{"id":6212,"date":"2021-04-20T16:18:36","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T15:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/digital-learning\/?p=6212"},"modified":"2023-08-23T15:24:19","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T14:24:19","slug":"7-lessons-learned-from-lockdown-home-schooling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/digital-learning\/2021\/04\/20\/7-lessons-learned-from-lockdown-home-schooling\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Lessons learned from lockdown home-schooling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My children went back to school seven weeks ago. This blog post sat in a corner of my brain, waiting for when I had caught up on workload. That is unlikely to actually happen, and the raw edges of the memory of those challenging days are giving way to gentle fogginess. So I will jot down here some thoughts about remote teaching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had no such dealings in the first lockdown but, by the last one, the teachers were ready for remote classes. As I juggled work, caring responsibilities, and the dreaded fronted adverbials (I laughed too, until they arrived one Tuesday morning), I observed a few simple techniques that the teachers used. These are also applicable to remote HE teaching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Thirty classrooms, not a single one<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Waiting for the teacher to start the class. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Most classrooms (pre-covid) are structured around pedagogic practices and give pupils a sense of place and community. Although we joined whole class sessions at least once a day, you can see from the picture above that lockdown physical settings are far from the ideal classroom set up. We rounded up devices for both children, but finding suitable space was challenging. The same is true for our university students. In our Digital Learning Team we work on the principles of Universal Design for Learning<\/a> for inclusive education. Providing resources and activities in a variety of accessible formats is an essential part of education provision for all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. It will be ok when it’s not ok. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Photo by Kind and Curious<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Things inevitably don’t go according to plan. Reassurance from the teacher was really important; don’t worry if the screen sharing doesn’t work, or if a link was broken. There are other ways for you to get involved and the issue will be fixed after the session. It’s possible to catch up if needed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Welcome everyone <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Photo by Aaron Burden<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In remote primary school teaching we experienced whole class and small group teaching. In each setting, the teacher welcomed children individually and invited them to share any news they had. This is not immediately transferable (or relevant) to large cohort of online classes. However, holding slides can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n