Tamara Tate
Tamara is a project scientist in the Digital Learning Lab at the University of California, Irvine and the national IES-funded WRITE Center. She received her B.A. in English and her Ph.D. in Education at U.C. Irvine. Tamara focuses on K-12 literacy education, technology-supported learning, and exceptional learners of all types.  Her work has ranged from secondary analyses of the 2011 NAEP writing assessment, the first national US writing assessment given on computers, to a year long within-teacher RCT of a digital literacy intervention in 10 urban middle schools. She is also using longitudinal SEM and data mining techniques to analyze student online digital writing over 5 school years in two US school districts.

Dr. Tate can be reached at tatet@uci.edu
Her current CV can be found here.

Back to school:  Navigating online learning

This fall, school looks different from years past--you might need to re-stock pencils and papers, but back-to-school outfits? Schools in southern California are largely required to teach remotely until they meet State guidelines for in-person instruction.  With that in mind, and with an eye to online learning being a part of many K-12 students’ education, we’ve gathered some expert tips from UC Irvine’s School of Education and Online Learning Research Center.
 
General tips
#1: Perspective is important.  Your child will have years of education.  Children learn things informally that are key to future success.  This is a pandemic.  You are probably juggling some issues yourself.  Kids feel the anxiety and stress in the air right now.  Teach them how to navigate anxiety and stress with good habits -- exercise, fresh air, healthy eating, connecting with friends and family in a safe way.  These habits will last a lifetime.  Keep an eye on your relationships first and foremost and be kind to yourself -- even if you were trained as a teacher, teaching your own child is very different.  Takeaway:  Be gentle with yourself and your child.  Physical and mental health are your first priority.
 
#2: Online learning is different.  Without face-to-face interactions, it can be isolating and less engaging. Take opportunities to interact with the teacher and classmates when they are available.  Online learning also requires a lot more self-regulated learning skills and independence.  This is probably not a strength of most children (self-regulation is developmental and is not fully acquired until young adulthood). Online learning is also less linear and requires navigating often information-rich environments over multiple sites and apps. We have some strategies that may help (parents will do most of this in the early years, but gradually release the responsibility to your child):
  • Master HyperDoc.  Create a single Google or Word document with all the basics hyperlinked to it, ideally in the order your student (or you) will be accessing it:  School website, learning management system (e.g., Canvas, Blackboard, Schoology), Google Classroom, online library, course online grade management system (e.g., Aeries).  Teach your student how to add to this including how to hyperlink to websites so the information is just a click away.  Setting up this early will save you time and frustration later.  Put a link to it on your desktop for easy access.
  • Calendar.  Consider 3 types:  Monthly for planning, a standard weekly routine, and a daily planner.  Paper or digital, your choice. Whatever you use, teach your child to make notes when an assignment is due and backward plan for the steps leading up to completion (a few nice 3-5 minute videos from Cornell help explain this).  After the assignment, they should reflect on what worked, if they are happy with the results, and whether they would change anything next time.  Once a week (usually Sunday afternoon at my house), make a plan with your child for the next week. Go over each class’s online space (Google Classroom or learning management site) looking at announcements, the syllabus, and posted assignments. This is also a good time to check online grades and email for notes from the teacher. This helps make sure your child doesn’t fall behind and gives you a sense of the challenges for the upcoming week.  If your child learns this type of planning, they will be far ahead of most college students.
 
Elementary
Reading.  Any where, any kind, any mode.  Books, magazines, comics, graphic novels, online.  It all counts.  Let them follow a passion -- do they love trains?  Super heroes?  Plants? Some libraries are allowing curbside checkout, most have digital resources you can check out. Read together.  Read outloud.  Read silently.  Just keep reading.
 
Middle school
At this age, students should be learning the scheduling practices above in our general tips with supervision.  This is also a great time to practice some highly effective study skills to prepare them for high school and college (see below, “High school”).  
 
If you haven’t made sure your child understands digital literacy and safe social media practices, now is the time. Middle school students are very focused on their peers and during social distancing online may be the only way to safely connect with others (fun tips for all ages on socializing right now). There are great resources out there (check out Edutopia).  Make sure to model good practices yourself--ask before you post pictures of your child.
 
High school
While parents of little ones may long for older children, high school counts in a way that creates additional stress--grades are a key determinant of college access.  Taking challenging courses online is daunting, especially when many teachers have not been giving the resources to devote time and energy into revamping their face-to-face curriculum.  Our tip for this age group:  double down on the most effective and efficient study skills based on research and science.
 
Rigorous planning, using the general tip above is key.  Knowing what the instructor expects is especially important for an online course and something your teen should learn to navigate on their own. Students will need to read the syllabus carefully and keep up with course announcements. 
 
Have your student take the time to learn how to actively study, using self-testing (old fashioned flash cards or apps both work for this), and how to space out their study rather than cramming. We have some great resources , and we also recommend the many 10-minute Crash Course videos on Youtube that are quite well-done and cover study skills, and planning (these are accessible for even later elementary students).  

OLRC SIte

Check out the Online Learning Research Center's website.  We have content for instructors, students, and researchers based on our research over the years on online learning.  With the advent of Emergency Distant Learning, we curated some fantastic resources to help our community navigate the challenges of online learning.