Learning the digital lesson

Never before in our lifetime have we faced such a challenging period in both our professional and personal lives. However, as a better-defined road to recovery starts to emerge, it is now vital to recognise how schools can start to sow the seeds of a lasting digital transformation that will support long-term education goals.

As restrictions change seemingly by the day and COVID-19 fatigue kicks in, schools must try and navigate consistently fluctuating circumstances. How can we make the most of both the time we have with students in front of us in the classroom and at home, working remotely?

Now, digital literacy is completely entwined with the core curriculum but, while we are seeing strides being made towards a blended curriculum, there remains a significant gap in achieving a collaborative approach to education.

To move forward, and ensure digital learning practices thrive, they should not be approached as a standalone topic and instead must be integrated into everyday lessons. In doing so, we can hone an adaptable, future-ready workforce that can drive through significant change. At the heart of that is a collaborative group of adaptable students, parents, and teachers alike.

A digital purpose at the heart of education

Without a doubt, COVID-19 has accelerated digital capacities and adoption within education centres, but at Kingsland Primary School, the infrastructure was already in place to allow it to thrive.

Through the Scottish Borders Council’s award-winning Inspire Learning programme, every young person in the area from P4-S6 is equipped with an iPad and a suite of digital learning tools. Although Kingsland Primary School did not receive its iPad deployment until after the initial lockdown period, it had the means to pivot towards a digital approach to teaching, building on an existing digital footprint that started with blogs, something the parents were familiar with. The initial approach was to adapt and take inspiration from students, families, and teachers about what worked for them. Now, following the iPad deployment which began in June 2020 and was completed in October 2020, over half (215) of our learners are equipped with iPads, across primary four to seven.

Teachers were supported in getting to grips with this new way of teaching through Inspire Learning Schoolhouse sessions, which provide in-house continued professional learning (CPL) for educators across the Scottish Borders. The Apple Regional Training Centre also made available a ‘Become An Apple Teacher’ video course designed to introduce Apple tools and support in teaching children who have their own devices on a 1:1 basis.

Although not a cutting-edge concept, blended learning has been thrust into the limelight of a new context. The need to be able to swap seamlessly between face-to-face teaching and online learning, or even run both simultaneously for schools that may be geographically split, means that blended learning is now a top priority for schools worldwide.

The new availability of iPad provides greater equity for learners but, like any change, some teachers were ready to fly and others weren’t. Providing high-quality support for teachers to learn not just the technical skills necessary, which is a steep learning curve on its own, but also to engage with pedagogy around digital learning has been vital in crafting an approach that works for our school community.

It’s been crucial to establish a baseline of proficiency and a strategic plan that ensures teachers are given the tools they need to thrive and succeed. A core digital purpose must be communicated which everything falls under. Being clear about what the goal is and how it will benefit learners creates the motivation to keep going. Throughout everything, ours remains ‘how do we ensure that we keep connected?’ For our school, this means using digital tools in a creative way to engage with and support everyone in our community.

Creating a culture for learning

The last year has seen the introduction and implementation of many digital learning models, but, ultimately, it is culture that will determine if these models succeed.

While every school has some tech-savvy teachers, for whom the jump into digital learning holds no fear, the shift has not been easy for everyone. The priority of keeping connected, hasn’t changed, but it is crucial to ensure everyone is on board and has the support they need to succeed. This allows for continual growth and evolution, refining the digital learning model to best fit the needs of children and families.

However, this is not without challenges. In our experience, it’s important to overcome the hurdle of new devices as a novelty and push through the ‘excited phase.’ It can be tempting in the early days to use iPads for everything and leave more traditional methods behind. Whilst it is undoubtedly exciting, once children and teachers see past this ‘newness’ they begin to make the connection that the device is a tool that can make a difference to the learning experience. Being thoughtful about how iPads can enhance learning – and not using it if it doesn’t- is where we are supporting teachers to get to in their thinking.

Old issues in a new world

The greatest benefit of iPads is that our young people have learned more about technology and digital etiquette in a few weeks than they may ever have done over a full year of weekly computing lessons. This has given us the opportunity to have valuable conversations around key issues such as consent for sharing images and digital citizenship.

Ultimately, schools should expect learners to hold themselves accountable to the same standards of behaviour offline as they do online. Being fair, respectful and kind helps ensure digital experiences are positive for everyone, and knowing how to get help when things go wrong gives learners the tools they need to stay safe.

From our experience, we would encourage other schools to foster conversations around these topics. Kingsland Primary School recently achieved Special Recognition in Cyber Resilience and Internet Safety from Digital Schools Scotland. We are now a Mentor School and support other schools on their journey to creating a positive digital culture.

A marathon, not a sprint

To be successful, there must be an expectation that things will go wrong. Empowering teachers with good quality professional learning and support to overcome challenges goes a long way to strengthening culture. Making clear that we are always improving, and that a key part of that is learning from mistakes, teaches skills that will always be valued – from creativity to problem-solving and the ability to communicate well.

We have seen a period of unprecedented growth in terms of schools’ capacity for digital learning, brought about by the most extreme of circumstances. Looking ahead, it is clear to see these changes are here to stay.

The fast-tracked digital developments invoked by COVID-19 are closely aligned with the skills needed for life, learning and work in the 21st century. We must seek to raise a generation of thoughtful and resilient problem solvers, able to assimilate ever-changing information, filter through to what’s important and respond accordingly, all whilst juggling home and family commitments.

The events of the last year provide schools with a singular opportunity to get up to speed with digital learning and build a model that is both fit for the core purpose of supporting learning and bespoke to their own school community and its unique context.

If anything positive is to come out of this pandemic, for schools it must surely be the greatly increased capacity to support learners to survive and thrive in the digital world. Staff, parents, and pupils are equally as important and, while the home learning model is forever changing, the rapidity at which education has shifted shows it is here to stay.