Second phase of online help for students available

BY PAUL JUNOR

The provincial government of Ontario has deemed it necessary to extend online support for students. With students having missed two weeks in March and now the entire month of April, it is important that they access online help during this time.

In his announcement on Tuesday, March 31^st, the premier of Ontario Doug Ford stated, “To ensure continuity of learning the government is launching the second phase of Learn at Home developed in conjunction with education partners. The government is establishing clarity for parents, enhancing education supports and creating opportunities for teachers and educators to connect with students.”

The first phase Ontario Together (an online portal) was launched on March 21^st, 2020. It is a collaboration of different organizations in the telecommunication industry, which hope to ensure that low-cost and high-quality strategies are used to close the equity gap that some students face with respect to accessing technology across the province of Ontario.

This is indeed a challenging time for many school boards across Ontario, as they grapple with how to assess and evaluate online lessons, which the Ministry of Education has provided. In a letter to parents from Peter Joshua, the director of the Peel District School Board on Tuesday March 31^st, he wrote, “We are working to ensure that our use of online learning environment will not widen the divide between privileged and underserved students, and that alternate learning strategies will be available.”

 Peter assured parents that attempts will be made to narrow the digital divide, and to contact each student by email or phone to find out the nature of their technology needs.

In addition, there will be ways to:

• Ensure equity of access to devices and Wi-Fi
• Support mental health needs
• Provide help for students with special education needs and English language learners

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) is also looking at ways to get feedback from parents/guardians to find out what they need to put in place. In a Facebook post on Monday, March 30^th, the Director John Malloy wrote, “From our TDSB students, this is a challenging time. We want you to know we are working very hard to get things sorted out so your learning can continue. We want to hear from you, connect with you, help you. We will work through this together and we are thinking about you.”

 He told parents that TDSB is developing a plan to connect teachers and students being driven by teacher-lead learning. This will start on April 6^th and he acknowledged that there will be challenges in terms of how this will be implemented according to March 31^st CTV report online.

Premier Ford assured students and parents on Tuesday, March 31^st. “We cannot put the school year in jeopardy. That’s why we’re providing additional tools for at-home. We cannot put the school year in jeopardy.” Stephen Leece, the Minister of Education further elaborated, “By providing clarity for parents, enhancing support for students and enabling the teacher-student relationship, we are ensuring our children continue to safely learn providing some sense of safety and hope for them amidst this difficulty.” 

The Minister unveiled a new set of expectations for the education community including the following:

• Reconnect students with teachers and other staff, including mental health workers
• Re-establishing teacher-led learning for grade groupings listed
• Leverage digital resources and identifying alternative forms of teacher-student connectivity such as phone and mail
• Develop a program of training for educators to support them in virtual learning delivery
• Final report cards for all students
• Prioritize and supporting students on track to graduate
• Distribute laptops and/or devices from schools as needed, while observing public health direction
• Maintain a responsive posture for health care and community partners requests
• Establishing formal COVID-19 working groups with education sector unions to work together, share ideas and to find solutions in the support of students

Given the realities that are faced, the Minister of Education is looking for specific learning solutions:

• Free or low-cost learning resources and support for students, parents and educators
• Access to devices, such as computers, tablets and portables Wi-Fi hotspots for families that need the support
• Other ideas, goods or services, for example to support mental health and students with special education needs

The fluidity of the global coronavirus pandemic means that conditions could change with respect to the duration of these online lessons. The online high school support is constantly being updated at lah-elearningontario.ca and the elementary materials at https://www.ontario.ca/page /education.ca.