So the Canadian Society for the Study of Education is having their annual congress this week (starting tomorrow I believe). I looked through the program and here are the sessions related to K-12 distance, remote, online, blended, and hybrid learning that I was able to find based on titles and abstracts. Note that if anyone is attending the conference and wants to share the notes from the session, I would be happy to post them here.
Sunday, May 28
Speculative World Building and Professional Development in Secondary School Contexts
Session Technology Date Sunday, May 28 8:15 AM Duration 1 hour 15 minutes This paper details a professional development workshop series on science fiction, speculative world building, and digital storytelling delivered remotely in the fall of 2020. Conducted during a period of remote learning and uncertainty catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic, this professional development workshop series was delivered virtually to 7 participants teaching a range of subjects such as English Language Arts, Science, Religion, and Music across a variety of modalities and grades, and built on previous research exploring world building with both secondary students and pre-service teachers. This paper will consider: (a) ways to effectively design and run professional development on genre-based approaches to pedagogy; (b) how educators are thinking about the future and future-oriented storytelling across grades and subjects; (c) how educators utilize resources on science fiction and world building towards myriad pedagogical goals. Providing both an overview of the professional development workshop series and participating teachers’ reflections on the role of speculative storytelling in their practice through pre-workshop surveys, post-workshop semi-structured group interviews, and follow-up individual interviews, this paper provides a foundation upon which further professional development opportunities on science fiction, speculative storytelling, world building, and digital storytelling might be crafted to bridge speculative theorizing and pedagogical practice.
Speakers
Secondary student engagement and resistance during the pandemic
Session Differential Access to Well-Being in K-12 Schools: Pre Covid and in COVID Date Sunday, May 28 9:45 AM Duration 1 hour 15 minutes During the pandemic in Ontario, schools were closed for months at a time, shifting students to online learning. Working from home, students struggled to complete work amid varying conditions and while grappling with interlocking crises of the global pandemic, an economic recession, a social justice reckoning, and the rise of disinformation and far-right extremism. In this context, using a lens of social reproduction theory and resistance pedagogy, my research examines student engagement with learning and what motivated them to engage with or disengage from school. From a secondary analysis of a 2020/2021 board-administered survey, and student and teacher interviews, the study finds that students were largely disengaged from learning throughout COVID. Motivation to engage came many sources, including intrinsic interest, parental pressure, teacher relationships, future goals, and competition. Reasons for disengagement included low academic expectations, few consequences, increased responsibilities, mental illness, lack of relationships, and a feeling of overwhelm from global issues at the time. Students felt increasingly isolated at a moment when solidarity and community were most important. To re-engage students in school post-pandemic, educators and policymakers should ensure that the school experience is relevant to youth given the social issues they face every day.
Speakers
UNPRECEDENTED TIMES’: UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF THE EDUCATIONAL CHANGES DUE TO COVID-19 ON STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
Session Differential Access to Well-Being in K-12 Schools: Pre Covid and in COVID Date Sunday, May 28 9:45 AM Duration 1 hour 15 minutes The pandemic has changed the face of education for Ontario elementary school students. This study examines the influence of the physical changes, online learning, school environment, and the changes to resources and supports on elementary school students with disabilities. Furthermore, this study explores how students’ behaviors have been impacted by these changes. In order to examine how the educational changes of the pandemic have impacted students with disabilities, semi structured interviews were conducted with fourteen caring adults: primary caregivers, teachers and support staff for elementary school students with disabilities. Findings suggest that students with disabilities behaviors are being impacted by educational changes due to Covid-19. For most participants, the online learning environment was not successful and impacted their students learning outcomes and amplified their behavioral concerns. Participants suggest that the accessibility of resources and supports has suffered and has been limited during peak times of the pandemic. In the midst of a global pandemic, it is crucial to examine the impacts of the educational changes on disabled students to ensure that students well-being and academic success is being maintained.
Speakers
Monday, May 29
Emergency Remote Assessment Experiences of Teacher Candidates in Ghana during COVID-19
Session Technology and Teacher Education in International Contexts Date Monday, May 29 8:15 AM Duration 1 hour 15 minutes The plethora of studies on students’ remote assessment experiences in higher education have been well documented in many developed countries. In this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study, n=20 Ghanaian teacher candidates were recruited and interviewed to explore their remote assessment experiences during COVID-19. After a systematic inductive analysis of the interview data, the findings show that remote assessment did not prioritise individualized questioning and feedbacks and had a catastrophic impact on the academic performance of most teacher candidates. Socioeconomic background and geographic locations exposed most teacher candidates to several interrelated challenges, hindering their online assessment practices, and serving as breeding grounds for academic impersonation and cheating during online assessment tasks. This study provides an initial and significant understanding of remote assessment experiences of Ghanaian teacher candidates, providing critical insights into improving and supporting teaching, learning and teacher development.
Speakers
Technology and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Critical Perspectives
Location Seymour Schulich Building (SSB) S125 Date Monday, May 29 11:15 AM Duration 1 hour This presentation reports on the second phase of a two-year study on the enactment of COVID-19 education policy by secondary teachers, focusing on hybrid learning in Ontario. Hybrid learning broadly refers to the simultaneous teaching of students online by a teacher with students in-person. Its use to meet Ministry requirements for live instruction online has been uneven and contested throughout the province. During March and April 2022 we spoke with nine teachers in three school districts to understand variables impacting their enactment of hybrid learning in a rapidly changing context of crisis that our study found impacted student and teacher well being, workload, and educational equity. Our findings juxtapose the rationale of crisis education policy against the varying realities confronting teachers and students. They also highlight challenges administering hybrid learning relative to the values of participants and stated aims of policy in the study.
Topics
Tracks
- In person / Sur place
- Spotlight / Point de mire
- TATE ? TFEE
Hybrid Learning in Ontario and Crisis Education Policy
Session Technology and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Critical Perspectives Date Monday, May 29 11:15 AM Duration 1 hour This presentation reports on the second phase of a two-year study on the enactment of COVID-19 education policy by secondary teachers, focusing on hybrid learning in Ontario. Hybrid learning broadly refers to the simultaneous teaching of students online by a teacher with students in-person. Its use to meet Ministry requirements for live instruction online has been uneven and contested throughout the province. During March and April 2022 we spoke with nine teachers in three school districts to understand variables impacting their enactment of hybrid learning in a rapidly changing context of crisis that our study found impacted student and teacher well being, workload, and educational equity. Our findings juxtapose the rationale of crisis education policy against the varying realities confronting teachers and students. They also highlight challenges administering hybrid learning relative to the values of participants and stated aims of policy in the study.
Speakers
Lessoned Learned or Lost? A Review of COVID-19 Technology and Education plan
Session Technology and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Critical Perspectives Date Monday, May 29 11:15 AM Duration 1 hour The global COVID-19 pandemic resulted in wide-scale, rapid educational changes, throwing into sharper relief many previously known or suspected educational inequities and inequalities. This presentation will overview a selection of short-term, pandemic-related studies, white papers, and other gray, but educationally focused literature published between June 2020 and September 2022. The search cast widely for literature that focused on the change that the global pandemic demanded to modes of delivery, pedagogies, pedagogues, learning, and learners in K-12 and higher education. This included literature that was not just empirical or theoretical, but also opinion-based and/or ‘technological how-to’. Our intent is to provide some key thematic areas present in current pandemic focused literature, with a view to b.etter understanding educational sector changes and challenges beyond those we already know first-hand or anecdotally.
Speakers
Re-imagining literacy in lockdown: A survey of Canadian educators’ experience providing for quality at-home teaching and learning
Session Reimagining Literacies Date Monday, May 29 1:30 PM Duration 1 hour 15 minutes In Canada during late 2019, governments closed educational institutions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This resulted in teachers pivoting from classroom-based instruction to remote learning. During this time, many teachers continued to face unprecedented challenges in providing for high-quality teaching, learning, and assessment. Through survey methods, this study aimed to document the experiences of teachers of K-12 classrooms across Canada, particularly inOntario, Manitoba, and Alberta, inresponse to the sudden shift from classroom-based to remote learning and to the increased dependency on digital technology. Survey questions focused on ascertaining teachers with instructional needs as well as inquire into the extent to which they received moral, social, personal and professional support, and motivation while navigating at-home schooling as a result of the pandemic.This study yields important findings thatcontribute to a wider conversation about the opportunities and challenges for remote learning and looking ahead, the systematic supports needed for teachers and parents/caregivers.
Speakers
Les pratiques pédagogiques gagnantes en situation de pandémie pour façonner l’avenir de l’éducation en milieu minoritaire francophone au Manitoba et en Nouvelle-Écosse
Session RÉÉFMM Multi-paper / Plusieurs communications Date Monday, May 29 1:30 PM Duration 1 hour 15 minutes Depuis le mois de mars 2020, en raison de la pandémie de la CoVID-19, les enseignants ont vécu la fermeture des écoles et l’enseignement en ligne à plusieurs reprises et intervalles. En nous reposant sur les données qualitatives provenant de 40 entrevues semi-dirigées effectuées en automne 2021 avec les enseignants Å“uvrant en milieu minoritaire francophone en Nouvelle-Écosse et au Manitoba, nous allons explorer trois défis pédagogiques rencontrés par les participants. Par la suite, nous expliqueront comment les enseignants décrivent avoir surmonté ces défis. Les résultats se concentreront sur les pratiques pédagogiques gagnantes développées en situation d’urgence qui pourraient être appliquées à un enseignement en présentiel ou en mode hybride à l’avenir.
Speakers
Tuesday, May 30
Navigating School Remotely: Experiences of Students with Disabilities and Their Families During COVID-19
Session CAEP-ACP Posters / Présentations visuelles Date Tuesday, May 30 9:45 AM Duration 1 hour 15 minutes The COVID-19 lockdowns created an educational climate where virtual learning was no longer an option, but rather a necessity. The expeditious transition to online learning reduced the time available for educators to develop lesson plans for remote delivery, making the shift demanding for all stakeholders. While the transition was difficult for all, it was especially challenging for students with disabilities. The variation in at-home learning and the challenge of supporting students with disabilities meant the role of parents in facilitating learning differed. My research aims to add to emerging literature on remote learning and address the research gap related to parent involvement during at-home learning by considering the following questions: How were parents of children with disabilities beliefs about learning made evident while supporting their children during the first COVID-19 lock down? In what ways did these beliefs shift throughout their experience of learning at home? How did parents view their role in at home learning? This research will employ a qualitative methodology using secondary data analysis of 36 interviews with Canadian parents of students with disabilities, exploring their experiences with virtual learning. I will conduct a thematic analysis, identifying common and unique themes emerging from the data.
Speakers
Examining Barriers to Technology Integration in the Wake of COVID-19
Session Table 15: TATE-TFEE Roundtables / Tables rondes Date Tuesday, May 30 9:45 AM Duration 1 hour 15 minutes Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has transformed every aspect of daily life. ICTs have shaped the way in which we live day to day and how we work. In schools, ICTs have increasingly been implemented in classrooms for learning. However, educators’ efforts to implement ICTs in their teaching are still hampered by a variety of barriers. Merely having access to ICTs in schools does not necessarily translate into teacher use of these tools, nor impart potential benefits such as increased student achievement. Researchers detail that teachers also lack access to ongoing, high quality Professional Development (PD) that shows them how to leverage ICTs that improve their teaching practice and maximize student learning. This roundtable presentation will examine the barriers to technology integration using Ertmer’s (1999) framework, and Mishra and Koehler’s (2006) TPACK technology integration model. These will be used to examine and highlight what current research literature says about the challenges and opportunities of technology integration in classrooms. Last, lessons about technology integration learned (and still unlearned) from technology-mediated online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic will be examined to help inform future research in educational technology integration.
Speakers
Love and The Distance
Session TATE-TFEE Posters / Présentations visuelles Date Tuesday, May 30 9:45 AM Duration 1 hour 15 minutes Holistic educators have emphasized the role of love and care in pedagogy (Miller, 2018; hooks, 2003), citing qualities that flourish particularly through a fully embodied presence in the physical space of a classroom. With the increase in digitalized classrooms after the COVID-19 pandemic, the nature of online teacher presence in the classroom has been rendered problematic, particularly as students and teachers have been required to adjust their previous classroom experiences to completely online or hybrid settings. One question that arises throughout the transition to online experiences is, to what extent can teachers exert a positive, caring, and nurturing presence given the affordances of online classroom technologies. This qualitative study will explore the ways that teachers in holistic education have coped with the recent shift from in-person to online learning. The research questions guiding this approach are as follows: What adjustments have teachers had to make– physically, mentally and emotionally– to the shift toward online/hybrid learning spaces?What are the challenges to being present that teachers observe, both in themselves and in their students, in an online learning environment References hooks. (2003).Teaching community’¯: a pedagogy of hope. Routledge.Miller, J.P. (2018).Love and Compassion: Exploring Their Role in Education. University of Toronto Press.
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Teacher Perceptions of an Online Training Module on Accommodations for Students with Mathematical Learning Disabilities
Session Special education populations Date Tuesday, May 30 11:15 AM Duration 1 hour Prevalence of students with specific mathematical learning disabilities(MLDs)is estimated to be as high as 10%(Swanson et al., 2018)in schools today.It is therefore vital that teachers have the necessary training to help them become knowledgeable and comfortable with the use of accommodations for these students. The proposed study will pilot a newly developed online training module for MLDs with elementary and secondary general classroom and special education teachers,which will then be evaluated for its efficacy through the use of a think-aloud protocol and semi-structured interviews.This study will provide essential insight about the components required for creating effective teacher training programs in the future.
Speakers
Can you hear me now?’ Online Virtual Learning and Immigrant Families’ Experiences.
Session “Can you hear us now?” Critical analysis of neoliberal neoconservative educational ‘reform’ Date Tuesday, May 30 11:15 AM Duration 1 hour This presentation draws from a study with immigrant families in Ottawa during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic when schools pivoted to online learning. Using critical theory to understand how families and students experienced online schooling and in-person schooling during the pandemic, we look at how inequities continue to be reproduced within the education system. Access to economic and symbolic resources mediated the experiences students, parents and siblings had during this tumultuous time. While some families thrived in their new situations, others struggled with mental health issues, deteriorating family dynamics and lack of support. We argue that as virtual schooling continues and becomes more entrenched in our public education system, attention to the ways it continues to marginalize our vulnerable students and families becomes ever more pressing. We cover some of the practices that schools employed which helped families feel supported through this time.
Speakers
Wednesday, May 31
A scoping review of empirical evidence: A framework of online engagement and support for adolescent students
Session Secondary school education Date Wednesday, May 31 8:15 AM Duration 1 hour 15 minutes The global rise of online learning as a viable alternative to face-to-face delivery of learning has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic due to the massive school closures in 90% of 188 countries by April 2020 (UNICEF, 2020). This scoping review of empirical evidence examined adolescent student perceptions of being supported and engaged during their online learning experience in synchronous or asynchronous learning environments. Through examining empirical evidence from 26 studies that gathered adolescent students’ perspectives in diverse online learning environments during their critical transition from high school to post-secondary learning. In light of the Adolescent Community of Engagement (ACE, Borup et al., 2014) and a Proximal Community of Engagement (PCE, Oviatt et al., 2016), with this review, we propose a framework of online engagement and support for adolescent students to provide some guidance for educators for developing online instruction for adolescent students
Speakers
The Digital Pandemic and its Impact on Online Learning Policy and Teacher Professionalism in Ontario
Session Leadership and Technology Date Wednesday, May 31 11:15 AM Duration 1 hour While online learning has enabled continuous public education services during the COVID-19 Pandemic, this critical sociology of the enactment of teacher professionalism policy in the province of Ontario reveals deep concerns about the impact of online learning on the teaching profession. Particularly how issues of digital inequity, public expectations, and isolation impact the teaching profession. An analysis of the enactment of online learning policy in Ontario illustrates how online learning reflects the global trend towards governmentality and neoliberalism that includes the privatization of education, the mystification of online teaching, the narrowing of professional discretion, and the commercialization of online learning. The unique historical moment of the Pandemic has led to a greater collective experience of online teaching and creates a unique opportunity to develop strategies to address the impact of online learning policy on public education and the profession.
Speakers
Action-research integrated into emergency COVID-Response: What we can learn from a new online tutoring partnership
Session Supporting teachers and students amid the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond Date Wednesday, May 31 11:15 AM Duration 1 hour This paper is an action-research study based on a university’”school board tutoring initiative, developed as an emergency response to educational harms associated with the pandemic. Our objectives are to understand the impact of our program on Grade 9 and Grade 10 students’ academic progress, relationships and academic self-concept, and on the tutors. We also aim to document and understand system-level challenges that raise issues for scaling and realizing the potential benefits of tutoring in practice. We used a mix of academic performance and survey data, tutor reflections, and self-reflection to understand our program’s impact. Successes included the creation of a new partnership and program, strong positive reports on caring relationships and motivation, and staff buy-in. Academic gains in the first year of this virtual tutoring program were limited and not statistically significant. Program design (weekly, afterschool sessions) and technical and legal limitations on how the program operated (cameras off, and often, mics off too) may have impacted academic impact. Not all tutoring is created equal and new public investments in tutoring, to bear fruit, will need to be guided by evidence, equity and continuous learning.
Speakers
Teaching and learning about peer-to-peer relationships through participatory action research with children
Session Teaching and learning about peer-to-peer relationships through participatory action research with children Date Wednesday, May 31 1:30 PM Duration 1 hour 15 minutes COVID-19 has limited the daily interaction of many children with their peers and impacted their participation in and access to activities that can create spaces for them to share their views, concerns and needs. Throughout the pandemic, decisions were being made to close and reopen schools, transition to online/hybrid classrooms, and a return to a different kind of schooling, without consulting children. Research shows that participation and relationships with peers are an essential aspect of school life and play an integral role in the social development and wellbeing of children (Holder & Coleman, 2015). This panel will address how teaching and learning can take place in and outside the classroom through participatory action research (PAR) with children to ensure that their voices are heard in education, policy, research, reform, and curriculum design.
Speakers
Teacher Professional Development for Educational Technology: Building from the Ground Up
Session Professional Development and Online Literacy Education Date Wednesday, May 31 4:30 PM Duration 1 hour 15 minutes In Canada, millions of dollars have been spent towards innovative teaching practices. Within the local contact, the provincial government of Newfoundland and Labrador announced $20 million for technology to support digital learning in the K-12 education system. An important supplement to the introduction of educational technology into classrooms is the professional development activities for teachers through which technology utilization can be facilitated. However, due to limited research in this area in Newfoundland and Labrador, it is unknown if teachers do incorporate educational technology in their day-to-day teaching and what professional development practices are followed. This study explored the characteristics and components of professional development that motivated and demotivated teachers towards using educational technology in their instructions. Using a qualitative constructivist paradigm as the foundation, a single case study design was applied. The data collection process included an online teacher questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and documentation review. Teachers identified three professional development characteristics that motivated them to use educational technology: collaboration, self-direction, and relevance. This study also provided useful insights for policy and suggested a framework for the context of Newfoundland and Labrador in relation to educational technology integration in classrooms.
Speakers
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