challenges revealed by the lived experiences of students learning in a virtual instruction setting and the lived experiences of parents who support their children’s virtual instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of 14 individual, semi-structured interviews reveal that both parents and students perceive virtual instruction to have a number of drawbacks, but also some opportunities for growth. Virtual instruction is also perceived as a learning format with many challenges, including technology and expected parental support. Keywords: virtual instruction, virtual learning, virtual school, virtual education, COVID-19, pandemic DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-20-02 Publication date: July 31 st 2021
Highlights
In the summer of 2020, school officials were tasked with a daunting task: determine how to proceed with school in the fall while the world was fighting a pandemic
As school officials worked thru the complicated details of these decisions, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended weighing the risks of spreading the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19 against the risks associated with keeping schools closed (CDC, 2020)
This study aims to understand and reveal the lived experiences of Kindergarten through grade 12 students and the parents who support their learning in a virtual instruction setting during the COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
In the summer of 2020, school officials were tasked with a daunting task: determine how to proceed with school in the fall while the world was fighting a pandemic. As school officials worked thru the complicated details of these decisions, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended weighing the risks of spreading the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19 against the risks associated with keeping schools closed (CDC, 2020). Due to the novelty of the disease, the long-term effects of this virus were still unknown for both children and adults (CDC, 2020). Data indicated school-aged children were less susceptible to experience symptoms, become hospitalized, or die from COVID-19, but some children had been hospitalized and some had died from the virus (CDC, 2020). Children were able to carry and spread the disease even when they were asymptomatic, putting school faculty and staff at greater risk of becoming sick and possibly dying (CDC, 2020). Food, safety, stability, and health care for many students; services that students lose when school buildings close (Gostin & Wiley, 2020; Wang et al, 2020)
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