Leadership for Remote Learning

Strategies for Success

Ronald Williamson,Barbara R. Blackburn

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000359015
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Administration

Learn how to adapt leadership and keep motivation alive in a remote learning setting or hybrid school. In this essential book, bestselling authors Ronald Williamson and Barbara R. Blackburn share frameworks and tools you can use to immediately make a difference in your school. You'll learn how to do the following:

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• Navigate the change process in remote learning

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• Maintain a collaborative remote learning school

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• Address equity issues in remote instruction

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• Communicate effectively across online platforms

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• Provide essential professional development remotely

The chapter coverage ranges from school culture, to collaboration, to instructional leadership, to focusing on your own effective leadership. You will gain practical strategies and tips you can implement immediately to help your school and community flourish in a remote learning environment.

1
Leadership for Remote Learning

A year ago who would have predicted that virtually every school in the United States would move to remote learning? But that was the reality in early 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic swept the country.

In an instant schools were emptied and learning was transformed. Teachers and principals were immediately challenged to convert instruction from an intimate face-to-face experience to a more distant online setting.

Because of the rapid switch to remote learning, educators found themselves reacting to events rather than engaging in a more deliberate and thoughtful plan to move to remote learning. In too many cases instruction was a set of cobbled-together lessons anchored in resources teachers quickly found online, supported by sets of worksheets and other learning materials and including an occasional video or synchronous presentation on a video conferencing site.

Since then, we’ve watched as educators accepted the change, focused first on students and adapted their instruction. We applaud everyone for their work during those challenging times.

At the writing of this book six months have passed and a new school year is underway. All the signs are that districts have planned for a much different remote learning experience.

This book is not designed to critique the efforts of educators to provide a robust remote learning program, but rather to support those efforts. It is designed to provide leaders with strategies and tools they can use to immediately make a difference in their remote learning program.

No one knows what the future holds. Some schools have already returned to face-to-face instruction. Many have implemented a hybrid model combining face-to-face with a virtual component. Others extended their remote learning programs. In almost every case, when face-to-face instruction resumes, families have been provided an option for remote learning.

Starting the Conversation About Remote Learning

Over the past few months we’ve talked with countless school leaders. What’s clear is that schools where the leader created a collegial culture were more successful when transitioning to remote learning. So, we spent time inquiring about the things that contributed to their success and organized the book around those issues.

Here are some questions those principals suggested as good ways to think about continuing to refine their remote learning program:

• How do you create a sense of urgency about the need to provide a quality remote learning program?
• How do you nurture and support a culture of collaboration among teachers when working remotely?
• How do we build ownership of our remote learning model among teachers, staff and the families we serve?
• How can we engage families and community in our remote learning program so that it has the vitality and rigor of our face-to-face program?
• How will we measure the success of our remote program, and how will we use that data to monitor and adjust what we’re doing?
• What additional professional development is needed to support our remote learning program?
• How do we support families so that they can support our students while in remote learning?
• What strategies will we adopt to build support for remote learning among families and the greater school community?
• What adjustments do we need to make to the use of time, personnel and other resources to support our remote learning program?

What Is Remote Learning?

Across the nation there are a variety of models for remote learning. Some are entirely online with both synchronous and asynchronous components. Some are a hybrid of traditional in-school instruction a few days each week supplemented by online lessons. But the mix varies across states and school districts.

When we talk about remote learning, we’re talking about the instruction that occurs when students are learning from home and teachers are working remotely. It can be a mix of instruction, including some whole-group teacher-led lessons, small online work groups and independent study. Students may be involved in discussions, watch short videos, complete online readings and activities or work on projects with other students.

There are key terms related to remote learning that provide a common base for understanding.

Terms Related to Remote Learning

Asynchronous Learning

Students access information and learn at various times. Typically, the teacher provides independent work, which may happen individually or in small groups.

Synchronous Learning

Students are learning at the same time, which allows for real-time interaction with the teacher. Video presentations are the most typical example of synchronous learning.

Gamification

Instruction based on gaming principles, including the use of point scoring, trophies and badges, various “levels” and leaderboards to increase engagement.

Hybrid Learning

Sometimes called blended learning, this is a mix of in-person and online or remote learning.

Learning Management System (LMS)

A software program where instruction and assessment are available. Typically, students are assessed and instruction is provided based on that assessment.

Social Media Learning: Social media learning refers to building of student learning through collaboration, discussion and creation and sharing of content through platforms such as blogs, wikis, Twitter and Facebook.

Virtual Classrooms: Virtual classrooms take place over the Internet rather than in a physical classroom.

Hybrid Instruction: A mix of remote, virtual instruction and on-site instruction.

The key to a successful remote learning model is that there is not one perfect model. Remote learning recognizes the uniqueness of every school district, every classroom and every teacher. While there may be constraints like the length of the school day or the adopted remote learning platform, teachers are encouraged to practice the “art of teaching” and continue to design instruction that is both engaging and motivational.

Challenges of Remote Learning

The swift transition to remote learning revealed lots of challenges. First and foremost was the uneven access to robust Internet services and even access to computers and/or tablets. In some communities, urban and rural, more than 40% of families lacked high-speed Internet access. It’s a challenge to participate in online learning without this access.

But Internet access was not the only equity challenge. Families were immediately confronted with how to support their children’s remote learning, especially when parents must work. Even when parents worked from home, they often found themselves competing with their children to use the computer.

Childcare and Internet access issues meant that a “one size fits all” approach to remote learning was inappropriate. Some students could not access a synchronous lesson and missed out on the discussion involved in such instruction. Accommodations were required for those students.

Few teachers had ever taught an online class. That meant there was a steep learning curve around technology, especially if the district adopted a new remote learning platform. Professional development and other training were often haphazard and inconsistent.

There will be other challenges. How to assure students with disabilities continued to receive services was a major concern. Similarly, there was an issue with how to address the learning needs for English language learners.

The good news is that America’s teachers and school leaders responded, and there are countless examples of how each of these issues was addressed. That’s the message of this book. There are solutions and there are strategies. Our goal is to discuss the issues more deeply and provide you with a generous supply of examples that you can use to design your own solution, one that appropriately fits your school and community.

Organization of the Book

Our goal in this book is to provide a variety of tools you can use, no matter where you are in the remote learning process. You may be using a fully remote instructional plan, a hybrid model or a fully face-to-face process. You may also be moving between two of those options due to changing conditions. We believe you will find helpful information, no matter what your situation. The chapters range from culture to professional development to focusing on your own leadership.

Chapter 2	Navigating the Change Process in Remote Learning
Chapter 3	Nurturing Your School’s Culture in a Remote Setting
Chapter 4	Maintaining a Collaborative Remote Learning School
Chapter 5	Communicating Effectively During Remote Learning
Chapter 6	Instructional Leadership in a Remote Learning Setting
Chapter 7	Providing Essential Professional Development Remotely
Chapter 8	Ensuring Equity During Remote Instruction
Chapter 9	Challenges and Concerns Related to Remote Learning and Leadership
Chapter 10	Focusing on Yourself as a Leader in a Remote Environment

You’ll also find a variety of charts and tools you can use to apply the concepts, as well as a “What If?” feature t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Meet the Authors
• 1 Leadership for Remote Learning
• 2 Navigating the Change Process in Remote Learning
• 3 Nurturing Your School’s Culture in a Remote Setting
• 4 Maintaining a Collaborative Remote Learning School
• 5 Communicating Effectively During Remote Learning
• 6 Instructional Leadership in a Remote Learning Setting
• 7 Providing Essential Professional Development Remotely
• 8 Ensuring Equity During Remote Instruction
• 9 Challenges and Concerns Related to Remote Learning and Leadership
• 10 Focusing on Yourself as a Leader in a Remote Environment
• References