Abstract
Virtual hybrid education is challenging for the average educator and less known with the additional stresses of emergency remote education. In most cases, educators rely on trial-and-error to determine what works best in online and hybrid instruction. Through this applied research, two education technology specialists engage in a duoethnography of their support over the 2020-2021 pandemic year. Having assisted hundreds of educators in an urban K12 school district with online and hybrid engagement practices, this study answers the question, “How can technology help facilitate student engagement in online and hybrid environments?” This chapter is built from narrative analysis and provides research-based and practitioner-focused promising practice techniques and real-world solutions to educators in building and maintaining a positive digital culture.
TopIntroduction
Over 15 months of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020-June 2021), Education Technology (EdTech) Specialists in America’s K12 school districts culled information from online resources and one another to help support the extreme and rapid changes in emergency remote education (ERE). From crisis instruction and maintaining continued learning, to hyperfocused provisions for student engagement, EdTech Specialists provided promising practices with digital tools through supporting K12 school districts across America. While reports (Joy, 2021; Liberman, 2020; Office of Civil Rights, 2021; Richards, 2020) still focus on the lack of virtual and hybrid learning environments, pedagogical practices with technology have shown exponential growth over the pandemic year. Despite this growth, students’ engagement has waned (Khlaif et al., 2021).
This chapter focuses on digital leadership for online and hybrid student engagement, as supported by Education Technology (EdTech) Specialists. Through a duoethnography of two sitting EdTech Specialists, it aims to answer the research question, “How can technology help facilitate student engagement in online and hybrid environments?” It will also answer these four subquestions:
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What resources were provided to educators to help pivot to online and hybrid teaching?
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What type of leadership was needed to help educators re-engage their school populations in online and hybrid environments?
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What strategies assisted most with student engagement?
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Which digital tools assisted most in online and hybrid student engagement?
TopBackground
Distance learning and online education has been embraced by school systems for years, but emergency remote education (ERE) came with the pandemic school shutdowns of 2020. The chapter first discusses this phenomenon and how it created a pandemic pedagogy. During ERE, student engagement was found waning--no matter how it was measured. After this discussion, it is then necessary to introduce the Technology Acceptance Model as a conceptual frame for which tools and strategies were used to catapult engagement. Finally, a discussion of crisis leadership ensues, leading to the management of professional development. This literature review will lend to a foundation for duoethnography, to study how technology helps facilitate student engagement in online and hybrid environments.
Emergency Remote Education and Pandemic Pedagogy
A pandemic pedagogy includes practices educators have undertaken in response to COVID-19. Pedagogies, during these times, have been referred to as emergency remote education (ERE). Hodges, et al. (2020) define ERE as a temporary shift of instructional delivery to an alternate delivery mode due to crisis circumstances, in contrast to distance learning experiences that are planned from the beginning and designed to be online. They continue by describing ERE as “the use of fully remote teaching solutions for instruction that would otherwise be delivered face-to-face or blended, and that will return to that format once the crisis or emergency has abated” (Hodges, et al., 2020, sec. 3).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Duoethnography: The relation of autobiographical experiences between two persons which fosters new meaning of context.
Digital Engagement: Using a variety of media and technologies to increase student participation and learning.
Emergency Remote Education (ERE): A temporary shift of instructional delivery to an alternate delivery mode due to crisis circumstances.
Teaming: A group of individuals empowered to work collaboratively towards a common goal.
Hybrid Instruction: Similar to blended learning, combines in-class instruction with online activities.
Blended Learning: Combining traditional teaching methods with technology to support student learning.
Pandemic Pedagogy: Speaks to the approaches employed in instructional environments to foster learning in the context of a serious health crisis.