Challenges for the COVID Cohort Transitioning from High School to College - teaching gap learning gap social gap moral gap

Challenges for the
       COVID Cohort
     Transitioning from
   High School to College
                                                           teaching gap
                                                           learning gap
                                                             social gap
Janet Takata, P.Eng.                                         moral gap
1st Year Math, Engineering Technology, Conestoga College

Teaching and Learning Gaps
Despite our best efforts at high school and college, we were not able to deliver all course material in our usual
thorough way. Students have missed material.

• Less time to plan and deliver material as we adjusted to new restrictions and had to learn new technology.

                                            • Units were left out or not taught with the usual rigour or
                                              necessary repetition/practice due to constraints beyond our control.
                                            • Not enough time for math concepts to “percolate”. High school
                                              had longer periods (exceeding attention spans) and subjects were
                                              concentrated on consecutive days.
                                            • Hands-on and group activities that normally engage students were
                                              often not possible. Fewer opportunities for active learning –
                                              critical for students who thrive on contextual delivery.
Photo by Carl Heyerdahl on Unsplash

                                                                                                      continued…….

Teaching and Learning Gaps continued
• Students can be shy or too intimidated to ask questions or contribute ideas on Zoom. They feel
  more exposed. Some students like the private chat function in Zoom though.
• Less opportunity to learn from student attempts (eg. on the board), for students to learn process.
  Online teachers cannot wander the class and give guidance on students’ work in progress.
• Technology challenges:
    o Some students don’t have adequate internet or devices that
      make online learning easier (reliable computer/printer/scanner,
      webcam, a comfortable or private workspace).
    o Students and teachers must navigate new learning management
      systems, math editors, various communication platforms and
      technology for submitting work. Time-consuming and stressful.
    o Technical glitches are inevitable.                                                Photo by Elisa Ventur on Unsplash

Social Gaps
•   Students missed opportunities in high school to develop the social skills that make
    them more confident interacting with teachers and peers.

•   Online teachers can’t “read” the body language or facial expressions of students,
    especially when cameras are off. We can’t identify students who are struggling but not
    asking for help and give them the attention they need. We are missing the constant and
    essential micro-feedback we get from being in person.
•   Students do not have as much opportunity to be positively inspired by their peers
    whether it’s reminding one another of due dates, collaborating in class or normalizing
    the asking of questions and volunteering of answers. It is harder to build casual study
    groups.

•   Students do not get to know their classmates and teachers like they do in person and
    it’s harder to build an environment of trust where students feel free to take risks,
    to make mistakes. Many are too shy to ask questions or contact teachers for extra
    help.                                                                                     Photo by Ann Fossa on Unsplash

Moral Gaps – Academic Integrity
                                   • Extra stress during COVID and opportunity have made cheating
                                     more tempting. Students rob themselves of meaningful feedback,
                                     of learning, of developing problem-solving skills.

                                   • Lots of easy ways to cheat: communication during evaluations,
                                     contract cheating sites like Chegg, cheating apps like PhotoMath.

                                   • Different cultural norms.
                                   • Fuzzy moral lines. We live in a society where “beating the
Photo by Ravi Roshan on Unsplash     system” is acceptable. How many of us use illegal streaming
                                     services or share subscription passwords? Or share accounts like
                                     Netflix outside our household?

                                   • Valuing Marks over Learning

Minding the Gaps
                                 Teaching and Learning Gaps – Catching Up

                                 •   The first year math in Engineering Technology is already a review of elementary and
                                     secondary level math. Even before COVID we’ve always had a wide range of math skills
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                                     in each new cohort. This is a chance for students to (re)learn basic math skills they
                                     may be missing, made more palatable by plenty of applications.

                                 •   Excellent Math Help services at Conestoga with individual and group help, with or
                                     without appointment. Service is free.

                                 •   College math teachers are available for help outside of class.

                                 •   In my class: Handwritten “scan and submit” evaluations for students to show (and get
                                     feedback on) process.

Minding the Gaps
                                 Teaching and Learning Gaps – Technology

                                 •   All online course “shells” on e-conestoga have consistent structure and content so
                                     students can easily find course information and resources.
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                                 •   College teachers spend time orienting students to new system.

                                 •   Excellent IT help readily available for both students and faculty.

                                 •   Last year there was a student device loan program.

                                 •   I use practice sessions to familiarize students with online evaluation platforms.

                                 •   We are as understanding and flexible as possible when students have technical
                                     issues because we have them too!

                                 •   Students are generally more comfortable with technology than many faculty.

Minding the Gaps
                                 Social Gaps

                                 •   Students rank isolation from classmates as the number one obstacle to their
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                                     success at college.

                                 •   Encourage but cannot insist on cameras on during zoom classes.

                                 •   Students are connecting outside of class on platforms like Discord or MS Teams.

                                 •   I try to normalize/catalyze question-asking and comment-giving from students by
                                     pretending there are questions/comments coming in through direct chat.

                                 •   Students can annotate Zoom whiteboard anonymously.

                                 •   Tutorials in small groups.

Minding the Gaps
Moral Gaps – My Personal Approach
•   Lack of secure remote evaluations in math is a big problem.

•   Lots of discussion in class about Academic Integrity – expectations and consequences. Lots of discussion about
    learning vs marks, the value of a mistake or low grade.

•   No high-stakes evaluations. Frequent low-stakes evaluations.
    Create unique and distinctive quiz/assignment questions.

•   Give several versions of the same quiz or use randomized question bank.

•   Tighten up time for evaluations.

•   Interviews at end of semester encourage independent work.

•   Alert to identical solutions. Lots of info available on system re e-conestoga activity,
    IP addresses etc. Swift action taken if cheating discovered. Emotion and time drain.

•   Invigilation tools like Respondus Lockdown (I’m against)                                       Photo by Bermix Studio on Unsplash

Going out on a limerick.

A dozen, a gross and a score
Plus three times the square root of four,
  Divided by seven,
  Plus five times eleven
Is nine squared and not a bit more.