DISTANCE LEARNING: FCPS CAN DO BETTER Online learning needs improvements if quarantine continues into fall The staff editorial represents the opinion of the majority of The Highlander editorial board
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ith no sign of the coronavirus pandemic coming to an end in the U.S., the possibility of continued stay-athome learning in the fall is very plausible. If FCPS is to continue distance learning next year, it will need to make drastic improvements to its current plans. In a poll conducted in April by McLean’s Committee for Raising Student Voices, only 40.6% of 212 respondents said that they were satisfied with distance learning, while 59.4% were not. Complaints started when overlooked security flaws in Blackboard Collaborate Ultra disrupted classes. “We realized very quickly that using guest links was not secure enough, and we need to change the plan,” said Elaine Tholen, the Dranesville District school board representative. While FCPS fixed some initial problems, like the security failures, other complaints about the distance learning class structures have not been addressed.
IT’S SUPER AWKWARD THAT YOU CAN’T SEE YOUR CLASSMATES, SO NO ONE ACTUALLY WANTS TO TALK DURING SESSIONS.” -MARIA DUBASOV TJHSST SOPHOMORE “It’s super awkward that you can’t see your classmates, so no one actually wants to talk during the sessions,” Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology sophomore Maria Dubasov said. A lack of participation in sessions was a recurring complaint among Fairfax County 20 | OPINIONS | JUNE
students who responded to The Highlander’s survey in late May. Many students do not speak in class and others log in to receive credit for attending class but are not at their computer. “I would say, generally, [there is] at least one person per class period that I have to remove from the session at the end because they are unresponsive,” English teacher Anna Caponetti said. FCPS did not require students to participate in live sessions, so teachers are not able to ensure all students are paying attention. This causes teachers to spend too long waiting for a response and waste class time, which is already too short to be effective. “There...is no time to allow students to collaborate effectively...if you only have 45-minute installments and a week spaced out between them,” Caponetti said. Like class participation, FCPS did not set clear guidelines on how work should be assigned. Yet even in classes with high workloads, course plans are not challenging enough. “My teachers can’t go in-depth anymore due to the fact that it’s too difficult to learn challenging material through the virtual classroom,” Dubasov said. “Lots of my assignments are much easier than they would have been.” According to a 2020 study by the Northwest Evaluation Association, school closures will cause students to lose 30% of progress in reading and as much as 50% in math. A lack of challenging classwork has led some families to supplement their children’s learning with other resources. “Several families that I’ve talked to in the McLean pyramid have hired tutors to... augment some of the learning,” Tholen said. “I think it’s unfortunate that people aren’t feeling challenged, and...that is a big consideration that we will have looking forward with any distance learning.”
Distance learning accentuated inequality in FCPS and put underprivileged students at a disadvantage. Students whose families are able to afford additional learning support are likely to be better prepared for school next year. That could cause long term problems for underprivileged students, leaving them behind, unprepared
I THINK IT’S UNFORTUNATE THAT PEOPLE AREN’T FEELING CHALLENGED.” -ELAINE THOLEN DRANESVILLE DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD REPRESENTATIVE for classes and to score well on AP exams. FCPS will also need to address the unreliability of its web services. “My English teacher once got kicked out of her own Blackboard Collaborate session,” Dubasov said. “One time I started having connection problems even though my WiFi was fine and I missed half of a class because I couldn’t rejoin, even after I tried another computer and restarted my computer.” While Dubasov only had connection issues once, some students have had multiple failures. “I’ve disconnected from classes multiple times and been unable to reconnect, and overall it just hasn’t been a very good learning experience,” junior Lauren Grady said. Technical failures could bring down students’ grades if FCPS issues a more traditional grading policy next year. Ultimately, if distance learning is to continue in the fall, the school district must listen to the hundreds of student complaints echoing throughout the county and create a more substantial learning environment with clear expectations for students.
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