Abstract
We are 21 years into the 21st century, and educational practices across North America were woefully unprepared to ‘flip the switch’ to online learning; at times no education occurred at all, not online or onsite. The COVID-19 pandemic disruptor storm peeled off the layers of blindfolds time accrued in an instant. Issues included three areas. Area one—unpreparedness: digital illiteracy relative to online learning and corresponding teaching models, equity issues pertaining to internet access and computer access, platforms that varied and were unreliable. Area two—inconsistent: (if any) guidelines on how to teach onsite, or those from a disease control group dictating a six-foot distancing, masks, plexiglass, and row-by-column with eyes facing forward (back to a 19th century teaching didactic model), and smaller class sizes. Area three-time/space continuum: the combining of online and onsite, teaching loads, and maintenance. This ‘alpha’ research study tried to capture a historic moment in time. A Human-centered Research Design (HcRD) protocol with three techniques to mitigate bias was used: (1) online survey, (2) focused interviews, and (3) crowd-sourced photographic content across two countries—USA and Canada as a convenience sample. The findings will reveal a ‘just-in-time’ snap shot of the tactics used pre- and current-, as well as ideas for post-pandemic—this research’s differentiator. The storm of COVID-19 played unprecedented havoc on schools across North America, but there are important learnings and these, along with some insights will be shared.
Highlights
The research contributes to building knowledge by documenting from the educators’ perspectives the current situation, the just-in-time innovations made, documented lessons learned, and what this time might yield for future learning experiences
This study relates to previous work done in the area of student engagement and learning, and how the design of the built space impacts student engagement levels (Scott-Webber, Konyndyk, & Denison, 2019; Scott-Webber, Konyndyk, & French, 2019; Scott-Webber, Konyndyk, French, & French, 2018)
The grade cohorts ranged from kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) teachers, and were from two countries (USA and Canada) as a convenience sample
Summary
1.1 Introduction to the ProblemThe research contributes to building knowledge by documenting from the educators’ perspectives the current situation (during the COVID-19 storm which first began in March 2020), the just-in-time innovations made, documented lessons learned, and what this time might yield for future learning experiences. The research took place in fall of 2020, to ensure a more ‘normalized’ scenario was in situ This response was smaller than hoped, but some important discoveries that will benefit educational leadership, educators, students, parents, online learning, and the design community are shared. This study relates to previous work done in the area of student engagement and learning, and how the design of the built space impacts student engagement levels (Scott-Webber, Konyndyk, & Denison, 2019; Scott-Webber, Konyndyk, & French, 2019; Scott-Webber, Konyndyk, French, & French, 2018). As mentioned, it was conducted in fall of 2020, and used educators as learning experts. This research study was conducted to, “Hear the voices of educators relative to how the design of learning experiences, and places were at the current moment (in-pandemic), and how these might be thought of in a post-pandemic world; in the K-12 arena.”
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