B.C.'s schools are sitting empty, despite spring break being over, due to the COVID-19 pandemic

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Spring break may have ended, but classrooms across the province are sitting empty with in-class instruction suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As B.C.’s teachers attempt to adapt to a new remote learning regime, a long-time educator says many are lacking the skills and training required to make it work.

“We’ve been heavily focused on, perhaps, the infrastructure and the actual hardware access for students in schools, but in terms of the actual integration — how technology and learning go together — that’s been the harder piece to put together,” says Cathal Walsh, a former teacher and school principal in Nanaimo.

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During his 20 years in education, Walsh conducted technology integration workshops for teachers on behalf of the Ministry of Education. But years later, he says the use of technology in schools remains limited.

“We’ve treated technology as a separate skill set, instead of looking at it as an integration piece for actually achieving the learnings that we want students to achieve… most teachers in the province have not had the training, the understanding, the tools, everything they need to really run with this.”

Individual school districts and independent school authorities are currently developing plans to deliver lessons outside a classroom setting, which the province says may include online learning tools or assignments emailed to parents.

Long-term, Walsh says what’s required is a paradigm shift when it comes to technology and education. In the short term, the advice for teachers struggling with this sudden shift is to keep it simple, and focus on learning outcomes.

“I think the most important thing for teachers right now is not to get overwhelmed by trying to learn a whole bunch of new and perhaps complicated platforms for delivery, because that’s not going to help either the student or the teacher in the short term,” he says.

“There are teachers and principals right now that have already been doing amazing things in this area. Find those networks, and lean on your colleagues, because that will get us all through this.”