In fact, they’re an adaptation of the “micro-school,” which is itself a reimagining of the one-room schoolhouse.

Learning pods have received the greater public’s eye in response to COVID-19, but they’re not reinventing the wheel. The Challenges That Come with Learning Pods However, the emergence of these small pandemic-friendly learning environments has raised a few concerns. Make no mistake, it’s a good idea in theory. This educator works with the curriculum that these small groups of children are receiving from their respective school district during remote learning sessions. The idea is that a small number of students gather in-person (usually at a selected parent’s home) and meet with an in-person instructor or tutor. And for the working parent, constant time helping their child with his or her online classes is simply not feasible. Teachers are putting forth Herculean efforts each day to keep kids learning productively, but there’s still no substitute for in-person instruction and individualized attention. ) have sprung up as a result of remote learning. Pandemic pods (or, learning pods, education pods, etc. The result of this is a collaborative effort between parents and teachers to make this work as best as possible. This new school year promises to be devoid of the normal social interaction that our kids are used to. They are in a pivotal stage of physical cognitive, and emotional development. Only now they’re working extra hard to find creative ways of teaching in a virtual learning environment.Ĭhildren might be the most affected of all.

Teachers face a lot of the same issues that they encounter in the classroom when it comes to implementing scaffolded learning strategies and instructing diverse groups of students. With their children home all day, parents are scrambling for child care options and private tutors so that they can still effectively work full-time jobs. Now, parents, teachers, and children are faced with a myriad of challenges.įor parents, the online learning scope is completely new terrain to stumble across. 'You will need to trust the people you are 'bubbling' with and that everyone will be honest and open about any exposures that they have had - or that the people around them have had.'īusiness Insider asked five infectious-disease experts for their advice on creating a safe social bubble, or 'pod.' Some recommendations were more conservative than others, but all experts agreed on a few key things to avoid.The pandemic’s left schools with no other choice: Remote learning is the name of the game.

Anne Rimoin, an epidemiology professor at UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health, told Business Insider. 'You have to remember that there are no zero-risk scenarios and most people's bubbles are bigger than they think they are,' Dr. The tighter the bubble group's restrictions, however, the more that risk goes down. But public-health experts say the approach is still somewhat risky, given that the US is seeing record-high numbers of new coronavirus cases. Naturally, many Americans will be tempted to mingle indoors with friends and family.įorming 'social bubbles' - small groups that agree to spend time together indoors, exclusively with each other - may be the safest way to do that. Thanksgiving and Christmas are on the horizon. More than nine months into the coronavirus pandemic, the weather is getting cold.

Might time up pandemic pod