HP Innovation Journal Issue 15: Summer 2020 | Page 49

Acceleration of Change
Education
The challenges
of distance
learning are
real, but
technology can
provide new
opportunities
for the remote
classroom.
BY CHARLOTTE WEST
ILLUSTRATION BY EIKO OJALA
when morgan keena shifted her seventh-grade
world history class to remote learning in March, she
realized she’d have to do a few things differently. As a
teacher at Lone Star Middle School in Nampa, Idaho,
her in-person strategy of “voice and choice,” where
students decide how to show their understanding of
the material with individual projects, wouldn’t work
through a screen.
Keena asked her students how they preferred to
learn and then designed weekly modules that allowed
them to choose three activities to demonstrate their
mastery of her lessons on topics such as Renaissance
art, the Reformation, and the Inca Empire. Her
students responded positively; she was even able to
engage some online who hadn’t shown much interest
in history before.
For 13-year-old Danae Martinez, having a say in her
homework for Keena’s class was one of the best things
about studying online. “I like getting to choose what I
do, rather than having to be told what to do,” she says.
“We have a lot more options with online learning.”
INNOVATION/ SUMMER 2020
47