School on the couch. Five life hacks for effective distance learning

The coronavirus pandemic has had a huge impact on the educational process. The transition to distance learning has become a real test for all its participants – both teachers, students, and parents. It is difficult for children to concentrate at the laptop screen, teachers – to keep their attention, and parents often have to become a teacher themselves and explain the lesson to their child several times. How to make the distance learning process as effective and comfortable as possible for all its participants? After all, the ability to study without getting up from a comfortable sofa opens up huge opportunities for students. In today’s globalized world, you can get access to the largest libraries in the world, and powerful Western universities and colleges offer to take their courses online. Distance learning has long become the norm in leading educational institutions in the world.

After all, the Ministry of Education of Ukraine understands this – last year, officials presented a draft Regulation on Distance Learning. Thus, the Ministry of Education and Science is trying to integrate online education into the familiar paradigm of face-to-face learning. According to the project, distance education is carried out on the basis of schools – it is schools that can open classes for distance learning. Teachers who will conduct online classes will do this during working hours, distance learning hours will be credited in the same way as classroom hours, and the school must provide the technical base for such work.

The project also provides that the school can decide for itself whether to implement full or partial distance learning. You can also try a mixed system, in which some classes study from home, and some at desks at school. Thanks to this approach, education will be accessible to all who wish, including those who do not have a computer or tablet at home.

Distance learning can be used for individual subjects or even individual topics, for conducting individual classes or consultations, for additional classes for children who are lagging behind and do not have time to master all the educational material, for additional psychological and corrective classes.

Therefore, distance education is no longer the future, but the very present.

That is why “DS” asked representatives of the Distance Education Center “European Collegium” how to organize online learning as effectively as possible: how should a teacher be trained, what rules should be followed during distance learning, and how to interest children and encourage them to study at home.

School Team
One of the necessary conditions for high-quality distance learning is teachers with knowledge of the subject and internal competencies focused on continuous development. Teachers must be interested in working in a new format, ready to learn in the process, adapt their approaches, and be more flexible. Each child is unique, children in the classroom perceive information differently, so the teacher must observe the behavior of students and select different teaching methods.

Today, teachers already have experience, so each teacher has developed his own model and combination of different types of activities, depending on the subject and the task set for the lesson.

Another important element that will help children cope with distance learning is a team supporting children and parents during their studies. Such a team may include an educational psychologist, an educational curator, and a class teacher. Everyone has tasks that help at different stages of learning to accompany the family on the educational path and solve issues that arise during the learning process.

Modern technologies in the distance space
Each school chooses its own platform for online learning. For the Distance Education Center “European Collegium”, E-learning was the ideal option – a platform for self-study with a catalog of developed lessons. It has a simple and intuitive interface, which allows you to easily refer to any subject task.

In addition, the school has long been using an electronic diary, which has versions for both personal computers and smartphones. Thanks to this platform, parents can see their child’s progress and pay attention to the subject with which they are having problems in a timely manner.

The school also uses the interactive space MS Teams for video communication during online meetings and personal consultations.

Correct selection of materials
It is already difficult to interest children with the usual basic text in a textbook. That is why adapted materials for independent learning are better tolerated are considered by modern students. Each lesson should contain not only text, but also images, additional materials (video presentations, animated images with sound, links to additional resources), which will allow for a deeper understanding of the topic. In addition, interactive tests or tasks for consolidating the material are placed for each topic on the online platform. Each such block should stimulate the student to think more deeply about the task and the studied material, form the habit of identifying the essence of the task and clarifying it, and switch to the mode of working with the necessary materials.

Educational community
School is not only lessons and memorizing rules and formulas. It is extremely important to create an environment in which the child will feel free and safe. This is precisely what requires a variety of extracurricular activities. At the Distance Education Center “European Collegium”, an educational community is being formed, where all electives and activities are aimed at developing skills that will be in demand in later life. A child can try different activities to understand what they like best. For example, schoolchildren can try their hand at IT, entrepreneurship, art, making crafts from different types of materials, journalism, or debating in a debate club. Such activities give an understanding of why we study, and a more conscious attitude towards education and choosing a profession in the future.

Rules of interaction and communication channels
Children need a system. A daily routine is extremely important. In order for schoolchildren to learn effectively, they need a planned schedule of the school day, an understanding of how the learning process will take place. Clear rules of interaction – instructions, checklists, rules of conduct during online lessons and meetings – really help to set them up for teamwork. With the help of such simple elements, students will be able to easily navigate the processes and understand at what stage they can get the necessary information/answer to a question, or any other help. Each class has several communication channels – both among themselves and with the school team.

Learning remotely is effective and worth trying. This format develops extremely important skills of responsibility, the ability to plan your time, and choose projects that are interesting right now. Online, it is possible to change activities at the distance of one click. Interaction and partnership work of all participants in the educational process are very important. Support from parents and teachers, a child’s interest in development gives the result we all so desire: happy and healthy children who are preparing for a successful adult life.