What holds us back from moving forward?
Technology has advanced at an exponential rate over the past decade and given us access to information at a scale never before seen. What we can do today with technology would seem like magic to someone living 50 years ago. However, access to technology and knowing how to use it, or having the ability to access it is a different story. There are various barriers to accessing, using, and understanding technology and how to integrate it into the the learning process. The focus of this post will be to discuss the barriers that reared their heads during the pandemic.
Resources
The foremost problem I experienced was the lack of resources at home for many students and instructors. I have been teaching online for many years and moving my classes completely online was about as seamless as it can be. This was not the same case for everyone. Once students were informed that all classes were moving online, I received numerous emails from students stating that they did not have internet access at home, did not have a device at home other than their phone and did not know what they were going to do. The drastic shift to online learning was not as easy we think it was for some of our students. Public schools, Colleges, Universities needed to find ways to accommodate those students. Chromebooks and wi-fi hotspots were given out at no charge and schools set up wi-fi in their parking lots for students to work from the cars.
Instructors reached out from within my own department and needed help immediately with setting up classes, asking what they needed to do to get up and running in a few days. One instructor had never had internet at his apartment and did not own a personal computer. Resources are vital part of being successful online...and knowing how to use them is just as important.
Time - Instructors
Time to learn new technology and how to implement must come from somewhere. We only have so many hours in the day and many of us use those hours for content creation, grading, building activities, and advising. To take the time to learn something new and how to implement it into a classroom is daunting. Many of us go about doing what has worked and been successful in the past...the old mantra of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" fits very well here. Long time instructors have worked their way into a teaching style that just works. However, as technology makes it way into education, we must find a way to adapt. There is a quote from the Matrix Reloaded film that I keep in my back pocket - "if we do not ever take time, how can we ever have time"
Learning From Home
As for students, many of them lost the structure of the traditional classes, schedules, and the support that exists on campuses. They had to adjust to working online and no longer being able to interact and ask questions. Many were forced to manage working from home alongside siblings who were also transitioning to home learning themselves, negotiating the sharing of computers, tablets, laptops, and unreliable internet with Zoom calls, TEAMS meetings, etc. placed undo stress into many students lives.
Many students struggled with getting help accessing resources, setting up software, learning how to use various learning management systems (LMS) for their respective colleges and universities. We always assumed that our students are Digitally Ready - but many of them are just as lost as their instructors when it comes to moving online.
As a parent, I was now tech support for my youngest daughter. She was in the 4th grade when the pandemic started and finished off 5th grade completely online. I saw her frustration trying to complete assignments, making sure that all of her equipment was working properly, and trying to keep her motivated during the day was a chore. I also saw many of her peers going through the same issues and spoke to other parents that were not as well versed in technology struggling.
Training and Development
The lack of training for the basics at an institutional level is astounding. Professional development towards the simplest tasks - printing a file to PDF so that it can be uploaded into the LMS - is almost non-existent. This may seem trivial to some, but to others became a huge roadblock to getting information into the hands of their students.
Institutional Professional Development must adapt to the changes taking place and assess where faculty stand in relation to their level of technical knowledge and address those deficiencies. In my own experience, frustration at completing some of the basic tasks and a sense of helplessness becomes overwhelming for instructors, due to the lack of training and support from their institutions.
While we have the capabilities to overcome all of these barriers but there must be an intentional effort to get better and continue to support those who need assistance.
My advice to any institution is to get to know your populations as much as possible in relation to their levels of knowledge in technology and how to use it. Where do your instructors stand on how to implement different levels of technology in their classroom. Understand where your students are in regards to access to technology, how to use what they have access to, and what they need to learn more about.
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