SALT LAKE CITY — Many Utah schools are transitioning to remote learning in the wake of an ongoing rise in COVID-19 cases, leaving teachers and students to adjust for what is lost when instruction isn't conducted in a face-to-face setting.

Schools pivoting to remote learning are doing so after they exceed the COVID-19 case threshold established in the state's Test to Stay program, which was suspended last week due to rapidly rising case numbers that have overwhelmed testing capacity.

Utah health officials on Tuesday reported 39,882 new COVID-19 cases, with school-aged children accounting for 8,490 of the new cases. As of Wednesday, dozens of schools, and in some cases entire school districts across the Wasatch Front are conducting temporary remote learning until at least Monday.

Todd Call, the coordinator of the digital teaching and learning team at the Utah State Board of Education, said that while there are challenges that come from remote learning, Utah is in a "unique position" to handle those challenges.

Part of what puts Utah in that position is the Digital Teaching and Learning Grant Program. Under the program, districts and charter schools are required to create a 5-year plan for Digital Teaching and Learning to be approved by the Utah State Board of Education to qualify for the funds. The program currently invests $20 million in accelerating and deepening learning through technology in Utah's K-12 schools.

"Really before COVID, we had access to devices and to software and teachers were being trained on how to use those tools most effectively," Call said.

Access to technology

Call said that the first thing he considers when thinking about how to ensure that remote learning is meaningful is student access to the necessary technology.

"Many Utah schools have been participating in the statewide Digital Teaching and Learning Grant Program, and so we have lots of devices across the state, we have access to lots of different tools, and educators are very skilled in using those tools to support student learning. Then, how do we put a system in place where those resources and supports can be easily accessible to students and to families?" Call asked.

One system in place that answers Call's question can be found in the work that Granite School District did before the pandemic and is currently doing to promote successful remote learning.

Starting in 2016, Granite School District began supplementing district funding with the Digital Teaching and Learning Grant to purchase Chromebooks for every student in the district prior to the onset of the pandemic.

"We were fortunate to be very prepared with student devices," said Chris Larsen, Granite's director of educational technology. "All students had Chromebooks that they were familiar with because they had been using them in the classroom."

Going further than just providing students with a device, the district also took steps to ensure connectivity for students.

"With Granite technology funding, a state emergency broadband grant and federal relief funding, we have been able to purchase enough wireless hotspots to meet every internet need we're aware of. We continue to reach out to look for more unmet needs," Larsen said.

Similarly, Murray City School District provided all of its students with laptops, and the district utilized federal funds to create its own long-term evolution network, or LTE, providing students in the district fast, reliable broadband internet connection.

Access to meaningful, effective remote learning

Beyond supplying students with devices and connectivity, districts and educators are having to come up with effective, engaging ways to go about conducting remote learning.

"Learning looks a little bit different in different settings and different scenarios — for a student to transition from what they have experienced in an in-person setting, and then translating that experience into an online setting. It still requires the student to be able to engage in the learning, to collaborate with their peers, to receive timely feedback and do all the things that a student would normally experience in an in-person setting," Call said.

Larsen said that Granite School District has a technology coach or library technology coach in every school, helping to bridge the gap between in-person and online learning.

"They work side by side with teachers to model the effective integration of technology into high-quality classroom instruction. Technology coaches have collaborated with instructional coaches, literacy coaches, and content specialists to create lesson plans, learning activities and other resources for teachers to use," Larsen said. "They've created enough resources for teachers to use daily during distance learning."

Additionally, Call said that access to teachers, support and other resources is still available to students; they just look a little different in a virtual setting.

"I think our teachers in Utah have done an incredible job over the last couple of years in learning how to connect with students and their families, and then to be able to support and to monitor their engagement in learning to see how they could better support students," Call said.

Related:

22 schools in Davis, Weber districts pivot to remote learning due to COVID-19

Davis School District announced Tuesday that it will be moving 19 of its schools to remote learning on Wednesday. Three schools in Weber School District will also move to remote learning.

Partnering with families

Students and educators aren't the only ones who have been affected by a transition to remote learning. Parents and guardians have also had to adjust how they go about day-to-day life when they have a student at home doing remote learning.

Call said it's essential for educators to partner with families to "create shared goals and expectations where families can be a support in ensuring that learning is meaningful for their students, and that learning is taking place and that students are engaged in the learning."

Murray City School District public information officer Doug Perry told KSL in November that the district has received great feedback from parents expressing how much the LTE network means to them. One parent told him that prior to the LTE network, she was having to monitor the bandwidth that she had for her cellphone, which turned out to be the internet source for the entire household.

"She had a limited plan and limited funds to be able to pay for this every month and had to figure out what the allocation was each day for bandwidth as they have to pay for that service," Perry said. "For us, it's gratifying to hear stories like that, that a parent like that no longer has to rely on her own personal cellphone plan to provide internet for their students."

Prior to the pandemic in 2020, Granite School District hosted parent and family nights at local high schools where topics such as internet safety, digital citizenship and student wellness were discussed. Larsen said the district has continued those conversations with families virtually since the pandemic began.

Through a partnership with the Utah Education Network, Granite School District had over 30 principals in the district complete the Leadership in Blended and Personalized Learning training.

"Many of our school principals have shared feedback that the things they learned were instrumental in their readiness to face the challenges of providing distance learning," Larsen said.

Along with the training for principals, Stephanie Wood, director of online learning in Granite School District, designed and started the district's first standalone synchronous online school.

"We've learned a lot from her efforts and her expertise. The lessons that her teachers learn are then shared with other teachers throughout the district," Larsen said.

"I've been impressed by teachers' willingness to learn new things, take risks, and find creative ways to meet the diverse needs of their students."

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