The COVID-19 pandemic is showing us how we can all stay connected and establish a new “normal” with technology. Much like it did for working from home, COVID-19 is showing us what is possible in remote education. Even before the pandemic, online learning was growing. Now, schools around the world have closed campuses and are resorting to online learning to continue teaching students.

Schools are Combining Technology, Home School, and Classrooms

The COVID-19 pandemic is showing us how we can all stay connected and establish a new “normal” with technology. Much like it did for working from home, COVID-19 is showing us what is possible in remote education. Even before the pandemic, online learning was growing. Now, schools around the world have closed campuses and are resorting to online learning to continue teaching students.

As fall approaches, schools are scrambling to come up with options as they wait to see how COVID-19 will continue to affect both learning and teaching. Any option that involves students entering classrooms is bound to come with obstacles. These include keeping the students 6 feet apart in the school and on school buses to making sure classrooms are stocked with enough cleaning supplies. School districts are being forced to decide between reopening schools or continuing with remote teaching. But what if there was another option?

Is a hybrid model a potential solution?

A hybrid model, consisting of both in-person and remote learning is emerging as a popular proposal for the fall. This model can have 25 to 50 percent of students and staff on campus, with staggering days in-between the days they are on campus.

This type of model will vary between states and schools, as COVID-19 continues to affect each state differently. Since there is no vaccine or reliable treatment yet, students, teachers, and other staff members are at risk. While children have had more mild symptoms from COVID-19 than adults, there is still the problem of putting teachers and other staff with underlying health conditions at risk.

States like North Carolina are planning to vote and announce by July 1st how they will handle teaching in the fall. There are several different options available.

• Split students up, so some are on campus all the time, and others are taking remote classes all the time. This option could mean that elementary and middle school students use larger high school campuses and high school student take courses online
• Schools could alternate days when students go to school.
• There’s also the option of alternating weeks for when students go to school.
• Having some students go half the day on campus and half the day while learning at home.
• Teachers could live-stream classes, with schools determining which students are at home and who are on campus.
  Although online and remote learning was growing before the COVID-19 pandemic, schools have had to close campuses and center around remote learning to teach students. As the beginning of fall semesters quickly approach, no vaccine for the virus is still a cause for concern for schools. While there are many options available, the schools are focusing more on a hybrid model. This model will consist of a combination of students and teachers both on and off campuses.