Photo by Alexander Sinn on Unsplash
It is hard to find the drive to write a post this week. I am on spring break and I should be relaxing, but I can’t get this out of my head. I was going to make a post on the basics of Adobe Premiere, but I have no access to this software at my house and therefore cannot screen capture the video. That got me thinking, how will I teach computers from home? Furthermore, how do I teach computers to learners who don’t have internet, or computers, at their house? I have realized that it is easy to take for granted the things we have, and it is only at a time like this do we see the issues many face around us.
The software adaptations are easy and the lessons would be based on the software the students would have access to, using their Microsoft school district accounts. I would have to retool what is taught to be based around that software only and not the Adobe suite that I, and my students, are used to learning. Overall, this adaptation is not hard. However, that does not solve the problem of accessibility to all learners. There is equity to think about. Though I don’t know how I am going to combat this issue, I am comforted to know that with our late spring break, this affords other districts to tackle that issue and come to some solutions that I can adapt to my own practice.
Though my class, while in the school, is based on individualized, self-paced, open learning, I would have to adapt and so will they. This will allow me to renew my understanding of certain, attainable software and expand my arsenal of learning for the students.
As for the school, I am thinking, with administration consent, I will start a school youtube channel where teachers can have their own playlist. That way they can screen record their lessons and load them onto the channel for the students to use and learn from. This will afford them to have access to their teachers and learn from them. Though this again does not answer the equity of access issue.
So here I am, sitting at this laptop, thinking of ways to close that chasm. I find it hard to visualize what form my content and teaching will take, but that is part of the challenge. Maybe, this will add new ways for me to reach learners. Maybe, this will force me to redefine my pedagogy. Maybe, I will just be spinning my wheels. I am unsure as to what the next few months will mean for the education system and how we teach at this time. However, until we answer this in a way in which I can reach all my learners, not just the privileged, there is little light at the end of the tunnel.
Your point is especially felt by those of us who need the physical resources in our schools in order to teach the practical, hands-on, experience-based, collaborative productivity that we model and embody in our students. The challenge will be create lessons that are broad enough to encourage them all to build their own “studios”.