Introduction & Motivation

Remote Education During COVID-19

The current COVID-19 pandemic has shifted many full-time employees to work remotely, however, few shifts seem more drastic than the shift that teachers have experienced in moving to remote education. Teachers support students' learning processes through in-person teaching and these processes can not easily be translated to remote work. Teachers who were involved in face-to-face learning activities had to quickly shift to delivering online education. Secondary research has revealed that teachers face a variety of issues related to online work including but not limited to:

• Not every home has computers or high-speed internet

• Younger children require lots of adult supervision

• Even great teachers lack expertise in creating online lessons

• Schools provide more than academic skills

Study Overview

The goal of our study was to learn about the shifts that teachers made, tools that they use, as well as the challenges that they face with the remote teaching experience. There are two phases of this study

• Phase 1: Diary Study (5 participants) - Focused on identifying key challenges and successes in teachers’ remote teaching experience.

• Phase 2: Interview (6 participants) - Developed in-depth understanding of teachers’ experience in their process of adapting.

Research Questions

1. What technological adaptations have been difficult for teachers when transitioning to teaching online during the COVID-19 pandemic? What support would teachers like to have? 

2. How has remote teaching affected student engagement from teachers’ perspective? 

3. How do teachers perceive student success and incorporate feedback during remote learning?

Target Audience

The study included 10 participants with 1 participant joined both phase 1 and phase 2 studies. They were all teachers had switched to remote teaching under the impact of COVID-19. We recruited a mix of genders, teaching grades, subjects and teaching experience. 

Key Themes & Findings

Overall, the remote teaching experience is frustrating and overwhelmed; however, on top of the challenges and difficulties, our study uncovered 3 primary themes emerged from phase 1 and 2 data that also show strategies teachers made during COVID-19. Below is a brief summary of those themes. 

Theme 1: Adaptions for Technology, Access, and Information

Teachers have had to make large adaptations to the current circumstances including applying pedagogy developed in the physical classroom setting to online teaching. Besides the long learning curve for technical tools, teachers must continually use trial and error and discuss with peers to see what works in their classroom. 

At the start of shelter in place order, not all students had access to the technology required for remote teaching. The initial adaptation was stressful for teachers as information was changing rapidly from the district. Some families are more communicative than others, but teachers want to be equitable to all of their students. 

Theme 2: Curriculum Adjustments & Mental Health

While teachers were trying to migrate curriculum to the online space, they encountered that the same amount of workload would not be feasible, and adjusted the direction to having more one-on-one meetings than the actual teaching or giving them little, dissected assignments the students can do without getting pressured. Teachers were adjusting the expectation level, shifting the focus from academic learning to social gathering, and seeking supports from teachers communities and exchanging feedback on a regular basis.

Theme 3: Student Engagement

Student engagement has been the biggest challenge for all of our participants. Since the shift of remote teaching, there has been lack of engagement, class structure, control and accountability throughout the teaching environment. Teachers were making class activities more fun and interactive to keep students engaged, and actively incorporating the right digital tools to increase the productivity.

Key Theme 1

Adaptions for Technology, Access, and Information

Teachers have had to make large adaptations to the current circumstances. We were interested in the ways that teachers have adapted in this chaotic situation, as well as the transition from the initial shift of COVID-19, to this being the new normal. These included adapting tools, initial challenges with providing access for students and navigating uncertainty in information, and sharing resources and strategies with peers.

Applying pedagogy developed in the physical classroom setting to online teaching

Teachers must continually use trial and error and discuss with peers to see what works in their classroom which leads to a long and painful learning curve for technical tools.  

Supporting Quote

“It's difficult because obviously, when I did my credential program, they don't really talk about teaching online. So all my colleagues and I had really no idea going into this experience on ‘how do we take all this training and this knowledge that we have about being in a classroom space and transitioning that back to online space?’” - P3

“And so it's like, you get that anxiety from the uncertainty and we had to attend all of the professional developments online that the district was doing where it's like becoming more proficient in Google Classroom and on Zoom. And I felt really lucky that I'm a bit younger.” - P3

Strategy 1. Getting input and sharing successes and failures with other teachers, especially at the same grade level or subject has been helpful to teachers in learning what workarounds are successful. (Provided by teaching community)

“I had pretty strong communication With my grade level teams, so at my school, fourth and fifth grade work together, it's not just fifth grade. And we would gather weekly to talk about things that were working things that weren't working. Just kind of ideas on how to organize your Google Classroom.” - P3

“And this is also something because we're sharing, teachers are sharing with each other. ” - P6

Strategy 2. Learning and finding out the right digital tools & approaches for online teaching through trial and errors (Provided by teachers & district)

“It was just very much like, I set up an Instagram account for my students to be able to connect with me. And I had to learn how to use Schoology and different platforms and then after the first two weeks things got better.” - P4

Initial adaptations for access and information

At the start of shelter in place order, not all students had access to the technology required for remote teaching. The initial adaptation was stressful for teachers as information was changing rapidly from the district. Some families are more communicative than others, but teachers want to be equitable to all of their students. 

Supporting Quote

“At the beginning, the guidance was very, very basic, and very simple because for the district, and through a lot of the teachers sort of advocate leadership was primary on everybody's mind was equitable access...It took them a long time, they finally got help in creating hotspots around the district, or people who didn't have access.” - P6

“So cuz it was just too much to ask us to like, learn how to use these online tools and plan and grades. And like do all this outreach so it was a lot of scrambling but frantic” - P3

Strategy 1. Providing equitable access to technology among students with varying backgrounds and different levels or resources. (Provided by teachers, school, district)

“I think two weeks ago, my school has a lot of laptops that we use in class, and they tried to get rid of all of them. While they're telling students ‘if you and your sibling are sharing a laptop, come pick up another laptop from us.’ So now technically, I would say probably all my students have access to either an iPad or a laptop.” - P4

Strategy 2. The district was understanding and supportive of teachers in just doing what they can in the circumstances. (Provided by district)

“Um, most of the guidance has been like, do what you can. We totally understand that you can't do what you want to do. And that's been really hard. Positive for me to hear at least, because it's very frustrating not to be able to reach all the students.” - P4

Strategy 3. Teachers and schools go above and beyond to continually reach out to families during this time, by taking attendance and regularly checking-in with them, so that no one falls through the cracks. (Provided by school, teachers, district)

“Then the second thing we tried, Roosevelt tried was, every Friday we take attendance, which is we put on our attendance sheet, anyone that we didn't hear from at all week. From, we give them an absence, we list them as absent. And the support staff, the counseling staff, the IEP, no special ed staff, they all go out and reach out to those kids and check in on them.” - P6

Key Theme 2

Curriculum Adjustments and Mental Health

While teachers were trying to migrate curriculum to the online space, they encountered that the same amount of workload would not be feasible, and adjusted the direction to having more one-on-one meetings than the actual teaching or giving them little, dissected assignments the students can do without getting pressured. 

Supporting Quote

“I'm spending a lot less time on content, like I was making videos and teaching content coming up with these graphic organizers and all these things. And then they just went doing it, doing it with me. So I'm spending a lot more time trying to do one on one like meetings with them. And I'll link to give them my content but also content from other teachers. And less time making the content” -P4

“Then the next week, I started creating little assignments, little supplementary assignments that were mostly about the pandemic. So I had them do things like reading this, these two articles and write your responses or compare and contrast these two ideas or, you know, it was very basic, but it was sort of an effort to keep them thinking and applying World History and Geography to what was going on.” -P6

Strategy 1. Adjusting the expectation level

“I was definitely prioritizing their relationships and connections with each other. More than academic content, cuz me and a lot of my colleagues, we both agree that, you know, this time is kind of gone. You know, like, it's just, it's, it's just, they're not going to learn as effectively as if they were at school.” -P3

“Making sure the parent knows like, what if they just do some work, click, that's great. Like, we don't expect them to be able to do all of the seventh grade general education science. But like encouraging them to continue the practice of learning and writing and reading.” -P4

Strategy 2. Shifting the focus from academic learning to social gathering

“The live interaction when we have the zoom calls, I put them in breakout groups, and then they have to come back to the group and share out what they talked about. It was particularly good when we first tried it, I think because it was so new and they were so excited about it. And then afterward, now I do it every time I could see them like they're not as excited. ” -P6

“For the first time I tried doing a watch party where I put a film up through zoom. So I can use obscure documentaries and things that they wouldn't have access to otherwise.” -P6

“I would say I don't think it's really suiting very many people. I think there are a few people who might appreciate their being independent, being on their own time. There are some kids who appreciate that.” -P6

Strategy 3. Seeking supports from teachers communities and exchanging feedback on a regular basis

“Like, it's totally normal. It'd be like, it'd be not normal. If you were like, yeah, great, you know, so, um, you know, just trying to normalize That range of emotion. Yeah, and just trying to reiterate how like, You're not the only one going through this, like, we're all going through this and, you know, we're stronger together and just kind of being patient with each other.” -P3

Key Theme 3

Student Engagement

Compared to the physical classroom environment where teachers can be present all the time to watch students and dedicate their time to make sure kids do their work, the resources are limited in the home environment. This environment also lacked social interactions which acts as external and internal sources of motivation for students to stay engaged. This often led students to keep being absent at class or not doing their assignments, which created a vicious cycle of being sidetracked and losing track of the learning. 

Lack of Engagement

Lack of student engagement is common in remote learning. Students show behaviors of distancing and isolation due to various reasons.  Independent learning is also challenging for some subjects that require more hands-on teaching.  The loss of social interaction and interpersonal relationships also triggers a lack of motivation for some students in remote learning. 

Supporting Quote

“Um, I think the biggest challenge is just to get the students engaged with the work, because I have some students who they're gonna do whatever I assign regardless, like they're just gonna do it. Um, but that's only really like, maybe a third of my class.” -P3

“They feel very, like, they already feel like the education system doesn't support them or like they are, they feel like failures. And learning is really hard for them.” - P4

“But a lot of kids are kind of driven by points and grades on their assignments. So if there's no grades, and there's no points, will they do the work?” -P6 

Strategy 1. Making class activities more fun and interactive to keep students engaged

“I often use this website called Kahoot. I'm sure you've heard of it. And so I'll, you know, I'll ask the class like what's the topic you're interested in? Whether it's like anime or Disney movies or animals Or something I'll look, I'll look a game up with that topic and then we'll play it on zoom together.” -P3

Lack of Structure, Control, and Accountability

There is only so much that teachers can do for students remotely. Our teachers reported fears for the students in their home lives, and having a lack of control and lack of connection that remote teaching couldn’t overcome.

Supporting Quote

“you know, at home, it's just like, you know, they're at the mercy of, you know, just the hand they've been dealt with in their life. And so like, you know, having that lack of control is really frustrating” - -P3

“I I don't know if it's just because my class is not as like expressive as like you know the average like person but you know overall it was just like you know you missed your friends you know missing at school, a lot of missing your friends and like being able to play outside just like really like missing how things were before and just kind of Like, feel it like mourning that, you know, kind of life before COVID-19 you know, it's like, all the things that you're used to looking forward to, were just kind of gone” -P3

Strategy 1. Actively incorporating the right digital tools to increase the productivity

“Um,I mean, I use Google Voice to contact my family. So it's really easy to keep in contacts and texts. I can call on that as well. Just to stay connected with the parents and families.” -P6

“What I learned is definitely like student and parent preference for communication. So like, I'm really trying to meet them where they're at using Microsoft Excel. And so I've figured out like, Oh, this parent really will respond if I text them, or this parent responds if they get an email, or this student will read this if I put it on Instagram. So I'm really cultivating their preferences for information.” -P4

Research Impact

This study provided us with rich information about remote teaching in the COVID-19 situation. Beyond understanding teachers' challenges on the surface level, we have gotten information about why these challenges are present, what workarounds and successes teachers have found as well as rich emotional stories about the experience teachers have had. As there is still uncertainty about what the situation with the global pandemic will look like in the fall, giving teachers information about how they can improve the remote teaching experience will be important in ensuring that students do not fall behind. This work also has implications for remote teaching of younger students in a more general sense to inform us in other situations when students are unable to attend in-person school.

As this was a rich dataset with many interesting pieces, there are many ways that we could take this work in the future. One obvious factor would be to interview students to understand their perspectives during this time. While we have teacher’s speculation, it would be interesting to know from the children why they are facing a lack of engagement. Understanding this could inform future interventions to encourage students during the ongoing remote teaching during COVID-19. 

From a product perspective, there were a couple of points teachers evaluated positively and negatively about certain features of the tools they have used. Designers and researchers could reflect on the feedback to improve the products or to invent a new solution. For example, for Schoology, a LMS tool, many users shared how it does not have a clear navigation and that its information hierarchy is confusing, which causes teachers and students to miss important notifications and feel overwhelmed. For Microsoft Teams, although it was required to use the tool for video conferencing by the school, some teachers insisted on using Zoom because of the Gallery View feature and an option to disable or control chat during the call, which Teams does not have.

Another viable option could be to create a platform for teachers to share insights with teachers of similar subjects and grade levels. Doing a codesign with teachers of this type of platform could be an interesting way to move forward with this work to actually address some of the struggles that teachers are having. Another interesting next step would be to check back in with the same teachers in the Fall to understand if they have adapted their workflows at all.

Reflections & Next Steps

Lessons Learned

I really enjoyed this research project talking to teachers and understanding their pain points in delivering teaching during this special time. We thought it would be challenging to get participants from the target teacher group, but the recruitment went well at the end. Regarding research itself, something I learned were:

• Be creative with research methods to serve study objectives

• Scope and schedule participants early, do not over book

• Always included some buffer time for data analysis and synthesizing

Limitation & Further Testing

1. Sample represented a wide variety of teaching levels. Restricting our study to one or two specific grades would have allowed us to better make connections between all participants as different ages have different challenges.

2. Small sample. Because of time constraints, we restricted our sample to three individuals. It would have been nice to get around 10 participants to better represent all of the different perspectives and experiences teachers have