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Things have changed. On that, we can all agree. But will they be forever changed, especially regarding the use of technology in K-12 education, once school buildings reopen after the coronavirus pandemic subsides? The answer is just beginning to emerge as school districts begin crafting their strategies for what teaching and learning will look like for the 2020-21 academic year and beyond.
Consider the case of the Joliet public schools, a K-8 district in Illinois.
In 2018, it began piloting a 1-to-1 computing program for its 6th graders. Until then, students across the district had been using laptops stored in shared carts that never left the school building.
The plan had been to begin providing the students with devices they could take home and keep until high school, so that within three years, all students in grades 6-8 would have take-home devices. Students felt more ownership of the devices than they did previously because they knew they'€™d get to keep them through middle school, said Theresa Rouse, the district'€™s superintendent. '€œIt was a really good plan and it was working really well,'€ Rouse said.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. It became crystal clear that many elementary students would need take-home devices during state-mandated school closures. The district'€™s technology team quickly set to work cleaning, repairing, and updating classroom devices for home use.
That process took almost a month. Now, all students in grades 2-8 have their own devices at home, and the district is hoping to procure even more for youngsters in kindergarten and 1st grade.
Those devices, and the round-the-clock learning they can facilitate, won'€™t evaporate once the imminent COVID-19 threat has passed. '€œWhat will come out of this is an acceleration toward using more and being more confident and competent using digital tools,'€ said John Armstrong, the district'€™s director of technology and information services.
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