how did your students handle the switch to online education?

[downer]

Like it or not, colleges probably are going to have to realize something that k12 schools are also going to have to conclude, namely, that for many students (though certainly far from all), the online educational experiences of covid 2020 are going to amount effectively to a wasted year, especially in lower performing schools/ districts, and also lower-quality higher ed institutions, and esp if the student has any learning challenges.   It will not do to ignore or deny this fact, and we will have to deal with it.   Exactly what things need to be done to do that can be discussed, but whatever these things may be, they will take will... and money.

This seems wrong. I don't see the situation as parallel between k12 and colleges.

There seems to be some lowering of standards for k12 and some goals are not getting achieved. They just need the students to graduate.

I haven't seen evidence of lowering of standards in college. (Maybe there are some exceptions -- but it's not a huge trend.) I'm failing some more students, but most are doing OK. Seems like a lot of faculty are finding the same. Some students who fail will retake later, others will drop out of college. Presumably colleges will try to find a way to squeeze more money out of those students.

[kaysixteen]

You miss my point.    I am not arguing for lowering academic standards, either k12 or higher ed.   I am arguing for gearing up to allot big resources, financial and otherwise, to remediate and ameliorate the lost year effects of the pandemic on many students, even college students (many of whom, at lower rate schools and/or of lower socioeconomic background and/or minimal college fittedness, were not thriving before the pandemic, as has often been pointed out round here).   Our ed system, moreso k12 than higher ed, is already woefully disparate, and almost wholly inadequate at its lower end, and the pandemic ain't helping.   If real steps at mitigating the covid effects are not taken, right quick, well.... and this in any case is a shameful disgrace to America, and contrary to the requirements of our constitution.

[downer]

It's certainly true that many students, both k12 and college, have learned less due to the move to online ed. This will continue at least into summer 2021.

But can anything be done to make up for this? To reverse the losses in learning? What would that look like?

As far as I can see, schools will continue to teach as best they can. Even if there were money available to make extra effort, which seems dubious, what would we do it with it?

[mahagonny]

It's certainly true that many students, both k12 and college, have learned less due to the move to online ed. This will continue at least into summer 2021.

But can anything be done to make up for this? To reverse the losses in learning? What would that look like?

As far as I can see, schools will continue to teach as best they can. Even if there were money available to make extra effort, which seems dubious, what would we do it with it?

What everybody else is doing. That's how we measure ourselves, isn't it? If slippage from inadequate staffing, physical facilities, improper class size and other stuff were not to be tolerated, we would have been out of business before my career started.

[the_geneticist]

The ones who would be failing before still are.

The ones who would be acing before still are.

The intermediate ones tend to be doing pretty badly because they relied on absorption of material from lecture and don't do it on their own.

Yep, that's what I'm seeing as well.  The students who benefit from the structure of doing assignments in-person in class are the ones who are really struggling.  Taking a quiz is easy if it's handed to you in class.  Taking a quiz that you have to remember to log in to the LMS to take is harder.  The grades in lab are nearly bimodal - cluster of really high grades, a long tail, and a cluster of really low grades.

[downer]

I gave a low stakes quiz on a chapter from the textbook in one course. I just told the students to do the review questions at the end of the chapter. I'd forgotten that the answers are available at the end of the book.

But so too had half the students, so results were quite mixed.

[kiana]

Yep, that's what I'm seeing as well.  The students who benefit from the structure of doing assignments in-person in class are the ones who are really struggling.  Taking a quiz is easy if it's handed to you in class.  Taking a quiz that you have to remember to log in to the LMS to take is harder.  The grades in lab are nearly bimodal - cluster of really high grades, a long tail, and a cluster of really low grades.

Yes. Especially if you have to also upload your work in a separate assignment, and due to the online structure I **have** to be more rigid on work than I normally would be.

Normally the rules on things like factoring are "if you do it in your head it's either 100% or 0" but I can't let that slide this semester just because I have no verification that it was actually the student who did it in their head.

[Kron3007]

I am teaching a hybrid model with synchronous virtual lectures and in person labs.  Overall, I think the students are doing really well and based on the midterm they are picking up the material as I would expect in a normal year.  I had to make some changes to the labs and assignments that will likely make the average grads higher than normal, but I think the actual learning is probably on par with normal. 

We recently did group presentations online, and I think it was actually better quality than normal...

While the situation is not ideal, it has forced me to do a number of things that are actually working really well and I will incorporaqte into my class regardless of the future.  My lab has also been broken into smaller sections that meet less often, but it has really highlighted that my lab was too crowded before and the smaller groups is much better.  I think they are getting more out of the labs this year even though we meet less.  In the future, I will probably request to break my lab into multiple sections...

Of course, my experience is for a smaller, upper year elective with generally good students...

[kaysixteen]

I know that significant efforts at remediation of the covid ed deficits many kids are and will still be enduring need to be made, and that these must be made..  and that they will likely cost real money, which must be allocated and redistributed from wealthier areas/ people.   I am much less confident I know now in what form such efforts should take... thoughts?

[clean]

Class started with 33.  I issued 21 grades (including 1 incomplete).  6 As, 5 Bs, NO Cs!!  5 Ds and 4 Fs.  I have not had a class of this kind with NO Cs!!

There were a bunch of Fs from those that quit attending and several that dropped.  I have not had that percentage of people start and not finish before!

The Fs, and many of the Ds just didnt bother to do the homework (the problems at the end of the chapter that I started to require 3 semesters ago (before the CV issues popped up)). 

Did you see similar issues in online classes this term?

[HigherEd7]

You have no idea who is really doing their work!

[polly_mer]

I know that significant efforts at remediation of the covid ed deficits many kids are and will still be enduring need to be made, and that these must be made..  and that they will likely cost real money, which must be allocated and redistributed from wealthier areas/ people.   I am much less confident I know now in what form such efforts should take... thoughts?

No one will be doing any remediation, unless the pandemic lasts long enough for us to be in real danger of losing multiple cohorts of nurses, doctors, engineers, and other professions where we were short before the pandemic.  I do expect programs to arise that will help people who were in process finish up more quickly once the pandemic has passed and people can do in-person intensive courses.

The poor people who needed school the most are just going to be shorted.  At best, they will continue from where they left off when they dropped out to focus on their job or caretaking responsibilities.  At worst, they will never come back for more formal education because their lives have become too complicated.

The poor kids in K-12 are just out of luck in most cases, especially the ones who were mostly out of luck pre-Covid in crummy schools that were functioning more as food distribution and child care than any sort of formal educational institutions.

[clean]

You have no idea who is really doing their work!

Perhaps, but the majority of their exams are face to face, or given with Examity proctoring.

online quizzes had Respondus Monitoring as well.  SO I can not prove who did the text assignments, but NOT doing the homework would disadvantage the cheater on the exams. 

[AvidReader]

Some of my courses are still running, clean, but I have seen a similar split. I think I have had ONE student with a C out of the two classes that have finished. However, our withdrawal date was one week before the final exam, so I only had two F's.

AR.