2020 was the year the world went remote, including the education world. When COVID-19 swept around the globe early last year many teachers and students had to make the transition to distance learning seemingly overnight. Without any warning, K-12 schools and universities around the world pivoted from in-person classes to the world of online educational tools. Now, as we look toward a post-COVID-19 future, many teachers and students are wondering what exactly the future of education looks like.
For schools, 2020 was a year of constant adaptation. Many school districts transitioned to remote learning, to hybrid learning, and back to remote learning again depending on the force of COVID-19 in their district. For many districts, this presented a learning curve.
The biggest task at hand? How to keep previously in-person students engaged during online classes. While many of the same tactics used to keep students engaged in the classroom translated well to remote learning— leading engaging lessons, prompting frequent student talking time, etc.— not all of them did and teachers were quick to rely on remote learning tools to execute successful lessons.
Primarily, the switch to hybrid and remote learning introduced teachers and students to a new relationship with technology. Luckily, there is a surplus of virtual communication, collaboration, and educational tools that these teachers and students could rely on to make it through the year. While this newfound reliance on technology gave some old-school educators pause, school districts around the world quickly viewed education technology as a necessary and flexible tool rather than a hindrance.
The most reliable education technology includes a video conferencing platform for fully-remote lessons, a smart video camera like the Meeting Owl for high-functioning remote and hybrid classes, Learning Management Software for virtual collaboration, online textbooks, and both synchronous and asynchronous learning tools.
Although 2020 introduced a new normal both inside and outside of the virtual classroom, with the help of remote learning technology teachers and students all around the world were able to come together and execute a successful school year.
As we move to a post-COVID-19 future, we also move into a new American presidency. For K-12 schools across the nation, this means that 2021 will most likely see an increase in emergency congressional funding, quickly.
In December 2020, Congress approved a $900 billion Covid relief package that included $82 billion for education. This $82 billion relief meant that K-12 schools would receive $54.3 billion through Title I funding, higher education would receive $22.7 billion— with $1.7 set aside for minority-serving institutions and $1 billion for for-profit colleges— and $4 billion for governors to spend on education at their discretion.
President Biden’s new $1.9 trillion stimulus package dedicates an additional $130 billion for K-12 schools and $35 billion for higher education institutions. But once this new stimulus package is passed, how will individual school districts spend the money? Essentially, the bulk of the allotted money goes directly to school districts based on how much money they already receive through Title 1 of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. Once districts have their money, they can use it for anything under the federal laws for education, including improving school conditions to reduce the spread of COVID-19, training staff on the best uses of PPE, and purchasing “the hardware and software needed to conduct remote and hybrid learning.”
With this new stimulus package in the deserving hands of individual school districts, schools around the country will be better prepared to continue to efficiently educate our nation’s children, while keeping our country’s educators safe and healthy.
It is clear that the path to the future is paved with remote learning tools. The future is flexible, and with the future of our country currently enrolled in K-12 classes it is the responsibility of our nation to ensure that our future has the tools it needs to succeed. As long as we continue to embrace all that virtual and hybrid classrooms have to offer, the future of education is ours for the taking.