SITE Interactive 2023 – Where Did We Go Wrong? An Exploration of the Failure to Prepare for Mass School Closure

As you may have seen yesterday, I mentioned that SITE Interactive 2023 was happening and that I had looked through the schedule to find the K-12 distance, online, and blended learning session.  The second one I wanted to blog about was:

Where Did We Go Wrong? An Exploration of the Failure to Prepare for Mass School Closure

Interactive PanelID: 62758

1. Michael Barbour
   Touro University
2. Chuck Hodges
   Georgia Southern University
3. Mary Rice
   University of New Mexico

Abstract: Why were schools simply unprepared for the mass closures induced by COVID-19? Why were educators ill equipped to be able to provide instruction in modalities other than the traditional classroom? Why did teacher education program fail to prepare pre-service teachers with the skills that would be needed in the Spring of 2020? While most scholars fail to realize this, but the literature in the field documented numerous instances of distance learning being used to provide continuity of learning in the face of disaster. Further, a variety of government agencies warned the field that this was a possibility and they needed to be prepared. Finally, national plans had been advising teacher education of the importance of online learning for over a decade. So where did we go wrong? This interactive panel will explore these questions.

Topic

• Beyond Emergency Remote Teaching: Supporting Learning and Engagement in Online and Blended Environments

As this was a panel that I led, I didn’t take note.  The slides that we used to start the session are embedded below.