The calendar has turned the page to 2021 and most of us will not look back upon 2020 with fondness. As educators we can look upon the experience with a sigh of relief that it is behind us or examine it for long overdue positive changes. When you look back and go beyond the tragedy of the pandemic, you will find emerging stars and positive changes intermixed with the chaos.
In a recent discussion, a colleague and I were talking about the desire of teachers to be heard and listened to during the pandemic. They not only want to vent about the frustrations and their needs, but to share what is happening in their field. Teachers want to talk about what they have learned, the “wow” things they are doing, and even where they see their classroom changing moving forward. While the pandemic has caused stress in the teaching profession it has also been a time of innovation, rapid learning, and remarkable change. We have to ask - will education embrace this change, or will this be seen as a brief flash in the educational timeline?
One of the amazing aspects of the response to the 2020 pandemic is the way in which educators responded to support each other. Over the past two decades there had been numerous “warnings” that teachers at all levels needed to be prepared for online learning. Even while the number of online courses offered in the last fifteen years has increased by nearly five million, the response by K-12 and higher education to prepare teachers for online learning was minimal. Even after what we have experienced in 2020, states are focusing on students with little focus on what teachers need to be successful. A quick online search about supporting teachers in virtual teaching will show numerous “recommendation” articles from last spring. Since then…near silence. Yet, educators themselves have come through again and again to support each other. Every day when I peruse my Twitter feed, I see resources that others have created and freely shared to help their peers. I have seen syllabi modified for online learning, choice boards to diversify learning options, guides for best practice, and self-care suggestions. Educators are coming through for each other. Will the states (departments of education) follow suit?
I have also thought about the massive influx of professional development districts and higher education threw into the mix during the last year. During the month of March and April many of us spent numerous hours developing tutorials and support materials to help our colleagues transition to an online learning environment. The educational heroes of 2020 are still doing this. Many members of ISTE’s Teacher Education Network (TEN) are providing a series of focused and helpful professional development opportunities. They are even offering supports on how to create and lead effective professional development - something schools have been notoriously bad at. After all the years of warnings and recommendations concerning professional development we are now seeing amazing opportunities emerge at a grass roots level. So, the challenge is - will schools adopt these models and employ them moving forward?
Preservice programs are inherently designed to provide future teachers with the knowledge and experiences needed to enter into the teaching profession. This is a tough job made tougher by the changing demands of the profession itself. In many introductory education courses a picture is shared showing the classroom today and how it looks nearly identical to a classroom from a century ago. Rows of desks with a chalk board and teacher at the front of the room. Sadly, many preservice programs share that same trait when it comes to technology. How technology is integrated, why it is included in the curriculum, and what is taught has not changed dramatically over the past decades in many college classrooms. I remember hearing several professors having a discussion in 2007 about how online teaching was “so easy” and should not be compared to the demands and rigor of face-to-face classes. Preservice education throws the term “best practice” around quite frequently and yet, when it comes to technology and its integration in teaching and learning it has been largely ignored. It was left to the technology evangelists to keep the light of hope burning. With the onset of the 2020 pandemic, many professors struggled to make the transition to online teaching and proceeded to attempt to recreate their face-to-face classroom online rather than implementing “best practice” for virtual learning. The hope that I see now is there are professors who see the value and power of technology and are asking the right questions about its integration. The technology evangelists are seeing their labors bear fruit. The big question is - will state departments of education and our many schools of education, as a whole, embrace the lessons we have and are learning as a result of the pandemic? Will all preservice programs begin to produce teachers who have the knowledge and beginning experiences integrating technology AND working in virtual environments?
The hope for the future of education is bright if…
the passion of teachers who are embracing growth in their profession is fed,
education embraces the changes that are happening,
pre- and inservice educators are given opportunities to learn about and become effective virtual teachers,
effective professional development models are employed, and
preservice programs truly make technology an integral part of their programs.
The opportunity for positive change is right in front of us. The flame has been lit. Let’s keep the fire burning and turn lessons learned into “best practice.”