Schooling Interrupted: Educating Children and Youth in the Covid-19 Era

Izobraževanje na daljavo se izvaja že vec generacij, ceprav sta se njegov namen in oblika spremenila. Korespondencni tecaji, pri katerih ucenci prejemajo navodila po posti in odgovarjajo z nalogami ali vprasanji instruktor ju, segajo v sredino 19. stoletja, ce ne se bolj v preteklost. S spreminjanjem tehnologije se je spreminjal tudi nacin izobraževanja na daljavo. Radio, televizija, racunalniki in v zadnjem casu tudi svetovni splet so z leti podprli izobraževanje na daljavo. Raziskovalne studije o uporabi in ucinkovitosti izobraževanja na daljavo se skoraj izkljucno osredinjajo na visokosolsko izobraževanje. Nedavna sinteza raziskav kaže, da je manj kot pet odstotkov studij obravnavalo t. i. izobraževanje K-12. Zaradi pandemije covida-19 je izobraževanje na daljavo zacelo potekati tudi v solah in ucilnicah K-12. Izobraževanje na daljavo med pandemijo covida-19 se imenuje »poucevanje na daljavo v izrednih razmerah«, saj morajo ucitelji zaradi pomanjkanja raziskav, na katere bi se lahko oprli, najti hitre resitve v kar se da neidealnih okoliscinah, kar pri veliko uciteljih povzroca stres. Namen prispevka je odgovoriti na pet temeljnih vprasanj, tj.: s katerimi težavami so se pri izvajanju poucevanja na daljavo v izrednih razmerah srecevali ravnatelji in ucitelji;v kaksnih pogojih je bilo poucevanje na daljavo v izrednih razmerah ucinkovito od zacetka pojava pandemije covida-19;katere so prednosti poucevanja na daljavo v izrednih razmerah v solah in razredih K-12;katere so slabosti poucevanja na daljavo v izrednih razmerah v solah in razredih K-12;v koliksni meri bodo izkusnje, pridobljene pri poucevanju na daljavo v izrednih razmerah, vplivale na poucevanje in ucenje, ko se bo pandemija umirila. Prispevek se konca s kratkimi priporocili. V celotnem prispevku je poudarek na izobraževanju K-12.Alternate abstract:Distance education has been practised for generations, although its purpose and form have changed. Correspondence courses, in which students receive instruction via mail and respond with assignments or questions to the instructor, date back to the mid-i800s, if not earlier. As technology changed, so did the nature of distance education. Radio, television, computers, and, most recently, the internet have supported distance education over the years. Research studies on the use and effectiveness of distance education focus almost exclusively on higher education. A recent research synthesis suggests that fewer than five per cent of the studies have addressed K-12 education. The Covid-19 pandemic, however, has brought distance education into K-12 schools and classrooms. Distance education in the Covid-19 era has been referred to as emergency remote teaching (ERT) because, with little research on which to rely, teachers must improvise quick solutions under less-than-ideal circumstances, a situation that causes many teachers to experience stress. The purpose of this paper is to address five fundamental questions. First, what problems have K-12 school administrators and teachers faced in implementing ERT? Second, under what conditions has ERT been effective since the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic? Third, what are the strengths of ERT in K-12 schools and classrooms? Fourth, what are the weaknesses of ERT in K-12 schools and classrooms? Fifth, to what extent will lessons learned from ERT influence teaching and learning when the pandemic abates? The paper concludes with a brief set of recommendations. Throughout the paper, the focus is on K-12 education.