Feedback Sought in Survey Given to Virtual Learners

An email from Sue Cassetta, Director of Learning at Arrowhead High School, was sent out to all Arrowhead students on October 8th, 2020 at 2:15 pm.  This email was sent in regard to virtual learning practices, communication and support.

The survey questioned students on their experience with virtual learning. The questions pertained to the strategies different teachers implemented to teach kids virtual. It asked questions about teacher feedback, tools students use, how often they have Zoom meetings, how students fix their tech issues, and overall how virtual has been. 

“The questions were really specific and I’m hoping they take our feedback into consideration,”- Ethan Hoeft. 

The survey allowed students to give feedback and voice their opinion. A topic brought up in the survey was synchronous work days, and how often students had a “live” Zoom class during scheduled class time. Asynchronous means the teacher allows students to work on their own without interference from the teacher.  An asynchronous workday was recently communicated for October 2nd, where all Arrowhead students, including in-person, would have a virtual learning day.  

Moving forward this school year, Arrowhead will have an asynchronous day the first or second Friday of every month.  This includes November 6th (B day), December 4th (A day), January 8th (A day), February 5th (B day), March 5th (B day), April 9th (A day), and May 7th (A day).  

On May 7th, AP Chemistry, AP Physics 2, & AP European History students will still be expected to come onto campus to take their AP exams.  The reasoning for this change is because “more time is needed for planning and training for teachers and more independent learning/catch-up time for students” according to Laura Myrah, a member of the school board at Arrowhead. 

Other questions in the survey pertained to technical issues, lack of motivation, productivity and the overall experience of virtual learning, were mentioned throughout the email.  The virtual learning survey questions were organized into four main categories: Demographics, Virtual Learning Practices, Communication, and support.

In the survey, Arrowhead students are asked your grade level during the 2020-2021 school year, which resources help students learn best in virtual learning, what type of teacher feedback you find most useful, how often you have a “live” class during scheduled class time, how often you can communicate/work with the teacher during class time, whether they follow the synchronized school schedule or not, what the struggles have been with online learning so far, how challenging learning has been in virtual learning, etc.