S01E07 -- State of Learning Technology in the New Normal of COVID-19

04/20/20 • 26 min

National Rural Education Association Official Podcast

In this episode of the Rural Education Association Podcast, we discuss how school districts are settling into the new normal of COVID-19 and the use of technology. The co-hosts discuss how some technologies have helped learners while others have been taxed with an unusually high user load on their servers. Further, we discussed some of the security challenges that have emerged over the past month and how to address such issues. We then discuss how teachers have shifted some of their learning practices to account for technological issues as well as access issues to the internet or computers. We conclude by discussing some of the primary ways people are adapting and succeeding.

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undefined - S01E06 -- Can Rural Schools be 99% Represented in High Speed Internet Access for Online Learning, Interview with Dr. Steve Johnson with Lisbon North Dakota Public Schools.

S01E06 -- Can Rural Schools be 99% Represented in High Speed Internet Access for Online Learning, Interview with Dr. Steve Johnson with Lisbon North Dakota Public Schools.

In this episode of the National Rural Education Podcast, we interview Dr. Steve Johnson of Lisbon Public Schools in North Dakota. In this podcast, Dr. Johnson discusses shifting from classroom to online from the perspective of a small rural school district and the northern plains of the Midwest. Dr. Johnson shared that the schools are the center of the community for not only education but socializing and connecting with others. He discussed responding to the call by the governor to react quickly to COVID-19 shifting a variety of rural school districts to online learning. North Dakota shifted quickly to address the new challenges of the new culture we find ourselves in. They met the challenges, with 99% of students shifting online successfully. Yes, you read that right, 99%. As an example, all homes with children were given fiber optic internet connections for school work. The teachers collected data for their families in their rooms regarding accessibility to the internet as well as other data collection regarding family technology use. Dr. Johnson shifted to discussing the appropriate use of applications and learning materials, depending on grade level as well as ADA compliance. This was an excellent interview with details regarding methods for shifting online for rural schools. Notes and Links from the podcast https://www.nd.gov/dpi/parentscommunity/nddpi-updates-and-guidance-covid-19 https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/alerts/coronavirus https://remote-learning-p-12.mn.co/topics North Dakota has also had our Center for Distance Education, which has its roots in “Correspondence School,” taking classes by mail dated back to 1935! We are using them as mentors for our teachers as I have a very close working relationship with Dr. Matthew Lonn, State Director. Members of NDSOS have many advantages working with CDE resources as part of their membership in NDSOS. https://www.ndcde.org/

Next Episode

S01E08 -- What Happens After COVID-19 for Rural Education? What are the next steps?

The co-hosts in this episode discuss what happens in education following COVID-19 and what are some aspects of culture administrators and teachers should consider as they plan for the future. The co-hosts also suggest that COVID-19 will be with us for a while and will influence education policy and pedagogical practice for years to come. The co-hosts discuss what this may look like and things to consider for the future. This is an excellent episode for planning and critically thinking about the future.