Lately, I've been thinking about the childhood game of hide and go seek.
Remember when you were a kid and you would close your eyes and count to 30 while the other children would run as fast as they could to hide? And as you counted, you would always count much more quickly when you got closer to 30, right? Then once you got to 30 you would shout, "Ready or not, here I come!"
That phrase typifies the way many of our students are feeling now. Many of them started out studying in a face-to-face classroom, then as the part of the COVID-19 response, campuses were closed and they had to transition to online learning.
Ultimately, it was like, "Ready or not, here it comes."
Take a look at the 2-minute SmarterReflections video that I recorded below to learn how you can help prepare your students to be more ready.
Don't want to watch the video? Read the video summary to learn how you can better prepare your students.
Video Summary:
When I think about the concept of learner readiness and what schools do to help students be more ready for their courses, I think about the evolution of SmarterMeasure Readiness Indicator over the last 18 years. SmarterMeasure is a web-based assessment that measures non-cognitive attributes, technical skills, and readiness for online and self-regulated learning. From this assessment, students receive a detailed report of their results with positive reinforcement and helpful resources.
But back in 2002, SmarterMeasure started out only measuring online learner readiness. In fact, at that point, we called the assessment "Ready" – Readiness for Education at a Distance Indicator. But as we provided that for 8 years, schools began to recognize that the same traits, attributes, and skills that apply to an online learner are actually across all modalities, whether that's face-to-face learners or online learners.
At that point, we changed the name of the assessment to SmarterMeasure Learner Readiness Indicator. And fast-forward to todays date, because of COVID-19, the assessment is being used by all students, no matter if they've signed up for a face-to-face class or an online class.
Schools are now being able to make really good use of this data. They are finding that the assessment is useful in giving student insights into their non-cognitive traits, attributes and skills, many of which include:
- Support from family
- Time management
- Motivation
- Control over procrastination
- Technical competency
- Appropriate place to study
- Technology access
- And more.
Out of this list, the one that's really important to today's current situation is the technology access skill. Overall, schools are using SmarterMeasure to identify students who may not have the appropriate computing devices or internet access to be able to access their courses online.
So, if your students are feeling like they are being put in this "ready or not, here online learning comes" situation, I recommend that your institution checks out what SmarterMeasure can do for you and how it can help your students be more readying for their school courses.
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