5 remote learning innovations that are here to stay

For years, technology found its way into the classroom without ever really delivering the sea-change that its evangelists claimed it would.

But the past 12 months have changed that. 

The Covid-19 closures meant that teachers at all stages of their careers and in all settings quickly had to become au fait with using technology to adapt learning to the new situation.

As part of our reflection on a year in education like no other, we spoke to teachers across the UK to find out what tech innovations they think will survive beyond the pandemic.

1. Homework

Setting homework on platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Google Classroom became commonplace in the pandemic, and Elaine Hayes, a maths and PE teacher from London, predicts that this is here to stay now, especially as parents are clued up too.

“With both platforms you can add parental/guardian emails so that they can receive a weekly digest of the assignments that their son/daughter received, whether they have been completed or not, and any grades associated with it.”

Adam Riches, assistant principal and senior leader for teaching and learning and specialist leader in education and head of English, agrees: “Something we’ll certainly be using is Google Classroom for the continued support of learning outside of the classroom,” he says.

“The computer literacy of the students and the teachers’ understanding of the functionality means that it is a resource we can utilise so much more effectively now.”

Meanwhile, Rose Lawson, a secondary school history teacher, adds that she expects her school to continue using Google Forms for assessment and homework.

“The self-marking quizzes have been great, whether testing knowledge of key dates or accurately identifying causes of key events,” she says. “I will definitely keep doing these as recall homework tasks post-Covid.”

2. Interactive displays

Blair Minchin, a primary teacher in Scotland, says he’s planning to keep using interactive-image editor Thinglink, a tool that allows images to made interactive by embedding images, videos and songs.

He started using it to provide children with an interactive way of engaging with their classroom, by being able to click on different bits of their displays to bring up videos, games, tests and songs (you can see his classroom here).

“For remote learning it’s been superb for developing our virtual classroom. You can update on the fly, add links, videos, audio and text and can be embedded or shared on all platforms,” he said.

And he fully intends to keep it going long into the future. “You can get pupils to create their own to explain a working wall or classroom display or use as a personal project that they add to throughout the term.”

This week’s issue of the magazine marks one year since the pandemic disrupted education across the world and we’ve made it free online for all to access. It includes:

• How leaders coped over the past 12 months
• If the pandemic should mark the end of exams 
• How to support your Covid-NQTs
• How the FE sector survived and thrived  

3. Parents’ evenings

Matt Roberts, a Year 6 teacher and maths lead in the North of England, says the pandemic has accelerated the use of technology “by five or more years”. And one area where this has particularly paid off is around parents’ evenings, he says.

“I have heard many comments about how, as a parent, it is much easier and a more effective use of time, rather than having to physically meet each time. In addition, I have had teaching staff comment to me on how much more smooth the evening(s) were.”

As such, he expects this to become an option in the future.

“I do recognise the value in having some in-person interaction, particularly in primary education, but the advantages of what I experienced in autumn and the feedback I heard far outweighed the option of not using it in future.”

Claire Lotriet, an acting co-headteacher, agrees: “It gives working parents more flexibility by allowing them to have their meeting from work and not need to rush to school for the last appointment available. It was overall just a more efficient way of doing things.”

4. Audio feedback

Danielle Jones, a subject leader for drama at a secondary school, says audio feedback has been a big revelation during the pandemic and one she can see remaining in place.

“Mote, a Google Chrome extension, has been the most popular with pupils and staff,” she says. “It allows you to record extensive verbal feedback for pupils so they can listen to your advice and pause where they need to make changes.

“Pupils have responded incredibly well to this and commented that it feels much more personal and, of course, it saves a lot of time as a member of staff in terms of marking.”

5. Pre-recorded lessons

With so many video lessons having been produced during the pandemic, some teachers, such as Ms Jones, believe there will be a role for these in future as part of wider educational offering.

“We have a large bank of lessons covering every topic for key stage 3 and 4. Moving forward, these will be used as revision resources prior to examinations and to support pupils who, for whatever reason, are unable to attend school or have maybe missed a lesson on something specific and need to catch up,” she says.

Paul Read, an English supply teacher, also sees this as having big benefits. 

“The notion of having recorded banks of lessons is useful for those students who may have missed a session. I was covering an English lesson in December and the teacher asked me to play one of her YouTube videos from the first lockdown to her year 10 class,” he says.

“This wouldn’t work all the time but it was perfect from my point of view, and the children all had access to the absent subject teacher’s expertise via the pre-recorded video.”