Remote learning experiences

[ImLawBoy]

CPS = Chicago Public Schools. Took me a bit. I was very confused for a few minutes there given what that means everywhere else.

Those Chicago people and their acronyms, always dealing with CPS and spending their time on LSD.

You'd be on LSD too if you had to deal with CPS!

[Blackhawk]

Won't somebody think of the children?

[LawBeefaroni]

CPS is a mess. 1/3 of students who opted for "in-person learning" are being taught by a teacher who is remote. So you have many classes divided with some kids in a classroom and some at home and all of them being taught by a teacher who is remote. The in-person students have non-teaching staff to babysit.

It's a fucking joke and kids are getting maybe 30% of teaching and attention they would normally. Private school registrations are blowing up.

Just got a text that we have to make the call on Q4 return by midnight tonight.

[El Guapo]

CPS is a mess. 1/3 of students who opted for "in-person learning" are being taught by a teacher who is remote. So you have many classes divided with some kids in a classroom and some at home and all of them being taught by a teacher who is remote. The in-person students have non-teaching staff to babysit.

It's a fucking joke and kids are getting maybe 30% of teaching and attention they would normally. Private school registrations are blowing up.

Just got a text that we have to make the call on Q4 return by midnight tonight.

I heard from parents of Boston Public School students that part of the plan for "in person" schooling had been like this, to have kids come in and basically remote from the school. Which seems like the worst of both worlds (risk of infection while still remote!) with the sole benefit of helping parents work.

Not 100% sure whether it has played out like that, though.

[ImLawBoy]

The twins' teacher is currently in the classroom, and she missed a "Wellness Wednesday" a week or two ago for vaccination, so there's that at least. I just got the text, too, despite my wife already saying they'll go. Like I said before, though, I'm not sure we'll actually send them.

[Paingod]

Our kids have been okay-ish.

Our youngest adapted quickly, but his teachers (4th grade) didn't have huge demands on him. He's passing everything without a hitch and likes some of the sites his work is assigned on. He's eager to get back full time at school.

Our eldest (7th grade) has had a clusterfluff of a year. All of this teachers are trying to do their own thing with little coordination and he needs to check like three different areas for assignments to work on and hand in. It's a mess. He's also failing classes for the first time, too. Everyone's trying to be more relaxed about it, but his failing grades aren't coming up. The last time I talked with him (a week ago) he went into "Well, COVID..." and I stopped him dead. He's been working remotely for the better part of a school year now and should be used to it. The excuse of COVID doesn't fly anymore. Turns out he's just mostly failing to submit assignments on time or completely; that's not COVID's fault. Quite simply, with no one to look over his shoulder all the time, he's just slacking. He's taken the chaos between teachers and home as a way to try and run with laziness as a theme, and it's bit him in the ass. Now he's looking at summer school.

The schools are transitioning back to in-class learning - but there's still some remote work.

I've also been taking remote college classes, which had by and large been okay - with a couple exceptions. The first is "Group" assignments. These don't work in asynchronous learning environments with short deadlines; an assignment posted Monday doesn't give 7 people much time to post in a forum and coordinate much of a response by Friday. The second is when an instructor puts in zero effort. Last semester I had a Statistics class that was literally run on 10-year old YouTube videos with email notifications that simply had the dates replaced. Zero. Effort. The guy also had absurd goals, including an 18-page research paper with shit for guidance aside from "Send me your drafts to critique" and when I did corner him on issues, he just refused to answer straight about them. 1/10, would not take another class with that guy.

[ImLawBoy]

And now we have the official word that the CDC has changed guidance from 3 feet to 6 feet of distancing in schools. There's nuance in there about when to go 3 feet vs. 6 feet, but we suspected this was likely to happen as more kids went to school - they're crowded enough during regular times. This is not helping the decision making process.

[ImLawBoy]

I've also been taking remote college classes, which had by and large been okay - with a couple exceptions. The first is "Group" assignments. These don't work in asynchronous learning environments with short deadlines; an assignment posted Monday doesn't give 7 people much time to post in a forum and coordinate much of a response by Friday. The second is when an instructor puts in zero effort. Last semester I had a Statistics class that was literally run on 10-year old YouTube videos with email notifications that simply had the dates replaced. Zero. Effort. The guy also had absurd goals, including an 18-page research paper with shit for guidance aside from "Send me your drafts to critique" and when I did corner him on issues, he just refused to answer straight about them. 1/10, would not take another class with that guy.

My wife is in a doctoral program that has necessarily transitioned to all online. While she used to go into classes all day on Saturdays, now she goes upstairs to do her classes. She's had a lot of similar problems with poor guidance from professors (although nothing as bad as teaching based on 10 year old YouTube videos!), but I'm not sure that would be any better in-person in her situation.

[stessier]

And now we have the official word that the CDC has changed guidance from 3 feet to 6 feet of distancing in schools.

Just want to clarify the CDC went from 6ft to 3ft.

[Blackhawk]

Looking at schools everywhere, it seems like the biggest flaw in their plans, regardless of their actual approach, has been that they've continually treated the remote learning like a snow day. That is, they've treated it like a hiccup in the system to work around, always acting as if returning to normal school was just around the corner. Instead of devoting their time and resources to finding a way to make remote work well, they've been implementing half thought out, makeshift measures just to bide time until traditional teaching methods could return.

[stessier]

I was fortunate that my county had been working on a remote learning plan for a few years, so this just sped up their timeline. They are actually going to continue offering remote only learning going forward and we had to decide back on Feb 9th how we were going to proceed for next year. With the exception of one class, my 6th grader's experience has been pretty good. She misses friends, but she's been learning and doing pretty well.

[ImLawBoy]

And now we have the official word that the CDC has changed guidance from 3 feet to 6 feet of distancing in schools.

Just want to clarify the CDC went from 6ft to 3ft.

Whoops! Thanks for clarifying. Typing too fast, I guess.

Looking at schools everywhere, it seems like the biggest flaw in their plans, regardless of their actual approach, has been that they've continually treated the remote learning like a snow day. That is, they've treated it like a hiccup in the system to work around, always acting as if returning to normal school was just around the corner. Instead of devoting their time and resources to finding a way to make remote work well, they've been implementing half thought out, makeshift measures just to bide time until traditional teaching methods could return.

I really think the CPS plan was good at the start of the year when everyone was remote. It wasn't anything like the hastily slapped together effort at the end of the last school year. They utilized good tools (Google Classroom, Seesaw, Reading A to Z, IXL, among others) and we were seeing real progress from the twins. It obviously wasn't ideal, but it was clear that CPS wasn't just half-assing the remote learning aspect. (Experiences may vary across specific schools and with families who don't have the resources that my family does, of course.) It all fell apart with the hybrid plan, though. The focus seems to be on the kids in the classrooms - everything from instruction to scheduling. While that's understandable to an extent, they need to consider that some (most) of us aren't just keeping our kids home because we want to be difficult. If that means that they need to adapt things, then they need to adapt things. My wife filled out the survey the school sent out regarding the new hybrid model, so we'll see if they make any adjustments - perhaps coming off of spring break (last week of March).

[dbt1949]

Now when kids graduate they'll have a little asterisk by their name.*

[ImLawBoy]

Are you accusing my kids of being on steroids???

[Isgrimnur]

How many home runs has he hit?

[ImLawBoy]

Sexist. My daughter is probably the best athlete of the three of them!