Internet research for Techquest project

The CDC addresses student absences and schoolwork which they refer to as “continuity of learning”, which surprised me. They suggest options to get the material to students who are at home through:
1. Hard copy packets: Photocopies of reference materials, curriculum, and assignments can be prepared in advance for distribution to affected students;
2. Online materials or other aligned content: Digital copies of reference materials, assignments, and audio‐visual learning supports can be made available on the Internet using e‐learning and other Learning Management Systems (LMS) ( e.g., school websites, etc.)
Our school’s plan to ensure continuity of learning mostly relies on number one. Teachers put work together for parents to pick up and students to complete and return. My issue with this has always been that what are we actually assessing if our students can do the work without our teaching?! I’ve always said to kids, “You can’t learn if you aren’t at school!” However, my attitude on this has changed the MAET program and especially CEP820: Teaching k-12 online. Students don’t have to be in school to learn! While surely it has its social perks and benefits working parents, my view was not so accurate. To prove my point, I want to submit some of my survey results as research here:
1. When asked where students usually learn new things with computers, 78% responded that they learn new things at home or at a friend’s house and only 22% said at school.
2. 78% also said that completing homework with a computer was easy because they have access readily available.
3. Most students said they were comfortable with and used technologies (i.e. email, blog, video creation) at least once a week to every day.
4. 89% reported that they contributed to a social networking site every day.
I think the results to my survey are telling, especially in conjunction with students learning at home as a result of absence. It is not that students are unable to learn or work from home, it’s that most teachers aren’t equipped to teach from school and get it home. Sending home a hard packet is for lack of a better term, a pacification of “old school” ways. Learning management systems, email, blogging, vlogging, and even social networking are better tools to utilize for distance learning even if it is only 2 blocks from your classroom.
Truly, traditional education occurs more because we need kids to be in school to assist working parents with child care needs, student socialization and learning public social norms, and because education has not caught up with the way today’s students learn. In other words, education is built more around teaching than it is learning. Teachers are doing things the way they have always been done and not changing at the rate or mode with which students learn. I suppose I’m digressing from my original point, and maybe upsetting my readers here. I’ll redirect…

The U.S. Department of Education Recommendations to Ensure Continuity of Learning are:
• Teacher check‐ins and tutorials: A variety of technologies (telephone, email, web conferencing) can be used to facilitate one‐on‐one interaction between students and teachers, counselors and other appointed adults (e.g., tutors) during prolonged absences or dismissals;
• Recorded class meetings: Using audio or video technology, recorded class meetings can be given to some or all absent students via podcasts, live or on‐demand television, DVD, captioned closed‐circuit or public access television, or online;
• Live class meetings: Schools can use available tools such as conference calling or webinars, online courses, or virtual schools with two‐way interaction between the teacher and students.

In addition, Student Absenteeism: Research Findings and Recommendations for Schools and Local Communities, 2004 research by Glenn Bond consistently found “pre-eminence of condoned absenteeism as the most common and pressing form of absenteeism.”
Common triggers for student absence fell into the three broad categories:
1. Student issues: boredom, lack of attachment to teaching staff, frustration or difficulty with the curriculum and inadequate social support were among the key factors leading to absenteeism.
2. School issues: inconsistencies in engagement practices and teaching quality, and teachers were also seen to have difficulty balancing the needs of absentees and the needs of the broader group.
3. Parental issues: a low regard for education and attendance was often identified in the families of regular absentees, and parenting skills such as time management and discipline were brought into question in the case of some families. Resistance to pressure from schools and poor communication between parents and staff with regard to attendance.
The triggers and the whys are interesting, but I wonder how much this could change if teachers with students who have access to technology at home, and this is obviously a pressing concern, knew how to teach them while they were at home. Would students be more likely to just come to school if they knew they would be responsible for it anyway? For my techquest, I know that a majority of my students have computer and internet access, so I can complete my project using the results from my survey and prior knowledge of my student demographics, assuming that access is for the most part, available to my learners. I have the knowledge and the tools to teach from school/home. My school utilizes a website, that is our “updated” homework hotlink but it is essentially providing students with that aforementioned “hard packet” of assessment rather than teaching or learning. We do not utilize any type of learning management system, although we clearly should. I will continue building upon my 7th grade class curriculum website to complete this project.

Tech Quest Problem/Proposal

I pondered for a long while to come up with a real educational need or opportunity. Many suggested I simply make something up. However, if I am going to put hard work into something, I want myself and my students to benefit from it. If its worth doing, it’s worth doing well, right?!
A real problem that exists in our school, in absenteeism. Students miss a lot of school for many reasons and often fail to make up their work. Especially with extended absents, for illness or vacation, parents often want to have work left in the office to pick up for their child. However, I often find that that work never returns to me and the temporarily excused grade turns into a goose egg, which is a huge detriment to a student’s final score in the class… especially a ten or twenty week course!
There was much talk near the end of our school year about the power of zero! In sum, it says that when a student does nothing on a project or assignment, turns in absolutely nothing, to adjust their grade to a 60% instead of a zero because a zero is not fair and is sixty percent away from the nearest grade. It is extremely difficult, even for a great student, to work back up to earning a satisfactory grade. The debate really seemed to divide our staff. While I understand wanting to accommodate for students, and being fair, too much inside me doesn’t think that it best prepares students for their future. My goal, as a Life Skills educator, is to best prepare students for their future! At any rate, I think that for the case of absenteeism, students need the teaching/learning opportunity, not just the work/assignment. Afterall, assignments are guided practice to give us teachers a gauge at our students learning and our teaching to prepare them for formative assessments. Zhao says that, “Teachers’ technology knowledge consists of three elements: a0 knowledge of problems that can be solved by technology, b) knowledge of a technology that can solve their problems, and c) knowledge of how technology can solve their problems. Teachers who are sufficiently equipped with this knowledge should be able to decide when to use the technology and when not to.”
I believe that this is a time when technology would be highly appropriate to solve the problem. For CEP820: Teaching K-12 Students Online, I created a website for my 7th grade: Life and Living class. It is a place I can send these absent students to review lessons they’ve missed. I think that this techquest is also an opportunity for me to add to what I’ve already done so that it is truly useful to me as an educator.
Zhao points out the increase of schools connected to the internet, and I’d be willing to guess the same of homes connected to the internet. This is a plausible expectation to help students learn what they missed and actually be able to complete work… not just do the work. I could add screencasts, and my last unit on for students to complete at home.
I have access via the web, to some of my past students and surely they would agree to help me out, as if they were absent students. My project addresses the four common places of education as follows: I am teaching, ex-students are learning, the subject matter would be my 7th grade curriculum, and the setting would be the web/internet.
Clearly, I am open to ideas other than adding to my current site, such as an interactive blog or something I may not even be considering. At any rate, I’m all “ears”!