Last week I shared that when I went off to college I took a color television with me. The one thing that I didn't take: a personal computer. That's because at that time computers weren't standard issue for college students. Very few of us had them and if we needed a computer we had to reserve time in the computer lab in the college library. Oh and by the way, the only thing a computer was really good for those days was word processing. We weren't hooked up to the internet or anything fancy like that. If we needed to do research, we had to look it up in a card catalog and search for it in the library stacks. Seriously. I guess it was a pretty good thing the computer lab was in the media center. Fun fact: I learned to type on a real typewriter in high school. It was an actual class (required for graduation).
We've come a long way in the last (*clears throat) thirty years. But as I mentioned last week, the speed of change over the last nine months has seemed, at time supersonic. For certain, the technological changes we have witnessed in these months would have been unimaginable during my college years! That's not to say there haven't been significant hurdles to overcome, or barriers that still exist because there are.
Over the course of the last year our community has been very supportive of the school district as we had to shift our thinking by supporting a complex learning system that included remote learning. Granted, there were a lot of issues to overcome, and in the beginning it didn't work that well. The fact we were standing up a remote system [remotely] added additional complications to our work. Add in the fact this happened with the flip of a switch, without warning or training only added to the challenge. In the final analysis, it didn't work all that well. But you were there and stood by us as we navigated the end of the school year. We continue to be thankful and grateful for your support.
We now find ourselves closing in on the end of first semester, and God willing I think we are going to be able to make it all the way to Christmas break without needing to change our learning model. But what happens in January? Truthfully we don't know, except to predict the new year will bring with it continued disruption. Granted, I believe we will begin to see an overall improvement and a return to relative normalcy closer to the end of the school year, but we still have a way to go. Is it possible we might have to implement our remote learning plan? Yes, it most certainly is a possibility.
Based on our past experience I understand if there might be a bit of trepidation if this were to come to fruition. Believe me, no one wants to go there! But if I might offer a bit if insight. I do believe we have made a tremendous amount of progress in the development and possible implementation of our remote plan. While difficult to quantify, we are now able to implement learning remotely that is as different as the typewriter I learned to type on--to the word processor I used to finish papers in college. With the benefit of time, we have been able to train our employees, ensure all our learners have devices, created detailed instructional schedules, and craft learning opportunities that are compatible with a remote environment.
Granted, it isn't utopia and never will be. There is no replacement for in person instruction and the research bears that out. We really need to look no further than the performance of online schools to see the evidence. It isn't good. At the same time, there will be ongoing challenges that will be difficult to overcome. The first is the availability of broadband, particularly in our rural areas. While we have mitigated that somewhat with the purchase of hotspots, those are dependent on how good the cellular service is in that particular area. (If you are in need of a hotspot, please contact Mr. Bell.) The other challenge is access to childcare. While our primary function is to provide education, we are also fully aware a secondary purpose is to have a place for children to go during the day while you all are at work. We get it. That is why if we have to move to remote operations, one of the last buildings to close will be our elementary school, particularly the youngest of our learners.
Sometimes progress happens slowly, almost as if we don't even notice that it is happening. Other times, well progress happens suddenly-almost as if it is thrust upon us.
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