Education continues to enter uncharted territory, largely due to the rapid deployment of digital learning solutions. School districts must align their educational technology solutions with the needs of students. Teachers, meanwhile, need to re-evaluate how they connect with and relate to students.
There's a lot to be gained from modern learning technologies. At the same time, digital transformation creates many challenges for educators.
As more and more districts transition to digital learning, it's important to address the pain points teachers encounter while navigating new technologies.
In this post, we’ll unpack 6 key digital learning challenges K-12 is facing today, plus how to overcome them.
Digital learning is about more than a Zoom call or a student portal. If done well, it can not only improve student outcomes but also make life easier for the teacher. Students can learn in their own way and at their own pace, taking advantage of both in-classroom and personalized, individual learning.
Virtual learning is also a great way for students to learn time management and gain valuable skills related to emerging technology like artificial intelligence.
It’s not uncommon for teachers to struggle to adapt to new digital solutions. Learning the basics of a digital platform when one's uncertain who to ask for help stresses out teachers and may impact student participation. An overwhelmed educator won’t be able to deliver the best possible learning experience.
One of the easiest ways to properly support overwhelmed employees is to create change champions within your school. Find team members with a solid track record of adopting new technology and put them in a position to help those struggling.
Turn your tech-savvy early adopters into authoritative voices that promote adoption and provide support. This directly solves the problem of teachers feeling overwhelmed and even contributes to creating a sense of community.
Not all technology is created equal. In many cases, your teachers may prefer to use solutions not authorized by your district. Not only can this fragment your user base, but it also creates headaches for your IT team, who must now navigate a tangled technology stack.
And that's not even getting into the potential security risks associated with unapproved third-party software, which may not be developed to the same standards as purpose-built EdTech tools.
Provide teachers and students with a unified experience that’s based on standardized technological solutions and combines effective training. This can be further supported by giving teachers access to a robust content library they can contribute to and grow together. Finally, always provide a way for teachers and students to offer feedback.
A common mistake school districts make is maintaining a fleet of devices that vary in age, make, and model to save money. As these devices age, they can end up increasing overhead as they begin to fail more frequently. Older devices may also lack the necessary functionality to support remote and digital learning.
School districts should strive to accommodate digital learning by creating a steady and reliable device refresh cycle. Replace old technology with new standardized systems so districts can maximize productivity and reduce the expense of repairs and maintenance. Alternatively, consider adopting a Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) deployment model.
Students and teachers can use devices with which they're familiar, and you'll spend less on both lifecycle management and maintenance — you can even maintain a small fleet of devices for anyone who'd prefer to use something deployed by the district.
One of the big drawbacks of digital learning is that it's easy to ignore an assignment or even an entire class. It's as much a problem of focus as it is an issue of self-discipline. Making matters worse, life can become complicated without clear separation between school and home life.
Provide parents and students with a detailed syllabus so they know what to expect from the class and check off work as it's completed. Calendars with set reminders can help communicate due dates, while personalized lesson plans can assist with focus and engagement. Ensure you also emphasize to students that they should take time for themselves and establish a clear boundary between school and home — if they spend all their time on schoolwork, that's a problem.
Many students have difficulty communicating and engaging with their teachers via digital learning. Keeping students focused is challenging when the teacher's not right there in the room. Not only that, certain classes like science or chemistry can be difficult to understand without physical interaction.
There's also the social side to think about. Remote learning can make it more challenging for students to make friends. They might also miss out on group work, which can be incredibly valuable for engagement and retention.
You might not be able to replicate the classroom experience completely, but you certainly emulate it. Encourage students to speak up and introduce themselves during class time. Create an online group where students can interact and discuss non-school-related subjects.
Hold forums where students can have intellectual discussions and offer their opinions. Be sure to set ground rules so discussions don’t get out of hand. Encourage students to work together on projects to re-create the social interaction they would get in a standard classroom setting — and provide them with tools to do so.
Learning has always been about the relationship between teacher and student to some extent. Digital learning hasn't changed that, but it does require teachers to find new ways to engage. Unfortunately, given how many distractions students might face when learning online, keeping students motivated and excited is significantly more challenging.
There are a few ways that teachers can make use of digital learning to keep students engaged.
First, personalize your course plan. Since face-to-face contact is minimal, creating a personalized plan that captures students' attention is more important than ever. This can mean various things, such as allowing students to mark up digital readings or creating a robust reporting system.
If you can't develop the plan, consider looking into adaptive learning, which uses AI to adjust content dynamically.
You'll also want to create a consistent schedule. When students are in the classroom, sticking to a schedule is easy. Find ways to enforce that schedule with digital learning, too — many students will benefit from the additional structure.
Lastly, track student engagement. How often are students logging in to your systems? How do they engage with them both during class and outside? Monitoring how engaged each student is over time can help you identify when someone is struggling, at which point you can proactively reach out.
The K-12 technology landscape has evolved a lot over the past few years, and it will continue evolving.
There will always be new challenges to overcome. With the right digital learning solution and enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform, you can position your district for success now and in the future. Sparkrock 365 can provide both. Book a demo today to learn how.