Turning Lemons Into Lemonade: Technology Teaching Tips Learned During COVID-19 (2024)

Abstract

COVID-19 caused widespread changes in how people worked. The education communitywas dramatically impacted. Teachers were forced to quickly pivot from teachingstudents in person on-campus to virtually online. Among the challenges educatorsfaced were the inequity of technology access and unreliable internet options.The move to virtual instruction necessitated creative use of educators’ existingtechnology skills and development of new skills to teach with technology. Amongthe technologies that teachers continued to use once they returned to thein-person classroom were video conferencing, incorporating student interactionsand feedback into visual presentations, and continuing to explore virtuallearning experiences outside the classroom. Some educators’ experimentationduring the pandemic with different technology options to guide self-directedstudent learning shows promise for developing gifted students’ talents andinterests.

Keywords: virtual instruction, gifted, technology

During the 2020–2021 school year, COVID-19 caused widespread changes in how people workedand where and how students learned. Educators quickly pivoted from teaching students inperson on-campuses to virtually online. This change necessitated creative use ofeducators’ existing technology skills and development of new skills to teach withtechnology. It also involved embracing new technology tools. Virtual instruction duringCOVID-19 changed the way educators taught and how they thought about technology—in bothpositive and negative ways. The question that remains to be answered is whether theCOVID-19 pandemic will go down in history as a defining moment in education for thetrajectory of how we teach students moving forward with technology, as some havesuggested (Flaherty, 2022),or will be seen as a set-back in student achievement (National Center for Education Statistics, 2022)that commands a return to previously less technology-based practices.

The disruptive impact of closing schools during COVID-19 is undeniable. A National Center for EducationStatistics (2022) study of math and reading scores for age 9 students duringCOVID-19 revealed that students exhibited the largest score decline in reading in over30years and the first ever decline in mathematics scores ever in the United States. Thedeclines were minimal for the highest achieving students (top 10%) and dramatic for thelower performing students.

Research on the impact of educational changes during COVID-19 on students identified asgifted is limited. About two-thirds of 5th through 8th grade gifted Turkish students inone study indicated their motivation during the online learning decreased, whileone-third indicated it had not changed (). Parents ofgifted students in the Netherlands reported higher well-being for their gifted studentswhen learning at home, compared with at school (Hornstra et al., 2022). They hypothesized thatthe school context does not always fit gifted students’ specific learning needs. Giventhat gifted students often encounter classroom instruction at a slower pace than theyprefer to learn (Rimm et al.,2018), some gifted students certainly embraced the opportunity to set theirown learning pace with virtual instruction. This would provide additional time toexplore other areas that interest them.

Over half of the 1900 teachers, principals, and district leaders in a recent EdWeekResearch Center survey (Will,2022) expected the following lasting positive impacts of the coronaviruspandemic on education a decade from now:

• • Added flexibility of moving at least some meetings/gatherings online(61%)

• • More attention given to student mental health (57%)

• • Better integration of technology (55%)

• • Ability to offer remote learning when necessary (e.g., during inclementweather; 54%)

As a result of the interruptions to education that the pandemic created, U.S. Secretaryof Education Miguel Cardona suggested this is a “moment to truly reimagine education,”particularly with respect to educational inequities (Cardona, 2022). How much of the reimaging willinvolve technology?

Lessons Learned During COVID-19

Siegle and Flaherty (2022)surveyed teachers to determine what technology instructional strategies and toolsthey used during COVID-19 virtual instruction and which tools they elected to carryover into their current in-person classroom instruction. Based on the responses ofover 60 teachers, they found positive and negative outcomes of teaching onlineduring the pandemic.

By far the greatest challenge educators faced was reliable WiFi, both in teachers’and students’ homes. When multiple children in a family were online at the sametime, bandwidth became a problem. Teachers also reported they were never sure whenstudents disengaged whether the issue was student motivation or a technologyconnection issue. One teacher commented, “It was far too easy for students todisconnect physically and emotionally. Bringing them back into live teaching andlearning was incredibly difficult.”

Inequality of technology access was also an issue. Teachers often experiencedglimpses into students’ home conditions that varied dramatically. As one teachercommented, “I learned that many of our students come from far more disturbing homelives than we ever knew. I learned that children can still learn, and grow, andflourish even in the most dire conditions.”

Additionally, keeping younger students engaged was more difficult than keeping olderstudents engaged. “I learned that young children need to see, touch, and feel thingsin real life.”

In addition to having reliable technology and a strong internet signal, educatorsindicated document cameras, virtual fieldtrips, a reliable set of go-to apps, andGoogle Classroom and the Google Suite were essential for successful teaching. Theyalso commented on the importance of families promoting student learning in thevirtual environment. One educator noted, “I learned that students who had familysupport at home did far better than those who did not. In fact, those studentsactually jumped ahead of expected grade performance standards.”

Popular Apps Used During COVID-19 that Educators Continue to Use

Many of the apps that teachers learned to use during COVID-19 are now part of theirclassroom toolbox. One educator noted that teaching during the pandemic, “made itpossible…to see the possibilities of using tech as a way to show creativity andlearning”

Another noted, “It forced me to think out of the box and make my presentations moreinteractive and fun.”

Yet another said, “I became a better teacher as well; more aware of my audienceresponse and better able to engage my students.”

The most popular live interactive video platforms used during the pandemic wereGoogle Meet and Zoom. Educators continue to use them for meetings with parents andto connect with students when they are unable to attend class. Google Classroom andKami (https://www.kamiapp.com/) continue to be two popular platforms formanaging student work. Many schools were already using the Google Classroom platformfor student assignments prior to the pandemic. However, the pandemic solidifiedusing these platforms for a paperless environment at many schools.

Educators turned to products such as Pear Deck (https://www.peardeck.com/),Nearpod (https://nearpod.com/), and Formative (https://www.formative.com/)to collect student responses and feedback in real time while making presentations.Most of these programs integrate with Google and Microsoft products and can beincorporated into slide shows to promote student engagement while providing teacherswith valuable student feedback.

With students at different locations, teachers found the need to create demonstrationvideos. These demonstrations sometimes included instructions on how to solve amathematics problem, conduct an experiment, use an app, or navigate a Web Site.Screencastify (https://www.screencastify.com/) became a popular option for videorecording the computer desktop, browser tabs, or the webcam feed. Educators foundthey could build understanding checks into their videos by including pauses andadding questions to monitor student engagement. Edpuzzle (https://edpuzzle.com/) became the go-to app for the purpose ofediting videos and making them more interactive.

With students spread across the virtual landscape, Jamboard (https://jamboard.google.com/) and Padlet (https://padlet.com/) enabled them to share their ideas and interactwith each other. Both programs allow multiple users to contribute and organizeideas. Some found Wakelet (https://wakelet.com/) was an easyway for them to organize links from the web into visual connections forstudents.

The most difficult aspect of teaching virtually was keeping students engaged.Educators reported students enjoyed reviewing material through game formats. Blooket(https://www.blooket.com/) and Kahoot (https://kahoot.com/) were twopopular trivia and review platforms. Foreign language instructors turned to teachinglanguage through activities and games with programs like Conjuguemos (https://conjuguemos.com/).

Virtual field trips were popular during the pandemic and continue to be popular.Teachers will find Google Arts and Culture (https://artsandculture.google.com/) and the Nevada CountySuperintendent of School list of virtual fieldtrips (https://sites.google.com/nevco.org/distancelearning-classroom/phenomena-virtual-field-trips?authuser=0)filled with options.

Without a doubt the pandemic was an education challenge. As educators experimentedwith different technology options, some began to use it to guide self-directedstudent learning, as well as to monitor and document student progress throughinteractive apps. Continuing down this path, educators may finally begin to createunique learning situations customized to students’ needs based on data collectedfrom a variety of sources (Field, 2007). Perhaps, we are seeing a glimpse of a future where thelearning ceiling placed on gifted students is lifted and they have an opportunity tofully develop their talents and interests with the aid of technology.

Bio

Del Siegle, PhD, is the Lynn and Ray Neag Endowed Chair for TalentDevelopment at the University of Connecticut, where he directs the NationalCenter for Research on Gifted Education. He is a past-president of NAGC andrecipient of their 2021 Founder’s Memorial, 2018 Distinguished Scholar, and 2011Distinguished Service Award.

Footnotes

ORCID iD

Del Siegle https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5579-9217

References