The back to school season is here, but the answer to the question of how and when public schools will resume classes during the 20/21 academic year remains uncertain. Five months after the officially announced lockdown the rate of coronavirus cases still isn’t showing a steady decline. By now, many states and districts haven’t arrived at a unanimous decision on whether or not to re-open K12 educational institutions this fall.
So what will the 20/21 academic year be like? With schools being an important part of social and economic infrastructure and the primary form of childcare for most US families, the tension around this question is escalating. Because of the need to homeschool their kids during the COVID-19 outbreak, many parents were forced to quit their jobs, and the economy is still recovering from the COVID-19 crisis. Regardless of which course the state and district authorities finally take, it will be up to parents to decide on the best format for their kids’ education.
In this article, we will explore the existing options and talk about 2020/21 back to school trends.
20/21 Academic Year: Exploring the Alternatives
For working parents, especially single parents, it doesn’ look like they even have any alternatives, other than waiting for schools to reopen, taking all necessary precautions, and hoping their kids won’t contract COVID-19.
At this stage, it is probably safe to assume that at least for the part of the year the schools will be closed. With quarantine likely to be reimposed, it looks like school will follow the on/off scenario. Obviously, distance learning will continue to be in high demand in 2021 and beyond. This leaves us with the three available options:
Distance Learning
Online learning and distance learning are not the same thing. While online learning implies that students work on online tasks while staying in the same classroom, distance learning presupposes that they work on assignments from the safety of their homes, and submit them to teachers in electronic format.
Distance learning is only a viable option for households with a parent or a babysitter to supervise the kid’s learning activities. In states like Maryland and Illinois, you can’t legally leave children home alone unless they are 8 and 14 years of age respectively. Other states use guidelines with the Department of Health and Human services limiting the time range during which kids can be left alone according to age. In a nutshell, only if your child is over 13, you may officially leave them home to distance-learn.
In reality, a lot will depend on your child’s maturity and a range of other factors. Most families are forced to compromise their economic well-being, since one of the parents has to quit a job to enable the kids to distance-learn.
While distance-learning is surely the best option during the pandemic, its downsides are also evident. Will the kids be able to cope with distractions? Will teachers succeed in keeping them engaged? The quarantine has caught educators unprepared, and despite the availability of fast-emerging tools and learning management systems, many find adjusting to a digital format challenging.
On top of that, socializing with peer students plays an important part in a child’s mental and emotional health and shouldn’t be taken off counts. The high-speed Internet-availability for low-income students also remains an issue.
Homeschooling
Distance learning implies that teachers play an active part in kids’ education: setting up the curriculum, assigning tasks, lecturing, knowledge assessment, etc. Homeschooling leaves it up to parents. Just like distance learning, homeschooling is not for everyone, but, as such, can have lots of benefits. Meeting a child’s individual learning needs and pace, the release from stress and anxiety, more time for creativity and exploration make families that have been previously contemplating homeschooling use quarantine as a great option to give it a try.
Today’s market offers a wide range of free and paid homeschooling resources, apps to assist homeschooling parents, expert advice, and guidelines. Most of these resources cover the K12 program and a lot of them help to prepare for college. Yet, becoming a homeschooling parent takes time, persistence, dedication, and, admittedly, talent.
Hybrid Learning
As the name implies, hybrid learning is a mix of learning approaches that educators may use selectively to adjust to the current student’s needs. In our current reality, hybrid refers to a learning model when some students attend a class in person while others join in a virtual format via video-conferencing. The learning model uses a lot of asynchronous learning tools, i.e. course materials that students can access any time, such as videos, audio, and graphics. Simply put, a vast portion of learning content is created through course authoring systems and available online.
Hybrid learning could be the most flexible of all the currently available options. It easily adjusts to each student’s individual situation, while enabling kids to preserve close ties with their schoolmates. It also makes learning less stressful and gives students on-demand learning content.
Admittedly, COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of online and distance learning. Today, as education institutions across the world are increasingly adopting hybrid learning, teaching their kids remotely while keeping a full-time job is a tricky balancing act for many parents.
The market response to the new type of demand from struggling parents was soon to follow. By the start of the 20-21 academic year, we are witnessing the unprecedented surge in private tutoring services. These services are in high demand now since so many parents are struggling with educating their kids during the lockdown. Some of the private tutoring professionals offer person-to-person learning sessions. Others may teach 4-5 kids at once. The tutoring service enabling kids to study remotely online and follow the pre-established district school curriculum under the tutor’s supervision is also gaining increasing popularity.
One way or the other, edtech and e-learning are quickly becoming the new normal. Although the effect of COVID-19 on the education system has been immensely disruptive, on the bright side a digital shift can be beneficial. Via gamification, personalization and immersive technologies students can now enhance the quality of their learning experience.
What remains disturbing is the impact the COVID-19 crisis is having on the economy and the society in general. One thing is for sure: the 20/21 academic year will radically transform the way we parent, teach, and learn.
Read also: Top 5 Reasons To Embrace E-Learning