With school closings, parents will have to continue to try to fill the void at home. For some, that seems nearly impossible. We speak with Jennie Weiner, a Somerville parent who recently wrote about these challenges for the New York Times.

“The move to online instruction brings hope that we can emerge on the other side of the unexpected
with not just good but with better options for enhancing students’ learning,” says Barry Sheckley, a retired faculty member and former department chair. “Online instruction may foster innovations that enhance all students’ post-pandemic achievement.”

“This is essential work for the country: It will help us understand whether technology-driven, evidence-based learning can reduce the harm of this awful pandemic,” says Devin Kearns, associate professor of special education at UConn’s Neag School of Education, and a research scientist for Haskins Labs.

The use of technology, particularly the internet, to support remote learning is nothing new.

These are grim and scary times. A tolerance for ambiguity is often considered to be a hallmark of a creative personality, but the complete uncertainty we are facing would daunt even the most open of people. Like many, I have been trying to seek out silver linings.

The Neag School’s Educating Bilingual Learners online graduate certificate program offers general education teachers and other school personnel an opportunity to learn how to better support English Learners in their classrooms. The four-class, 12-credit graduate certificate can be earned fully online, making it accessible to educators across the country. 

Stephen T. Slota, assistant professor in residence of educational technology, shares eight quick tips for K-12 and higher educators in the process of transforming face-to-face instruction into online instruction.

“This is one more vivid example of how the playing field is not level,” said Richard Schwab, a professor in educational leadership at UConn’s Neag School of Education and the former dean of the school. “Zip code is determining your education, not only in schools but online and I don’t think this is going away.”

Dr. Devin Kearns, an associate professor of special education in the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut, is studying different forms of dyslexia intervention for students using technology.

Schools haven’t been unprepared for this moment, said Michael F. Young, an associate professor of educational technology at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education. But the immediate strain of wholesale migration to digital learning technologies will be felt by districts, he said.