Schools and Universities move classes online to deal with coronavirus outbreak

guest · May 21, 2020

Stanford moves classes online to deal with coronavirus outbreak
It hopes the internet can help prevent COVID-19 from spreading on campus
March 7, 2020
https://www.engadget.com/2020-03-07-stanford-moves-classes-online-due-to-coronavirus.html

Stanford University is moving the last two weeks of winter quarter classes online "to the extent feasible" to reduce the chances of COVID-19 spreading on campus. There will be no classes in person starting March 9th, the school said. To help with the abrupt transition, the university will both provide "further guidance and tools" and encourage professors to cancel classes outright on March 9th if they need time to adapt their remaining classes.

Final exams will still take place when possible, but they'll have to be take-home exams. If a remote class or exam isn't an option, Stanford will let professors look for alternatives to those methods or even submit grades based on work to date.

Stanford is unlikely to be the only school using online classes to minimize the chances of coronavirus infections, but it's certainly a high-profile example.
Click to expand...

guest · May 21, 2020

As School Moves Online, Many Students Stay Logged Out
Teachers at some schools across the country report that fewer than half of their students are participating in online learning
April 6, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/us/coronavirus-schools-attendance-absent.html

The absence rate appears particularly high in schools with many low-income students, whose access to home computers and internet connections can be spotty. Some teachers report that fewer than half of their students are regularly participating.

Students are struggling to connect in districts large and small. Los Angeles said last week that about a third of its high school students were not logging in for classes. And there are daunting challenges for rural communities like Minford, Ohio, where many students live in remote wooded areas unserved by internet providers.
Educators say that some students and their parents have dropped out of touch with schools completely — [...]

Cratering attendance in some districts contrasts with reports from several selective or affluent schools where close to 100 percent of students are participating in online learning. The dramatic split promises to further deepen the typical academic achievement gaps between poor, middle-class and wealthy students.
Click to expand...

guest · May 21, 2020

College Tests Called Unfair to Homebound, Tech-Poor Students
May 20, 2020
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...called-unfair-to-homebound-tech-poor-students

A group of high school students sued the College Entrance Examination Board claiming its advanced placement tests are unfair to teens trapped at home by the coronavirus pandemic without adequate computers or internet connections.

“It is unrealistic to think that all students have quiet, private spaces at home in which to test,” the students said. “Lower-income students are much more likely to face cramped housing, siblings and parents sharing the same workspace, internet connectivity problems, noisy environments, and less comfortable testing spaces.”
The students were joined in the complaint by FairTest, an advocacy group that has been pushing colleges to drop the SAT and ACT as an admissions requirement because the standardized tests are allegedly biased against poor and minority students.

Like most of higher education, standardized college exams have been upended during the pandemic.
Click to expand...

Watching videos of students who tried to submit their tests as the timer clicked down to zero are heartbreaking, said David Rion, Director of College Guidance at the Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut.

“The College Board says somewhat cavalierly that students who weren’t able to submit can re-take the test in a few weeks, and that’s true,” Rion said in an email. “But it completely overlooks the in-the-moment trauma of having technical issues during an important test.”
Click to expand...

guest · May 21, 2020

College Board says new online AP tests are going well — but students report big problems
May 15, 2020
https://www.washingtonpost.com/educ...-are-going-well-students-report-big-problems/

Students around the country started taking new shortened, online Advanced Placement (AP) tests at home this week, and there are two versions about how well the experiment is going.

The College Board, which owns the AP program, says testing has gone well for the vast majority of students taking the exams. But students on TikTok and other social media, as well as teachers, parents and counselors, say that potentially thousands of students have run into major problems submitting answers. The College Board told them to retake the test in June.

“That’s hardly a remedy, particularly for my daughter who is also taking the AP Latin exam in June at exactly the same time,” said D.C.-area attorney Robert Feitel.
This is the first time that AP tests have been given online at home, a result of the shutdown of schools because of the global coronavirus pandemic.
Click to expand...

They also said timing was an issue; all tests in the same subject are being given at exactly the same time for security reasons, meaning that some students in one part of the world could be taking an exam in the middle of the night.
And skeptics questioned the validity of a shortened test on which students can use notes as well as test security.

In this first week of the two-week May testing period, AP students took 2.186 million exams, the College Boad said, and less than 1 percent of students were unable to submit their responses.”
Click to expand...

guest · May 21, 2020

Students are failing AP tests because the College Board can’t handle iPhone photos
How to deal with HEIC images proves to be the hardest question of all
May 20, 2020
https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/20/...e-photos-glitch-email-college-board-jpeg-heic

Nick Bryner, a high school senior in Los Angeles, had just completed his AP English Literature and Composition test last week. But when he snapped a photo of a written answer with his iPhone and attempted to upload it to the testing portal, it stopped responding.
The website got stuck on the loading screen until Bryner’s time ran out. Bryner failed the test. He’s retaking it in a few weeks.

Bryner is among the many high school students around the country who completed Advanced Placement tests online last week but were unable to submit them at the end. The culprit: image formats.
For the uninitiated: AP exams require longform answers. Students can either type their response or upload a photo of handwritten work. Students who choose the latter option can do so as a JPG, JPEG, or PNG format according to the College Board’s coronavirus FAQ.

But the testing portal doesn’t support the default format on iOS devices and some newer Android phones, HEIC files.
The issue was so common that his school’s AP program forwarded an email from the College Board to students on Sunday including tidbits of advice to prevent submission errors.
Click to expand...

The email Bryner received doesn’t mention the HEIC format, though it does link to the College Board’s website, which instructs students with iPhones to change their camera settings so that photos save as JPEGs rather than HEICs. The company also linked to that information in a tweet early last week.

Tens of thousands of students are demanding that the College Board do more. Following technical issues with her own test last week, Los Angeles senior Eliana Sisman created a petition calling on the company to allow her and fellow students to resubmit their previous work. The petition has collected over 23,000 signatures.

“I thank the College Board for setting up a re-submission channel for students taking APs this week,” Sisman said in a statement to The Verge.
Click to expand...

Brummelchen · May 21, 2020

another country - same problems.
HEIC is apple, windows cant understand by default.
students here (germany) resigned to work online because half of the teachers cannot handle online work and submissions properly nor do they answer them.

and the massive problem to work for school with a smart phone which is used for any other social media crap than school work. parents complain about the needed infrastructure (and ofc cheap hardware) for digital work, in school and at home. thats policy of each province here (similar to usa!?).

reasonablePrivacy · May 21, 2020

Some classes at universities can not be completely on-line. You can not learn university-level chemistry without some manual work in laboratory.

Brummelchen · May 21, 2020

thats why here the lockdown is reduced and classes can learn tied into groups to respect distance. the others need to watch online or get the results by mail. but its a half baked concept.

reasonablePrivacy · May 21, 2020

Brummelchen said: ↑

HEIC is apple, windows cant understand by default.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't call it Apple, because it isn't Apple specific. There is video codec called HEVC aka H.265. HEIC is based on that codec to compress images.

Brummelchen said: ↑

thats why here the lockdown is reduced and classes can learn tied into groups to respect distance. the others need to watch online or get the results by mail. but its a half baked concept.
Click to expand...

At least they are not completely wasting time during lockdown. In Poland university lockdown is going to be partially lifted on monday, but some universities are not prepared anyway...

guest · May 30, 2020

As Virus Keeps Kids From Schools, New Figures Show Millions Lack Home Internet
May 29, 2020
https://www.nextgov.com/it-moderniz...ures-show-millions-lack-home-internet/165754/

Nearly 1-in-10 households with school-aged children lack a consistent internet connection that can be used for educational purposes at a time when millions of kids have been forced out of classrooms by the coronavirus, according to federal estimates released on Thursday.

The share of households without surefire internet access is higher among those with lower incomes and people of color, the estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show.
Among 60 million households with children in public or private schools, about 5.4 million, or just over 9%, have internet available only “sometimes,” “rarely,” or “never” for educational purposes, the estimates suggest.

In California on Wednesday, state superintendent of public instruction, Tony Thurmond, said during an online briefing that it would take at least $500 million to cover the cost of providing K-12 students in the state with the computers and internet connections that they need.
He called on private companies, foundations and individuals to step up to help bridge that gap.
Click to expand...

But about 600,000 students are waiting for computers and 300,000 to 400,000 have an immediate need for internet service, he said.
Click to expand...

guest · Jun 2, 2020

This is online learning’s moment. For universities, it’s a total mess
Universities are struggling with online learning
June 2, 2020
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/university-online-coronavirus

Jazz West should be in the final term of her first year at the University of Leeds, studying maths and natural sciences in a classroom with 40 other students. Instead, she sits in front of her laptop listening to pre-recorded lectures.

From Blackboard to Panopto to Minerva, most universities already had hosting platforms in place where course materials could be uploaded; but for academics and students with little or no experience of pre-recorded or live-streamed lectures, the quick transition to online learning was painful.

“We just spent four weeks in pure panic and confusion, not knowing what we were meant to be doing,” says West. “For things like essays, all the support we’d normally get just wasn't accessible, because we weren't in [class] and it wasn't very clear where to get that help. So there were a lot of people struggling.”
As thousands of students logged into their university’s systems at the same time, poor connections and technical problems were the norm – and for the most part, teachers were left alone to troubleshoot issues, fix poor audio and video quality, and follow up with students individually to make sure they could access any missed content.
Click to expand...

The simple “onlinification” of face-to-face lectures doesn't work well. In some cases, lectures last three hours each, and the text intended to be projected onto a screen in a lecture theatre is difficult to decipher on a laptop or handheld device at home.

Because of the technical difficulties during and after lessons, lecturers and teachers have had to put in extra hours and deal with an increasing number of student complaints.
The latter has been particularly concerning for lecturers and teachers on fixed-term or zero-hour contracts who rely on positive feedback to secure permanent employment.
Click to expand...

guest · Jun 4, 2020

College Board puts online SAT on hold
June 3, 2020
https://edscoop.com/college-board-puts-online-sat-on-hold/

College Board announced Tuesday that the online version of the SAT, which was promised to give students the opportunity to take the standardized test while schools and testing centers remain closed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, has been put on hold and will not be available this year.

“[The SAT] would require three hours of uninterrupted, video-quality internet for each student, which can’t be guaranteed for all,” the College Board said in a press release.
In April, Jeremy Singer, College Board president, expressed his confidence that the exam would be able to be delivered online and at scale to all students.
However, online Advanced Placement tests administered in May, [...] revealed technological challenges of large-scale, online testing and raised concerns over the integrity of an online SAT.

More than 1.6 million students took Advanced Placement exams online last month, but more than 16,000 ran into technical difficulties that will require them to take their tests a second time to receive credit.

“[...] The CB is clearly not equipped to host online testing. Remaining AP exams should be postponed & any plans to attempt a “digital #SAT” are delusional.”
Click to expand...

The College Board has not directly responded to the failures of its online testing attempt, but said the organization will continue to develop remote proctoring capabilities to make at-home SAT possible in the future, but not in time for this year’s round of testing as part of the 2021 admissions season.
Click to expand...

guest · Jun 7, 2020

Online classes throw bigger challenges as students confronted with glaring digital divide
June 7, 2020
https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tec...th-glaring-digital-divide-71591532786455.html

According to the Key Indicators of Household Social Consumption on Education in India report, based on the 2017-18 National Sample Survey, less than 15% of rural Indian households have access to Internet as opposed to 42% in urban households and the poorest households cannot afford a smartphone or a computer.

Universities and schools across the country have been closed since March 16, when the Centre announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as part of a slew of measures to contain the Covid-19 outbreak.
As per official statistics, there are over 35 crore [= 35 million] students in the country. However, it is not clear as to how many of them have access to digital devices and Internet.

"The students in rural India or the poor populace in urban centres are having extreme difficulties in using such services and we don't have any policy in place to address that. In a way, we are only heading towards an operational nightmare," a Delhi University professor said.
"Access to technology and Internet is an urgent requirement in the information age. It should no longer be a luxury," she said.
Click to expand...

guest · Jun 7, 2020

The Results Are In for Remote Learning: It Didn’t Work
The pandemic forced schools into a crash course in online education
June 5, 2020
https://www.wsj.com/articles/school...g-lockdown-tech-11591375078?mod=djemalertNEWS

This spring, America took an involuntary crash course in remote learning. With the school year now winding down, the grade from students, teachers, parents and administrators is already in: It was a failure.

The problems began piling up almost immediately. There were students with no computers or internet access. Teachers had no experience with remote learning. And many parents weren’t available to help.

“We all know there’s no substitute for learning in a school setting, and many students are struggling and falling far behind where they should be,” said Austin Beutner, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, in a video briefing to the community on Wednesday.
Click to expand...

Preliminary research suggests students nationwide will return to school in the fall with roughly 70% of learning gains in reading relative to a typical school year, and less than 50% in math, according to projections by NWEA, an Oregon-based nonprofit that provides research to help educators tailor instruction.

School districts and teachers that had previously used forms of online learning made the transition more easily. But many educators, even those comfortable with the method, say remote learning isn’t comparable to in-person teaching.
“In the classroom, I can look around and see body language and know when some of my students not fluent in Spanish need me to switch to English. I can’t do that online. We need the interaction with the kids, face-to-face.”
Click to expand...

guest · Jun 14, 2020

Give 1m UK children reliable broadband or risk harming their education, MPs say
June 15, 2020
https://www.theguardian.com/technol...able-broadband-coronavirus-lockdown-education

The government must urgently ensure that more than 1 million children have reliable internet access at home or risk irreparable harm to their education, a cross-party group of MPs and former ministers has said.

A bill that will be presented to parliament this week says the coronavirus lockdown had “exposed the digital divide”, with about 700,000 children unable to complete any schoolwork because of a lack of internet at home.
Siobhain McDonagh, the Labour MP behind the bill, said: “Those children who can’t access the same resources as their classmates will find themselves even further behind when they finally return. Some may never catch up.

“This policy isn’t a silver bullet and can’t replace months of missed education. But it would make an immediate, tangible difference to families right across our country.”
Click to expand...

guest · Jun 18, 2020

Student teachers go virtual for credential requirements
June 17, 2020
https://edscoop.com/student-teachers-go-virtual-credential-requirements/

Amid the shift to remote instruction, student teachers working toward a credential have moved online to complete state-mandated student-teaching hours — without access to a classroom.

To help student teachers plan, upload, teach, and assess lessons during the pandemic, Sacramento State University recently set up an online platform, the Sacramento State Web Academy, ensuring they wouldn’t fall behind on their student-teaching hours.

“They set this thing up so fast, and I know it eased a lot of the confusion and stress about completing student teaching hours,” Kathryn Ivory, a student teacher earning her teaching credential at Sacramento State, told the university earlier this week.
Click to expand...

At Rowan University, a public research institution in Glassboro, New Jersey, student teachers took similar steps to complete their required clinical teaching practice, using online teaching tools to continue teaching while classrooms remain closed.

“Our students are accustomed to technology and they became very important when schools moved to virtual teaching,” Stacey Leftwich, executive director for the office of educator support and scholarships at Rowan University, said in a press release.
In total, more than 200 college of education students completed their clinical practice through virtual teaching this spring, according to the university.
Click to expand...

guest · Jul 29, 2020

'The virus beat us': Colleges are increasingly going online for fall 2020 semester as COVID-19 cases rise
July 29, 2020
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/...ll-semester-2020-reopening-online/5530096002/

Call it coronavirus déjà vu. After planning ways to reopen campuses this fall, colleges are increasingly changing their minds, dramatically increasing online offerings or canceling in-person classes outright.
This sudden shift will be familiar to students whose spring plans were interrupted by the rapid spread of the coronavirus.

In many cases, the colleges had released plans for socially distant in-person classes only a few weeks ago, hoping to beat the coronavirus.

“Instead,” said Robert Kelchen, a professor of higher education at Seton Hall University, “the virus beat us.”
Click to expand...

Digital classes are still unappealing to many, and the chances of in-person instruction for next semester remain murky.
Just this week, Miami University in Ohio said all undergraduate classes would be held virtually through at least September 21.

“We know just how much many of you were looking forward to being on campus this fall, and we understand that this news is disappointing,” George Washington said in a statement.
More universities are likely to follow suit if COVID-19 cases continue to rise.
Click to expand...

The bottom line: College students are frustrated, no matter what option their university is currently taking.
Click to expand...

guest · Aug 8, 2020

Apple and T-Mobile to Supply 1 Million iPads to California Students
August 7, 2020
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/08/07/apple-t-mobile-supply-1-million-ipads-to-students/

Apple and T-Mobile are to supply students in California with up to one million iPads, according to a press release from the California Department of Education.

Apple and T-Mobile are collaborating to provide iPads with high-speed cellular connectivity to students across California, as planning for distance learning in the next school year takes shape. Apple and T-Mobile will fulfill orders directly from districts, offering significant discounts in addition to standard education volume pricing.
Click to expand...

The global health crisis forced an estimated 97 percent of 6.2 million students in California to resume their education with distance learning, but many schools have experienced a shortage of devices to accommodate it.
Since April, the State Superintendent, Governor's Office, state lawmakers, and various nonprofits, have been working to remove unjust barriers to education by working directly with internet service providers and tech companies.

California has included $5.3 billion in one-time funding in the state budget for schools to support distance learning, which can be used immediately to purchase the required devices. Apple and T-Mobile expect to be able to fulfill school district demand through the end of 2020.
Click to expand...

guest · Aug 14, 2020

Rural families without internet face tough choice on school
August 14, 2020
https://apnews.com/9d43c7de3b9506695e57b9dcf8dc8870

John Ross worries about his children returning to their classrooms this fall with coronavirus cases rising in Kentucky, but he feels he doesn’t have much of a choice: His family’s limited internet access makes it nearly impossible for the kids to keep up with schoolwork from home.

“They’re going to have their education,” the father of three in rural Lee County said as he recalled his children’s struggles to do their work this spring over a spotty cellphone connection.
“COVID-19 has shown cracks in the system where people have been left behind,” said Lee County Judge Executive Chuck Caudill.
Click to expand...

Roughly 3 million students across the United States don’t have access to a home internet connection. A third of households with school-age children that do not have home internet cite the expense as the main reason, according to federal Education Department statistics. But in some rural places, a reliable connection can’t be had at any price.
The void is especially acute in eastern Kentucky. An AP analysis of census data shows that nearly half of students attending public school in Lee lack home access to broadband.
Click to expand...

guest · Aug 17, 2020

As Colleges Move Classes Online, Families Rebel Against the Cost
August 15, 2020
https://www.deccanherald.com/international/families-rebel-against-cost-of-online-classes-873779.html

After Southern California’s soaring coronavirus caseload forced Chapman University this month to abruptly abandon plans to reopen its campus and shift to an autumn of all-remote instruction, the school promised that students would still get a “robust Chapman experience.”

“What about a robust refund?” Christopher Moore, a spring graduate, retorted on Facebook.

A rebellion against the high cost of a bachelor’s degree, already brewing around the nation before the coronavirus, has gathered fresh momentum as campuses have strained to operate in the pandemic. Incensed at paying face-to-face prices for education that is increasingly online, students and their parents are demanding tuition rebates, increased financial aid, reduced fees and leaves of absences to compensate for what they feel will be a diminished college experience.
Click to expand...

At Rutgers University, more than 30,000 people have signed a petition started in July calling for an elimination of fees and a 20% tuition cut. More than 40,000 have signed a plea for the University of North Carolina system to house students in the event of another Covid-19-related campus shutdown

“I don’t have an issue with moving classes to online. I do have an issue though that classes are charged the same price,” Herff tweeted on an account that, until this month, he said in an interview, he had largely reserved for sports talk. “Why is this fair?”
Click to expand...

Will Andersen, an 18-year-old incoming freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which will begin the semester remotely, put it this way: “Who wants to pay $25,000 a year for glorified Skype?”
“Education isn’t just information,” [...]

Some families have sued. Roy Willey, a class-action attorney in South Carolina, said his firm alone has filed at least 30 lawsuits — including against the University of California system, Columbia University and the University of Colorado — charging universities with breach of contract for switching in-person instruction to online classes, and is closely monitoring the fall semester.
Click to expand...

guest · Aug 17, 2020

Students are taking gap years to avoid online class, and startups are scooping them up
August 17, 2020
https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/17/...pandemic-coronavirus-covid19-internships-fall

Only 2.5 percent of colleges are planning a fully in-person semester this upcoming year. Rather than spend a year staring at Zoom, some students are considering taking the semester off. Startups see this as an opportunity to recruit these students into virtual fall internships, Bloomberg reports.

Some firms are organizing virtual career fairs, offering grants to teams of entrepreneurs, and compiling lists of potential employers. Others are extending the terms of their summer cohorts. Postmates told Bloomberg that it may keep some interns on if they take time off school.
Click to expand...

It’s easy to see why a remote internship might tempt many college students at a time when COVID-19 is turning higher education upside down. A number of schools that announced they would be operating in-person classes earlier this summer are now walking back those plans [...]
Click to expand...

guest · Aug 18, 2020

North Carolina's virtual classrooms crashed on the first day of school
August 17, 2020
https://statescoop.com/north-carolinas-virtual-classrooms-crashed-on-the-first-day-of-school/

Virtual classrooms for North Carolina’s K-12 schools were unavailable on Monday morning, the state’s first day of school, after thousands of students attempted to log in at the same time.

The outage of the state’s NCEdCloud service, a portal that connects students and teachers to learning management systems like Canvas and PowerSchool, appeared to affect districts statewide.
Parents of students in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district said they struggled to log on to the site as far back as last week, using Chromebooks that the district provided for at-home education, a local Charlotte news station reported.
Click to expand...

The state spent a portion of a $400 million grant in 2010 to build the portal as a tool for every K-12 student, teacher and parent to access educational apps with one username and password.
Monday’s incident, however, laid bare the trouble that teleworking and remote learning can cause.

Though some districts in the state have delivered free Chromebooks and Wi-Fi hot spots to students for the school year, the NCEdCloud outage reportedly forced some students to use their phones to access homework assignments or virtual lessons, one of the clearest signs of the digital divide that North Carolina has struggled to close.
Click to expand...

guest · Aug 20, 2020

Increasingly online, more universities are being sued by students with disabilities
August 19, 2020
https://edscoop.com/increasingly-online-more-universities-being-sued-students-disabilities/

With the majority of colleges moving online, several universities are now being sued for not making class materials, websites and services accessible to disabled students.

After the COVID-19 pandemic forced colleges and universities to move online in March, many institutions are now working out the kinks to make their curriculum resources and university services accessible in the new remote-learning environment. But for disabled students, the challenges of digital accessibility have been exacerbated, despite laws that prohibit discrimination against disabled people.

Over the summer, 35 disability lawsuits have been filed against universities related to online learning, according to accessibility software company AudioEye.

“I think it clearly represents something going on relative to the prevalence now of online learning, and remote learning,” Thompson told EdScoop.
Click to expand...

Boyce said she had to withdraw from many of her online classes because of accessibility issues like PDFs that didn’t support text-to-speech functionality and computer science classes that weren’t adapted to her needs.
“It’s very difficult to be a disabled student in the era of online learning.”

Ultimately, universities still have a lots of work to do to make all their digital content accessible to students, Thompson said, but many institutions are beginning to take steps toward making their content more accessible.

[...] And I think as physical access for persons with disabilities has in some cases literally gone away, digital is the only medium. … And so it’s no longer a nice to have, it’s an imperative if you want to embrace the 25% of the U S population that is disabled.”
Click to expand...

guest · Sep 5, 2020

T-Mobile's Project 10Million, launching Thursday, aims to end the homework gap
The company commits $10.7 billion to make sure students can access the internet at home
September 3, 2020
https://www.cnet.com/news/t-mobiles...nching-thursday-aims-to-end-the-homework-gap/

As schools start around the US, many face a problem with getting all their students connected for virtual classes. To help with that crisis, T-Mobile on Thursday launched its grant program that aims to eliminate the so-called homework gap.
Unveiled a year ago, Project 10Million will provide hotspots and free connectivity for millions of students around the country.

"Our mission is to not stop until we've provided the connectivity and devices for students to be connected who can't afford to be connected, so that they can do their homework," T-Mobile Chief Marketing Officer Matt Staneff said in an interview ahead of the news.
Students who are part of the national free- and reduced-price lunch program for low-income families will qualify for Project 10Million.
Click to expand...

As the coronavirus continues to ravage the US, schools across the country are figuring out how to hold classes this fall. Some are offering in-person sessions, but others, like the districts that cover 97% of the 6.2 million students in California, are opting for remote learning.

This shift online has shined a light on a long-standing problem that's only gotten more severe in the age of the coronavirus: the homework gap. The country has wrestled with a digital divide for decades, with people lacking the ability to get online.
Nearly half a year after the pandemic first shut down schools, many still don't know how to make sure all students can attend virtual classes.
Click to expand...

T-Mobile: T‑Mobile Launches Project 10Million, Historic $10.7B Initiative Aimed at Closing the Homework Gap and Connecting Students to Opportunity – for Free

The Un-carrier also announces nationwide program will expand to address new remote learning needs created by COVID-19 pandemic
Click to expand...

guest · Oct 24, 2020

Universities are fighting lawsuits claiming 'subpar' remote education
October 20, 2020
https://edscoop.com/universities-fighting-lawsuits-claiming-subpar-remote-education/

Students forced to take online classes during the pandemic have filed nearly 100 class-action lawsuits against their colleges and universities, demanding partial tuition reimbursement for failing to deliver the quality of education students had initially payed for.

And while the majority of colleges have rejected the students’ demands for their money back, claiming that students are being taught the same curriculum they would have received through in-person classes and are still earning credits towards their degrees, students argue that the online classes are poor substitutes for the education experience universities had promised them at the time of payment.
The average cost for one year of tuition at a four-year public university, including room and board, adds up to nearly $22,000, according to the College Board. And for private schools, that total jumps to nearly $50,000 per year.
Click to expand...

However, the quality of education has suffered greatly with the forced transition to online learning during the pandemic, a University of Colorado, Boulder student wrote on the university’s Reddit page.

“We can literally get the same education that CU is currently offering from YouTube at the cost of an internet bill,” the student said. “So why should we continue to pay college tuition rates for classes?”
Many of the lawsuits also cite the loss of other benefits, like access to labs, libraries, extracurricular activities, athletics, social development and the independence of living away from home.
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

Schools and Universities move classes online to deal with coronavirus outbreak

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

Brummelchen Registered Member

reasonablePrivacy Registered Member

Brummelchen Registered Member

reasonablePrivacy Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

Log in or Sign up

Schools and Universities move classes online to deal with coronavirus outbreak

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

Brummelchen Registered Member

reasonablePrivacy Registered Member

Brummelchen Registered Member

reasonablePrivacy Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

Useful Searches