Remote Instruction

10 Ways to Make Online Learning Work

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 12/07/20

While there's not anything new in, "10 Ways to Make Online Learning Work," the report is a good reminder that education quality shouldn't go by the wayside even during a pandemic.

Among the topics: connecting all learners with devices and high-speed internet, supporting teachers by providing the professional development they need and then recognizing their efforts with "credits and compensation," following best practices for online programs from sources such as ISTE, SETDA and the National Standards of Quality and rethinking the use of instructional time "to take advantage of the strengths of both synchronous and asynchronous learning."

The report was developed by the former (bipartisan) directors of the Office of Educational Technology in the U.S. Department of Education and published by the "COVID Collaborative," which includes the Council of the Great City Schools, the Council of Chief State School Officers, the National Governors Association and the American Enterprise Institute. The collaborative is working under the auspices of UNITE, self-described as a "national collective for united Americans around shared challenges we can only solve together."

Each topic provides advice with data and evidence, including examples of successful approaches by schools. The purpose of the project is to acknowledge that online learning "will likely make up part or all of student learning for most schools for the foreseeable future" and to "improve the quality" of that learning for both students and teachers.

Ultimately, the report noted, even as the pandemic "has disrupted nearly every facet of education," it also serves as a "runway" for rethinking the learning experience that will serve "the needs of all children, not just a lucky few."

"10 Ways to Make Online Learning Work" is openly available on the COVID Collaborative website.