COVID-19

Coronavirus lays bare inequities in K-12 education

Anonymous — Tue, 19 May 2020 04:15:39 +0000

Coronavirus lays bare inequities in K-12 education Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/18/2020 - 22:15

Imagine doing your high school math or history homework while also being the full-time caregiver for your younger sibling. It’s a challenge that teenagers across the country are facing as schools have switched to online classes, said �� Boulder education researcher Michelle Renée Valladares.

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Master’s student brings home middle school makerspace to create masks for frontline workers

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:04:26 +0000

Master’s student brings home middle school makerspace to create masks for frontline workers Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/21/2020 - 19:04

Middle school teacher Nick Schuster had one day to return to his school to pack up materials to prepare for teaching remotely after his middle school closed its doors during the early days of the COVID-19 outreak. He knew just what he needed to do.

Schuster, a Master’s student in the �� Boulder Educational Equity and Cultural Diversity program and a teacher in Adams 12 Five Star School District, packed up parts of the makerspace at Rocky Top Middle School to create a makeshift makerspace with a 3D printer in his garage and another printer in students' home, where he and his students are making 3D-printed masks for local health care workers. Combined with district efforts, the school teams have donated more than 1,300 mask for local health care workers. Recently, they have focused their efforts on supplying others on the frontlines, such as postal workers and police departments in Thornton. Schuster's network has come out to support him and his class, too. One friend donated $400 toward the cause providing the Thornton Police Department with 150 masks, and another friend, an electrical engineer, helped him fix a malfunctioning circuit board on one of our printers.

"It's been so amazing to see the community come together to support each other," he said.

As a graduate student and father of two, Schuster is used to the balancing act required to teach middle school while taking graduate courses. He said his Adams 12 graduate student cohort and the faculty and staff in the �� Boulder School of Education's BUENO Center for Multicultural Education formed the support system he needed to get him through challenging times, including the recent impacts of COVID-19 disruptions and remote teaching. Schuster and his cohort are set to graduate this spring, and it's bittersweet to graduate amid commencement ceremony postponemnts and classes that have moved online. He said his professor, Deb Palmer has been amazing at adapting to the new learning environment by "seamlessly bridging us into online learning while keeping us comfortably challenged and learning." Even while he is busy leading his own remote classes and the makerspace project, he finds it uplifting to remain virtually connected with his graduate school classmates.

"A huge unexpected positive that has come from this change in circumstances has been the support from the Adams 12/BUENO Center master's cohort," he said. "We have all been through this amazing experience together over the last 2 and half years and, in some ways, it feels like we have become a family of sorts. Knowing that I can lean on them for extra support is so important in times like these. I will miss seeing them every week once we graduate."

Watch this video about Nick's project, and learn more about his tech space

[video:https://youtu.be/bjrjRRzkz6g]

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NEPC podcast dives into educational equity and policy in the midst of a global pandemic

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 00:02:48 +0000

NEPC podcast dives into educational equity and policy in the midst of a global pandemic Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/16/2020 - 18:02

National Educational Policy Center Researcher and School of Education PhD student Christopher Saldaña interviewed a group of educators and activists about their experiences serving children, schools, and communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Saldaña and the group discuss the unique ways that the pandemic has interrupted the normal interactions between students and teachers, administrators and personnel, and schools and communities in this monthly podcast.

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A message from the Dean: We see you and we are here to support you

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 19:14:08 +0000

A message from the Dean: We see you and we are here to support you Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/14/2020 - 13:14

Dear Friends:

I hope that you and your families are healthy and that you have been able to find new ways to appreciate and care for one another during this unprecedented time. In moments like these, I am reminded of the power and importance of the work our school of education is engaged in to support learning in public schools and community organizations locally and around the country. Every day, we hear about the creative ways our students, student teachers and faculty are working with partner schools and educators to provide educational resources for students and families as their schools close and, in many communities, schools continue to provide meals for the families that rely on them. We've pulled together a list of just some of these resources and stories of inspriation from and for our education community. I am proud of our students, faculty, and alumni who are leading this work in schools, educational spaces, and universities across the country. I would love to learn more about your stories as you do this work.

Much like our nation’s schools, our campus has been closed to our everyday, in-person interactions while remaining open and engaged with students remotely and via online modalities in the name of keeping everyone safe and healthy. We are lucky that our faculty are incredibly skilled and knowledgeable educators, which made the task of moving courses to a remote format relatively easy for them. They have been creative and thoughtful in their responses to students, centering compassion, understanding, and their students’ humanity.

Yet, it is not easy to be apart. There are many things I miss—one of them is having a lived sense of how our faculty, staff, and students are doing. It’s not that on a typical day I would have seen or even been in touch with each (or even most) of the members of our wonderful community. Still, inhabiting the same building, passing each other in the hall, I feel as though I would have more of a sense than I do now, and I miss everyone! It’s one of the reasons I am even more excited about our building renovation and move to the Fleming Building, which will allow us to bring our community together in new ways. The Fleming Building construction is proceeding at a steady pace and, to the best of our knowledge, the move is still on track for this May. Until we can work together in-person once more, I value our time together in virtual meetings and continue to appreciate the kindness, generosity, good humor, and care expressed by our faculty, staff, and students.

We have also been focused on ways to celebrate and support our students. We have been working with the state department of higher education to ensure that our student teachers will receive credit for their work in schools, such as collaborating with teachers on distance learning and staying in close touch with students. While we are all disappointed that in-person commencement activities have been cancelled or postponed, we surveyed students about the ways they might like to be recognized this May and have several online celebrations planned. We look forward to inviting graduates to the in-person ceremony next spring, and this semester, you can always follow our social media channels to stay connected with stories about and online celebrations for our recent grads.

Through it all, I am hopeful the members of our community remember to put their own health and the well-being of their families first. Our community is filled with people who hold high standards for themselves and others, and I want to remind everyone to prioritize what is most important and to find moments of joy in each day.

I am filled with gratitude for each of you and for your many contributions to our community. I hope that you will continue to stay in close touch with us and place your family and the people you love at the center of your life.

Warmly,

Kathy Schultz, Dean of School of Education

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Learning Assistants take compassionate leadership online during difficult times

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 03:24:15 +0000

Learning Assistants take compassionate leadership online during difficult times Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/13/2020 - 21:24

When universities and colleges nationwide announced that their classes were going remote as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, the Learning Assistant Program at the University of Colorado Boulder began to receive emails from all over the world requesting help.

Learning Assistants are undergraduate students who work alongside professors with the job of ensuring that students are feeling heard and getting the specific support they need. At the same time, Learning Assistants make sure that the professors are keenly aware of how each and every student is experiencing their course. They also communicate instructional strategies and learning theory from their weekly course on teaching and learning.

On April 16 and April 22, online panels of Learning Assistants will answer questions from professors and the community about how students are experiencing remote instruction and how Learning Assistants are helping faculty and students. One session will involve Learning Assistants from multiple Colorado institutions and while another is geared toward a national audience and involves many universities from throughout the United States.

The Learning Assistant Program was founded by �� Boulder Astrophysics Professor Richard (Dick) McCray in 2001 with the goals of increasing students’ confidence and success in his courses and recruiting more talented STEM majors to become K-12 teachers. Based at �� Boulder, the International Learning Assistant Alliance was launched in 2010 and now has more than 2,000 faculty participants from more than 400 colleges and universities from 21 countries.

Being a Learning Assistant means “being the student’s voice within the class by giving feedback to the professor and passing along comments from students,” explained Alison Millette, psychology Learning Assistant. “It means to be a presence in the room of one who is there for the students and that they know that,” added Luke Camp, molecular, cellular and development biology Learning Assistant.

Research shows Learning Assistants have led to dramatic increases in student learning outcomes and over 60% decreases in failure rates in introductory chemistry, physics, and calculus at �� Boulder. A recent study conducted by Laken Top, �� Boulder School of Education alumna and Front Range Community College professor, shows that the “special sauce” is in the way Learning Assistants are relating to students, creating more inclusive environments, and inviting students to take on disciplinary identities.

“Fellow undergraduates are less intimidating and potentially have an easier time forming relationships with students, which encourages excitement and curiosity,” explained Hazel Valley Burt, a psychology Learning Assistant.

At the same time, these Learning Assistants are developing a sense of responsibility and global awareness.

“Learning is not just about content, but it is also about advocating for acceptance within and outside the field of concepts,” said Adam Clements, an evolutionary biology Learning Assistant. “In order to advance the STEM professions and build knowledge, Learning Assistants are in place to promote active learning, communication, and advocacy.”

Learning Assistant Program co-founder Valerie Otero explained that Learning Assistants are specially positioned and they define their own roles.

We hire them because they have critical knowledge that has been lost by our ‘expert blindspots,’” said Otero, professor of STEM education in the School of Education. “These undergraduates are our future leaders, and �� Boulder gives them space to innovate, which is leading us in new directions.”

The International Learning Assistant Alliance supports hundreds of universities throughout the world which collectively use tens of thousands of Learning Assistants every year to support hundreds of thousands of our nation’s students and faculty. A key design principle is that the Learning Assistants model are students themselves.

“One of the purposes of a college education is for students to learn how to take responsibility for others, to make informed decisions, and to show compassionate leadership in tough times,” says �� Boulder Provost Russ Moore, who has been instrumental in building and sustaining the Learning Assistant model throughout Colorado and the nation. “�� Boulder students are getting this experience by serving as Learning Assistants.”

A consortium of Colorado institutions has emerged between the University of Colorado Boulder, Denver, and Colorado Springs campuses, Front Range Community College, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Community College of Denver, and Colorado State University to work together and support each other and their students. In some cases, Learning Assistants move between Colorado campuses to increase diversity and opportunity.

Not surprisingly, Learning Assistants are leading the charge of creating meaningful, compassionate online experiences for students during the COVID-19 crisis. They are supported by mentors and a course on teaching and learning, and they have formed an interdisciplinary community ofLearning Assistants from all over the world who are supporting students and faculty during the online transition.

“Academics always involve communities which foster growth, and Learning Assistants use the relationships they make with students and educators to bolster the communities surrounding them,” said Medha Patel, a math Learning Assistant, summing up the important role of community in academics and the Learning Assistant experience.

To learn more about the Learning Assistant Program and the Alliance, contact Valerie Otero. To support the Colorado Learning Assistant Program or the international Learning Assistant Alliance, contact Mia Axon.

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Now is a time to rethink monitoring teachers during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 00:27:08 +0000

Now is a time to rethink monitoring teachers during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/06/2020 - 18:27

In this Washington Post commentary, Dean Kathy Schultz calls on school administrators to trust teachers and honor the humanizing educational practices that are front and center in their distance work with students during school disruptions caused by the COVID-19 crisis. Schultz explores the lessons we might learn during this unprecedented time.

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When a school is more than just a school: How Schools of Opportunity are handling closures

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 04:37:10 +0000

When a school is more than just a school: How Schools of Opportunity are handling closures Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/02/2020 - 22:37

From teachers’ virtual lessons to free “grab-and-go” meals and even emergency child care centers, schools have been finding innovative ways to serve their students after their doors were closed. The National Education Policy Center (NEPC) has been recognizing extraordinary Schools of Opportunity across the nation for the past five years. Here NEPC shares the many ways Schools of Opportunity have been responding to the crisis and continuing to creatively serve students and their families in their communities.

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