Online learning: My Ten-Point Guide For Parents

Fall is quickly approaching, and many families are facing a school year where all or some of their students' learning will take place online.  Knowing that, I've put together some information about online learning that I think might be helpful for parents trying to help their student navigate through this novel learning experience.

I've divided the advice into two sections.  The first section consists of takeaways from researchers - "official" knowledge from those who formally study online learning environments.  The second section comes from my own experience teaching online for two months last spring.  This section is much less official and should only be taken as far as you trust my advice!

What does research have to tell us about online learning?

1. Researchers know very little about online learning for K-12 students.
Online learning is a hot field of study, but almost all the research has taken place on either college courses or training courses done by adults as part of their profession.  Consequently, when you read anything (including this post) about how to navigate online learning, know that you're probably getting someone's opinion or conclusions drawn from studying adult learners. 

2. Students who struggle in in-person classes are likely to struggle even more online. 
This conclusion seems fairly consistent across studies of college students and adult professionals.

3. High-performing students might do just as well online as in-person... or might not.
Different studies have reached different conclusions with high performers.  Because most online learning research studies college students or adult professionals, the people being studied are usually choosing to take online classes because a) they're personally interested in them, 2) they're more convenient, or 3) they're motivated to excel in them for professional advancement. 

Even with these advantages, some studies find that high-performers do just as well online and others find that learning online is worse for them even with the additional motivation they bring.

4. The structure of the class makes a big difference.
A class that has online components with some in-person access to a teacher
is better than
A class that has online components with some online access to a teacher
is better than
A class that a teacher has created, but takes place entirely online with no teacher interaction
is better than
An A.I., entirely software-driven online curriculum

What is my own advice for parents regarding online learning?
Please remember, the advice in this section is only from me, and should only be taken as far as you trust my personal judgment and experience.
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1. Parent involvement is a major difference-maker
My students whose parents were able to be fairly involved in the learning process, in many cases, made bigger gains in learning than they would have at school. Sometimes way bigger. There is no greater advantage a 1-on-1 teacher when you need one, and students who had that at home really soared. 

​Obviously not all parents will be able to provide that, however.  Students whose parents were not able to "help" in the learning process, but who still held them highly accountable for learning, assignments, and communicating with the teacher still seemed to do very well.

​2. Having a separate, designated place for schoolwork is beneficial
Students who did their school work in a designated room or place that was not used for their personal activities seemed not only to learn more, but also to enjoy the experience more than students who did their work on the couch or on their bed or wherever they normally "hang out."  Many kids act, behave, and communicate very differently at school than they do at home, and I think some of this is merely due to physically being in a different place.  If there is any way to recreate this separation at home, I think it will help.

3.  Figure out what level of bond/relationship your student needs with teachers
Last year I had a student we’ll call "Allie" who smiled all day long at school, got straight A's, and went to see if any of her teachers needed help with anything as soon as she dropped off her book bag every morning.  She loved being at school and was exceedingly proud of all the academic and character accolades she received.  While I didn’t expect to see her name on the list of students who had not even attempted to access online class material the first week of the shut-down, I knew there must be a good reason why when I did.  When I gave her a call to ask if she knew she hadn’t completed anything and knew where to find it, you can imagine my surprise when she very honestly replied:

“Yes, I know where to find everything, but I don’t want to do it.”

    Allie assumed that her relationships with teachers were over, and without those, she had no intention whatsoever of participating in school.

Beyond Allie, I had students that texted me every single day, others that signed up for weekly one-on-one meetings with me on Zoom just to talk, and even two who I had to visit in person once a week to keep them motivated.  On the other end, I had students who did a great job without any personal interaction or motivation from me whatsoever. Most students were in between. Your student may need a close, personal bond with his/her teachers in order to feel motivated to work online.... or may not.  Whatever level of involvement he/she needs, be ready to help them reach out to do their part to form it.

4.  Completing something may not mean learning something
During the shut-down, a lot of my students got caught up with things being "done."  I played the video.  I read the website.  I did the assignment.  I turned something in.

I went through the motions.

Unfortunately, completing something doesn't necessarily mean learning something.  We face this problem at school, too, but I personally had a much, MUCH harder time doing my end of assuring actual learning in the remote setting.  I have many systems in place in my class to assure actual learning happens, but I struggled to find ways to translate them when students weren't with me.  If your student's teacher this fall is anything like me, they'll appreciate your help teaching your student the difference between completing something and learning something.

Along these lines, some former students of mine helped me create a video to start teaching kids the difference. 

5. Students learning online are likely to have much more family and personal time
When you add up bus rides each way, class changes, lunch, recess, and an hour or so of homework, most students spend 8-9 hours a day involved in school.  High achieving high schoolers taking advanced classes and participating in extracurriculars regularly spend 10+ hours!  Post shut-down, many of my students last year reported spending as few as two hours a day doing school from home, and few were doing more than five hours.  Consequently, students are likely to have much more at-home time to fill with activities, creative projects, and personal interests.  This can definitely be a very good thing.  A long school day followed by homework followed by sports or activities can make family and personal time difficult to come by.  Hopefully online learning will make this time easier to find.

6. Be prepared for this to go on for a long time
I would get ready for fully or partially online school to be in place for the next 2-5 years.  Our country isn't actively trying to bring the Coronavirus case numbers down, so there is no reason to expect them to go down by Labor Day, or by New Year's, or even by fall.  They're going to stay high until we make changes or until a vaccine is widely available.  Two years seems to be the prediction for a vaccine being tested, and I'd bank on at least another year after that for it to be mass produced and available to everyone.  Over those three years, funding for schools is likely to drop, and getting back to normal isn't going to be easy and may not be immediate.  ​I hope I'm wrong on this one, but just looking at the situation, I don't see any reason this would be over any time soon.


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