Remote Learning - 6 Practices that make it succeed at Denbigh - Ian Stonnell

At Denbigh there are some amazing remote learning practices; Loom videos, Mote feedback, Rubrics in assignments and more. But each of these in isolation does not guarantee that our remote learning is delivering the best results. In this blog post we will look at 6 practices that are common in some of the best remote learning at Denbigh. I am sure it will help you recognise your own good habits and also enable you to reflect on how you can further develop your practice. 

1 - The quantity of learning is achievable

Too often one of the barriers to learning is knowledge overload. In a remote learning episode we have to be clear and specific on what we expect our students to learn by the end of it. This also has to be achievable and pose the right level of challenge. Great practice would be to include a small number of key takeaways in our pre-records and keep our videos relatively short especially if what they are learning is new. In last weeks blog the example from Tom Davies demonstrates this well.

Look! Here is a relevant visual metaphor.

2 - The curriculum pace is kept slow

Many of us may be concerned about not covering the content in our curriculums or specifications, because of this we may feel the need to move through the curriculum as quickly as we would do when students are in the classroom. This could be a recipe for disaster. We have probably all noticed that student engagement is not at 100% and that many students are finding it more difficult to learn at home independently. As such, we need to give students more time to consolidate knowledge through regular review and rehearsal. We should build this into our remote learning curriculum. Furthermore, by slowing down the pace, students will feel less overwhelmed, feel secure in the knowledge they are acquiring and ultimately be more confident. Going slow also has the added bonus of giving students who have found it difficult to engage the chance and time to catch up. 

"Slow and steady wins the race" said the tortoise to the hare.

Obviously, slowing down the pace of a curriculum is a topic for discussion in subject areas. You could consider how year groups may need to be treated differently. For example a year 9 group starting a GCSE may benefit from going slow now, building a secure knowledge base, and then speeding up later when they come back into school. After all there is no point rushing through a curriculum now (during a lockdown) then in year 11 finding you have to teach it all again because they have forgotten it. In KS3 some subjects may even consider reducing the content in their curriculums to ensure what they do learn - they learn well.

For example Maishah Khan has reduced her Year 9 Psychology curriculum considerably to only teach one key theory this term (only four pages of the GCSE textbook). The first three weeks of term students have engaged in small chunks of new knowledge where understanding was assessed using quizzes and short questions. Then, in the upcoming three weeks students are due to consolidate this knowledge into revision resources, exam style questions and a mini-assessment that finally culminates into an evaluation of the theory.

An overview of the remote learning curriculum in Year 9 Psychology.

3 - Only tasks that effectively support and check learning are set

Many of the tasks that we set in the classroom do not translate effectively to the remote learning digital environment. Let's consider a word search or crossword activity. In the classroom it's a reasonable little starter that can settle students and get them to retrieve some keywords with some good questioning. However, set as a remote learning task it can be a nightmare... lots of emails and comments "how do you fill in the word search? How can I highlight the words? I can't do the word search sir! Help!" All of a sudden you may have a large number of students stuck on a task that at the end of the day is pretty meaningless when it comes to assessing the learning. The task can actually become a barrier to learning.

Do this word search digitally and hand it in to me. Then tell me what you learnt.

We cannot recreate remote lessons as a facsimile of how we delivered them in the classroom, it does not work. The best remote learning ruthlessly cuts tasks that will create barriers to student learning and only sets tasks which will support learning and enable it to be assessed efficiently.  

4 - Tasks are modelled effectively

Sometimes the tasks we want students to complete are complex and necessary. If this is the case, we must model them. If a student cannot understand the process of a task, they will not engage and they will feel demotivated. How can you avoid this in a remote learning context? Model tasks to students explicitly through video tutorials - and it MUST be in videos. Students respond far better to practical demonstrations of tasks rather than written instructions (NEWSFLASH - they often don't even read them!). We know that when we are in the classroom live modelling is one of the most effective methods that a teacher employs to support students to engage in a task; we can't just replace this with written instruction and expect the same results. 

In MFL the team have been superb in sharing a video for every lesson explaining how to complete tasks along with written instructions. You can also look at this example from Eric Adjei's Year 11 History where he models an essay question in his own unique style that is the only task for completion that lesson.

5 - Regular feedback is given

Doing work and getting no feedback is almost the same as doing no work at all. A lack of feedback and acknowledgement of the work completed is intrinsically de-motivating. As teachers, we need to avoid this by offering feedback as soon as we possibly can. This need not be onerous. With self-marking quizzes, rubrics and now the amazing mote, we have several time-saving ways to give feedback. The video below is an example of how you can use google forms to provide automatic feedback that has been developed in RE. You can also check this post here about the use of rubrics.

Whole class feedback is also a great time saving way to keep students motivated. Take a look at this example from Taslima Hannan in English where she gives some group feedback on a poetry task her year 8's have completed.

6 - The human touch is not lost

The saddest part of the remote learning experience is that the relationship between teacher and students can often be lost. In this lockdown the formulaic, almost robotic like routine of plan lesson, post lesson, mark work and repeat, has removed the humanity from being a teacher. The jokes, the smiles, the equally enjoyable nagging and telling offs, the motivational speeches... all the things that make teaching and learning a fulfilling human experience have disappeared! 

Well there are ways to keep the human touch going. Why not send a motivational video of yourself to your classes? Do some positive name dropping and bigging up (the students that aren't mentioned might get the hint). Have a watch of my little pep talk to my year 11s this week and see what you think.

We need to remember that these are extraordinary times and that for many of us it is a difficult time too. We need to show understanding and encouragement. 

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Thanks to all the teachers who have contributed to this week's blog. There will be more examples of good practice coming next week. Leave a comment if you have found this useful or interesting - it'll make my day! 😊

Ian Stonnell @DenbighCPD

Remote Learning in Practice - Tom Davies - Production Studies

In this week's blog take a look at this superb pre-recorded video lesson from Tom Davies in year 8  production studies. Once you've had a watch have a read of some of the key takeaways and considerations and see if you agree. 

Thanks to Tom for being a top level legend for sharing! 💪

Key Takeaways:

• In this example there are clear expectations of the desired learning outcomes including the process of how the students can meet them.
• Students are encouraged to review previous learning before engaging in new learning.
• Task modelling - the task is clearly modelled and scaffolded giving students the best chance of completing the final task well. 
• The use of 'PAUSE, REPEAT, REVISE' - what a great practice that we could all add to our pre-recorded lessons!

Feel free to copy and paste this image into your pre-recorded lessons.

Further considerations for all based upon this example:

• Avoid overload - particularly the setting of extraneous tasks. The requirement for note taking in this example is an extraneous task as it does not add to the learning, it just adds a process. The only task that really matters is the final worksheet where valid assessment can take place - as such, in this remote learning environment it may be better to remove the note taking element. We should all consider what tasks we may be asking students to complete that are actually not really contributing to learning and consider removing them. 
• Streamline the quantity of new knowledge delivered. In this example both celebrity endorsements and shocking images are discussed. It may be wise to consider focusing only on one area to avoid overload and maximise the chances of longer term memory and recall.

Ian Stonnell @DenbighCPD

Effective Remote Learning - Ian Stonnell

Remote learning is the new norm. For staff at Denbigh and across the country, classrooms have gone online. The challenge is now how we can engage, enthuse and support all students to continue learning despite this virus' best efforts to disrupt us. We have to believe that this is possible.  

The challenge of delivering effective remote learning
Often teachers may feel that with remote learning we have to think about teaching and learning differently. Well that is not the case, the process of learning works in exactly the same way online as it does in the classroom - students need to have some form of instruction (linked to prior learning); create some evidence of learning; and then receive some feedback - this cycle is as effective online as it is in the classroom. However, we have to acknowledge that students are in a new learning environment - their homes - which can create significant barriers to their engagement. 

High impact teaching is the same inside the classroom as it is online. Credit @ImpactWales

Avoid overload, engage through feedback and monitor engagement

To overcome these barriers one of the first considerations is to make sure that the work we set is achievable by avoiding overloading students with either too much new learning or too many tasks. If there is sure way to discourage students, it is to swamp them, which will lead to cognitive overload and ultimately very little learning. To do this, we as teachers and subject leaders need to consider how we can break down our curriculums into smaller bitesize chunks of key learning and provide resources that students can review and repeat in good time. In addition to considering what work we set, we also need to consider our expectations on completion - students' lives at home are varied and unknown to teachers, this means when setting deadlines we have to have a degree of flexibility in our expectations. There is nothing worse than an email inbox full of demands for incomplete work to make anyone feel stressed overwhelmed.

Another consideration is feedback. A key reason why students disengage is because they may feel that their own teachers are not engaging with them in their learning. A regular dialogue needs to exist. This could be as simple as ensuring work is acknowledged and marked where relevant, and that a teacher is also available to support. Regular feedback makes doing the work worth it and will encourage students to engage further.

Finally we need to monitor engagement. At Denbigh we are introducing a whole school approach involving the taking of online registers as well as individual subject teachers monitoring engagement using a centralized system. This in turn can support a coordinated approach to promoting engagement by identifying disengaged students and supporting them to get into the learning routines they need to be successful. 

Some furthers considerations here come from the Education Development Trust via @ImpactWales

What should a typical remote learning experience look like?
At Denbigh students can typically expect the following:

1. Teacher instruction: A pre-recorded video summarising the desired learning outcome followed by the delivery of content. This could include other resources such as a GCSEPod or web based reading etc. (5-20 minutes)
2. A task to elicit evidence of learning: This could be a Google assignment or quiz, or another online activity set through an approved VLE. During this time the teacher is 'live' on the Google Classroom to respond to questions. (10-30 minutes)
3. Feedback. Students should have work acknowledged and marked accordingly. Feedback can be given individually or as a class. At Denbigh we are also able to give verbal feedback through Google Classroom using mote. 

To demonstrate this further have a look at my example of remote learning from year 9 Psychology where hopefully you may see some of these principles in action.

Conclusion

Although subjects may approach remote learning differently and not all remote learning will look exactly like this, we should all stick to the basic principles of teaching and learning. We must also see this current situation as a great opportunity as, if we get this right, when our students return they will be self sufficient, resilient, independent learners, who will prosper in the classroom. Let's get it right.

Ian Stonnell @DenbighCPD

Further Reading:

• What's working well in remote education - Department of Education
• Remote Learning: Live or offline, cover the basic elements - Tom Sherrington
• Best practice in pedagogy for remote teaching - Ed Tech Hub