SPRINGDALE -- Travis Sherman demonstrated proper ways to visually frame a television interview during his "Composition 101" lesson in a live broadcast on YouTube.
Students could watch as the television production teacher at Har-Ber High School spoke over videos he'd filmed of himself pretending to be interviewed. Each showed him from a different angle.
"This is way too much headroom," he said about one where his head and shoulders barely made it into the picture. "It gives the opportunity for people to look around the frame and not what you're trying to make them focus on."
Sherman's broadcasts from his home, which he does three times per week, have replaced in-person instruction since schools closed statewide last month because of the covid-19 pandemic.
Distance learning presents challenges for educators, but it poses additional challenges for career and technical education classes, where hands-on activities are a vital component.
"It's not just, here's a lesson, here's a lesson, here's a lesson," Sherman said about his classes. "It's, here's a lesson, now let's go out and do this in the field."
It's unclear what the effect will be on students' education overall. Teachers and administrators said they're doing their best given the circumstances, but they can't replicate some lessons in a distance-learning format.
Hundreds of high school classes in the Springdale School District fit the career category, said Kelley Williamson, the career and technical education director.
Springdale's career teachers are meeting with students daily through the Zoom video application. Students and their parents also are receiving emails from teachers regarding assignments, extra links for research opportunities and other pertinent information, Williamson said.
If students or parents do not respond, then teachers are reaching out to them by phone at least once a week, she said.
Patti Priest, an agricultural science teacher at Springdale's Har-Ber High School, said all of her classes have a huge hands-on component with many lab activities.
"Now, I feel like all we can do is have them read an article about a subject. It is hard to retain the knowledge from just reading something. The hands-on activities help reinforce that," Priest said.
The goal of her veterinary science class, for instance, is to teach students to become veterinary assistants, which requires them to demonstrate the knowledge they've gained in a lab setting.
"This has been a struggle to figure out how to continue this type of learning. I remind myself every day that there is no way for this online instruction to look and feel the same as it did inside the traditional classroom," she said.
Shifting gears
The Arkansas Department of Education has issued guidance on career education for the remainder of the school shutdown. The department recommends career teachers collaborate with other teachers to integrate learning-by-doing methods of instruction into core-content classes, according to a department document.
Many career courses demand students demonstrate technical skills that require tools and equipment students may not have at home. If certain technical skills cannot be taught through distance learning, schools may consider amending course objectives, according to the document.
Teresa Hudson oversees the Bentonville School District's Ignite program, which immerses students from both of the district's high schools in a professional environment with support from a facilitating teacher and professional mentors. It offers classes in eight career fields.
Nearly all internships associated with the Ignite program have ceased. Ignite teachers are trying to instruct students on technical skills, although that's not always easy. The construction management field, for example, involves some large tools many students don't have at home, she said.
"We're doing the best we can with it. It's not the same as getting their hands on everything, but we're trying to show them as much as we can," Hudson said.
Britley Kissinger, a senior at Har-Ber High School, has been part of Future Farmers of America since eighth grade. She is enrolled in three agriculture-related courses this semester, including greenhouse management. Har-Ber High has a greenhouse where the students spend much of their class time doing hands-on work.
With school -- and the greenhouse -- closed to students, the class has had reading assignments about agricultural advancements and a virtual field trip to learn about water and soil conservation, Kissinger said. Then the class transitioned to supervised agriculture experiences, in which students do a project of their own.
Kissinger is disappointed to be missing out on Future Farmers of America spring events such as the state convention, an end-of-year banquet and state contests.
"It's not as much fun as it used to be because you don't have your friends with you," Kissinger said. "It makes it hard for others to learn because their friends aren't there to motivate them. Because normally we're all pushing one another."
NTI extends semester
Northwest Technical Institute in Springdale provides career education to high school students and adults. It offers nine diploma programs in the health services, industrial and information systems fields.
The school's spring semester was scheduled to end May 8. Officials have a plan to extend the semester based on when the state allows the school to reopen so students can meet required hours for their programs.
If students are allowed to return to campus by June 1, the semester will be extended until June 26; if not, the semester will be extended until July 24. Programs will develop a schedule to allow students to complete any class and lab hours needed, according to the plan.
"The students will get all that they bargained for, and that's the main thing we want. We don't want to short anyone," said school President Blake Robertson.
That might present some scheduling complications if the school isn't allowed to reopen until late summer or fall because of classes scheduled for those times, but Robertson is optimistic the school will make it work.
"It will take all of us planning and looking ahead, and, once we get the go-ahead to open, then we'll make final plans to finish up this semester and get ready for the next," he said.
If students fail a certification test -- to become a licensed practical nurse, for example -- there won't be any kind of refund of their tuition or fees, Robertson said.
In the meantime, Northwest Technical Institute students are doing whatever book work they can at home, he said.
The school's medium and heavy truck technology department has 28 students this semester. Carl Desens, department chairman, said his instructors are in touch at least weekly with students. They use Google Classroom to manage assignments and point students to YouTube for videos on relevant material.
Classes are designed so students get two hours in the classroom followed by two to four hours of hands-on instruction in the shop, he said.
Once everyone is able to return to the classroom, all work will be in the shop, he said. It remains to be seen what the effect will be of separating the book work entirely from the shop work.
"It's uncharted territory," Desens said.
Northwest Arkansas Community College also offers a variety of programs that rely largely on hands-on classroom activities.
Ray Taylor, the college's director of construction technology, teaches construction methods. Those classes are about half lecture and half hands-on practice.
Taylor received permission to go into the college shortly after it shut down last month and make several short videos of himself demonstrating the tools his students hadn't seen yet, tools he didn't have in his own home shop, he said.
"We put those on YouTube. Then we assign them to the students and quiz them on it, so we make sure they've reviewed the material, and then we still have lectures on Zoom," he said.
Career Launch continues
The Rogers School District developed what it calls a Career Launch Work Ready program, an accelerated certification and training program offered to 12th-graders who might not have had the opportunity to participate in some classes during high school, according to Dawn Stewart, the district's career and technical education director.
Students began registering for the program in March, shortly before schools closed. It originally was scheduled to begin in March, but the online portions will now begin this month.
The program's goal is to prepare students for jobs that align with local workforce demands. Students can take the classes for free through the district's program.
Students can enroll in a wide range of online courses and training programs that allow them to gain certification in several career fields. Many of the certification and training programs are offered through partnerships with local business and industries.
Petra Allied Health, a health education school based in Springdale, will provide blended learning classes students can take to become a phlebotomy technician, a veterinary assistant or a certified nursing assistant. As of Friday, 43 Rogers seniors had registered for the Petra classes.
These courses have been modified so students will do the knowledge-based portion online, which is self-paced and typically can be accomplished in seven to 10 weeks, Stewart said. Students then will do clinical experiences in health care facilities in the community later this summer, pending restrictions related to covid-19.
Another 27 students have registered for the OSHA 30, electrical systems, CNC operator, emergency medical responder/technician and CDL programs. Three students have registered for the junior IT program that will be provided by the NWA Council and the University of Arkansas Global Campus.
"The covid-19 pandemic has brought challenges, but I truly believe that learning can occur in any environment," Stewart said.
NW News on 05/03/2020