Student Engagement in Distance Learning during Covid-19 Pandemic - PDF Flipbook

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Abstract
The Problem of Practice that I identified concerned distance learning at the start of the

pandemic. Students were not logging into Schoology, the district-mandated learning management
system, and completing assignments. Although students were familiar with Schoology on average
on 47% of students were logging in and completing their assignments. I narrowed my focus to just
the English Language Learners and the data showed the number of logins and coursework
completion was even lower, around 28%. My area of educational focus or topic will focus on
increasing student engagement and learning through the Schoology platform.

Setting

Los Angeles High School (LAHS) is the oldest public high school in the Southern
California Region and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The campus is located
in the Mid-Wilshire district of Los Angeles. The attendance boundaries stretch from the affluent
Hancock Park to the low-income, densely populated neighborhoods that border Koreatown.
According to the US Census Quick Facts 2019 for the zip code 90019, the population surrounding
Los Angeles Senior High School (LAHS) grew less than 1% percent from 2010 – 2018. The
majority of the labor force is female, and 39% of the population speaks a language other than
English. 75% of adults have high school diplomas, and 33% have bachelor’s or advanced degrees.
The majority of students who attend Los Angeles Senior High School do not live in the school
community, defined as a five-mile radius surrounding the school property. Instead, many students
commute from the east and south boundaries of the attendance area, where a dense, low-income
population resides.

LAHS has an ongoing relationship with the LAUSD Parent and Community Services
(PCS) office. The PCS office works with school site staff to provide parent workshops on suicide
prevention, drug and alcohol abuse, teen pregnancy, and mental disorders identification. Parents
and community members actively serve on LAHS decision-making bodies, including School Site
Council, the Local School Leadership Council, and the English Learner Advisory Council. LAHS
also has a working relationship with the Olympic Park Neighborhood Council. For the past ten
years, the Council has collaborated with the school to host a Community Clean-up Day and has

participated in the new student orientation assembly alerting parents to the Park’s facilities and
services.

LAHS offers eight Honors courses and thirteen Advanced Placement classes. The magnet
department is a university preparatory program and is considered a “school within a school.” It
emphasizes a Math/Science/Technology curriculum and prepares students with an intensive,
rigorous course load to better prepare them for college. LAHS has partnerships with West LA and
LA City Colleges. Students can attend classes on the college campuses or attend professor-led
courses on the LAHS campus. The two college options offered at LAHS are concurrent and dual
enrollment.

The demographics of LAHS are: Asian 2.4%, Black 10.9%, Filipino 1.9%, Latino 82.3%,
and White 1.7%. 21% of the student body is classified as English Learners. 85.9% of students are
on Free/Reduced Lunch, 28% of students are AP Test takers, 25% of students have AP Test Scores
of 3 or Higher, 18.4% met the standard or exceeded the standard in SBAC Math, and 39.2% met
the standard or exceeded the standard in SBAC ELA. The total enrollment is 1,290 students. LAHS
has the highest number of English Learners (ELs) of all Local District West high schools, with
19% of the school classified as English Learners. All ELs are required to take additional language
support courses that prevent them from enrolling in courses required for graduation within the six-
period schedule. Also, LAHS has a significant population (16%) of students with disabilities who,
due to their disabilities, miss school frequently and fall behind academically. The demographics
of the faculty are: 26% Black, 13% Asian or Pacific-Islander, 39% Hispanic or Latino, 19% White,
and 3% other. Approximately 70% of our faculty is over the age of fifty-years-old.

All schools in the LAUSD use Schoology, a learning management system that students,
teachers, parents, and administrators use to access instructional material, communicate via direct
message, view grades, receive school updates, use digital tool extensions, create collaborative
groups, engage in professional learning, and for teachers, view usage data. Schoology has a Usage
Analytics feature that teachers can access. It essentially shows teachers active users in their
individual classes and how often they log into the LMS. My investigation led me to discover that
students were not routinely logging into the platform to access instructional material or complete
assignments. So our improvement cycle focused on increasing student engagement and learning
through the Schoology platform.

Participants
The Mission and Vision of LAHS are: “Los Angeles High School is committed to

providing an environment of creative collaboration, where students are supported in personal,
professional and academic growth. All students graduate with the skills they need to build lives of
personal satisfaction, responsibility, and success. Los Angeles High School strives to be a positive
learning community that fosters empathetic, creative, critical, resilient thinkers, effective
communicators and collaborators who demonstrate proficiency in 21st Century skills.”

To make our school vision and mission a reality, I selected three fellow teachers to form a
small professional learning community (PLC). We had a strong collaborative spirit and shared a
mutual respect and understanding of inclusion, instructional practices, and collaborating. Each
member selected was deeply committed to gathering more information on best practices for online
learning. The first member of the group is my 10th grade SPED Inclusion co-teacher and Inclusion
SLC member, Mr. S. I selected him to be part of this group because he can provide insight into
Universal Design Learning evidence-based instructional strategies. Mr. S is a colleague I work
with daily and co-teach four classes with. We lesson plan and collaborate on how to support SPED
students as well as our EL students. Mr. S and I have created a leadership platform on campus
because of our duties as Inclusion co-chairs, teacher mentors, and UDL coaches. Our experience
leading professional developments and guiding teachers through evidence-based practices might
positively impact our ability to co-facilitate because we are already seen as leaders on campus. Mr.
S is a veteran teacher and identifies as a Japanese American man. The second group member is
Biology SPED teacher Mrs. R-M. I selected Ms. R-M because she has taught inclusion for two-
years and can provide insight on data collection and how we tracked student progress. Mrs. R-M
is also an expert on special education, serves as the SPED department chair, and co-teaches
Biology. I have collaborated with Mrs. R-M often to support SPED students. She has a wealth of
experience in differentiating instruction, progress monitoring, and writing/ implementing IEPs.
She was part of the pilot inclusion cohort of teachers, and we meet regularly to discuss ways to
support inclusion and expand inclusion at our school. Mrs. R-M has been a teacher for eight years
and is an alumnus of LAHS. She identifies as a Latina. The third group member is Ms. L., a third-
year teacher who teaches 9th-grade Biology. She is a first-year inclusion teacher and is a strong

proponent of Culturally Relevant Teaching. Thus, she can provide insight into which instructional
strategies have helped her students improve their reading and writing. Ms. L co-teaches next door
to me, and we have collaborated on several cross-curriculum projects over the past two years. She
is also my mentee, so I regularly provide targeted support for her ELs and provide observational
feedback to improve her instructional practice. Ms. L is a former Teacher for America corps
member and identifies as a White/ Pacific-Islander woman. I am the last group member, and my
role is as an ELA Inclusion teacher and Inclusion PLC co-chair. Over the last five years, I have
worked in English Language Arts and English Language Development at each grade level. I have
provided before-school and after-school intervention support for ELs and Reading Inventory, and
ELPAC test prep. As an ELA Inclusion teacher, I have created, implemented, and supported a
rigorous instructional program for SPED and General Education students. I would consider this
group diverse and impartial because we all have different backgrounds, experiences, and
methodologies to contribute and share. Our ages range from 30 – 40 years of age.

The Students

Zsateau took a sip of water from a water bottle and gently placed it next to her on the tiled
floor. She mumbled softly to herself as she studied several notecards on her lap. Nodding her head,
as if in agreement with the text on the notecards, she stood and silently surveyed the banquet hall.
High school students from across the Los Angeles Unified School District milled about the room.
Some were conspicuously parked at the refreshment table. Others were seated around tables with
their administrators or teachers, and the extroverts busied around the room, glad-handing district
supervisors and community leaders. Zsateau tapped the shoulder of Sebastian and beckoned him
to follow her into the hallway. Blocking out the noises emanating from the banquet hall, Zsateau
and Sebastian began to rehearse the speeches they had written several weeks ago. Later in the
evening, Zsateau and Sebastian were called to the stage along with their teachers Mr. N and Mr.
S, and their principal to accept the coveted LAUSD Humanitarian award.

Zsateau and Sebastian were selected to represent Los Angeles Senior High School (LAHS)
at the annual LAUSD Awards ceremony. The awards are presented by district officials and
community members to both schools and individual students. Their peers voted for Zsateau and
Sebastian to be representatives for the pilot Full Inclusion program at LAHS. Part of their duties

as representatives of the school was to deliver an acceptance speech and highlight the inclusion
program’s efficacy.

Zsateau is an English Language Learner whose home language is French. A two-sport
athlete and a popular student, she is vocal about her struggles with dyslexia; however, she readily
volunteers to read aloud and write answers on the board in class. Sebastian is a Special Education
(SPED) student who never felt comfortable in a classroom setting. Inquisitive by nature, he did
not feel challenged in class and did not like the fact that he was in Special Education.

Zsateau and Sebastian represent a small part of the bigger class of General Education,
SPED, English Learners, Students with Disabilities, and Gifted and Talented students that
comprise the Inclusion students at LAHS. In each of their core subjects, these students had a SPED
teacher and a General Education teacher who co-taught the class, providing differentiation and
scaffolding for all the students. Over the course of the year, students discovered their passion for
learning, found their voices, made friends, joined clubs and sports teams, and even rallied the entire
school to resuscitate the defunct Winter Formal dance. They essentially became an integral part of
the school culture. Then the Covid-19 epidemic struck Los Angeles County, and LAUSD closed
all the schools down. Many students became disillusioned with distance learning, and
subsequently, their level of enthusiasm fell, and their class participation dropped precipitously.

The Teacher

Mr. N is a veteran Language Arts teacher and has been at LAHS for several years. He is a
natural classroom leader, and students gravitate towards his real-world application during
instruction. He co-teaches with Mr. S and balances his vigorous classroom demeanor with a
pragmatic approach to classroom instruction. Mr. N serves as an advisor for a boy’s leadership
group on campus and also produces a school-wide theater production every spring as the drama
teacher. Mr. N recruited three fellow teachers to join his Community of Practice (CoP) because of
their collaborative nature, individual skillsets, and commitment to the co-teaching inclusion model
at LAHS.

The Team (Community of Practice)

Mr. S, a contract attorney by profession, was new to the field of education. He won
LAUSD’s coveted Rookie of the Year Award for his innovative Universal Design Learning lessons

in his Special Education (SPED) classes. A jovial man by nature, Mr. S helped his SPED students
create the Culture Club with the intent of bridging the divide between different ethnic groups on
campus. A former college basketball standout, he also became the assistant coach of the boys’
basketball team. He is often seen practicing with his students after school. Mrs. R-M was an LAHS
alumnus. In fact, she was valedictorian of her graduating class. A self-proclaimed Chicana with a
Mexican-American background, she attended graduate school in Barcelona for several years
before returning to Los Angeles to become a Biology teacher. Mrs. R-M is credentialed in Biology
and Mathematics and is considered the data analyst of the group. She loves creating Microsoft
Excel spreadsheets and analyzing correlations between quantitative and qualitative data. Ms. L is
a first-year Biology teacher who truly believes in Culturally Relevant Teaching. She came to the
field of education as Teach for America corps member. A self-proclaimed “science geek,” she
revived the annual spring science fair. A former Girl Scout she formed a partnership with an after-
school provider to establish a Girl Scout troop at LAHS.

The Problem

LAHS implemented hybrid learning through Schoology, the district-mandated learning
management system, and Zoom to provide more learning opportunities for homebound students,
students with jobs, and acclimate the general student body with digital learning. Students had been
active online through Schoology before the school closure and were familiar with the online
platform. Despite this familiarity, the CoP noticed that students were not logging into Schoology
to complete asynchronous assignments. Although students were familiar with Schoology, on
average on 47% of students were logging in and completing their assignments. The CoP narrowed
their focus to just the English Language Learners, and the data showed the number of logins and
coursework completion was even lower, around 28%. The CoP’s educational focus or problem of
practice focused on increasing student engagement and learning through the Schoology platform.

Step 2 of Cal APA Cycle 2 allowed Mr. N to plan with the CoP and select an evidence-
based strategy to address their problem of practice. First, the CoP needed a working agreement,
parameters, and a vision. They decided that student engagement requires that all students be
attentive to the class schedule and responsive to assignments, review questions, and read and
respond if necessary, to updates posted on their class’ Schoology page. They also expected that

students reach out to teachers via email to communicate questions and concerns weekly and that
students turn in assignments promptly. The CoP discussed lesson pacing and classroom procedures
to have in place in their individual classes that could increase online student engagement and
learning and provide a structured environment for students online to receive help. They also
addressed how they could meet their students’ needs and interests to help students remain engaged,
focused, organized, and ultimately how the CoP can help students turn in their assignments. The
group agreed to implement bi-weekly small group learning sessions with their students. Based on
the data analysis, the CoP decided to focus on the students who had not completed assignments
since the school closure.

The teachers determined the best course of action was to implement small group learning,
a student support strategy that SPED students were accustomed to. Students were randomly
divided into cohorts of 4 or 5, assigned a time and a day, and met for 35 -45 minutes via Zoom
with 1 teacher. The CoP decided on this strategy because they felt it gave the students an
environment to complete assignments, troubleshoot technology issues, ask for clarification, and
interact with teachers and their peers. They also felt that this strategy could positively impact
students’ emotional well-being by providing them with a sense of community and normalcy. In
addition, the CoP also utilized Social Emotional Learning strategies like norms of collaboration
and using “glows and grows” at the beginning of each small group session to assess the students’
emotional well-being.

The CoP met once a week every Monday morning for a data chat to analyze whether there
was an increase in student attendance and assignment submissions. At each meeting, each CoP
member shared qualitative and quantitative data about the strategy. The CoP also considered how
to modify the plan to best support their students. Some members suggested that teachers give the
students more choice in selecting which cohort they would attend. Ultimately the CoP decided that
the data would drive any decisions to make a change. The CoP would use the Schoology Analytics
page to document student attendance in their cohort and record the completion of asynchronous
work for that week.

So, in a nutshell, the CoP created small cohorts to (1) re-teach classroom material, (2)
acclimate students to the intricacies of Schoology and Google Drive, (3) implement norms of
collaboration, and thus teach Social-Emotional Learning, (4) provide students a safe space to ask
questions and receive support, and (5) provide a routine and normalcy in students’ lives.

The Results

Each member of the CoP began to see results in week 4 of creating the cohorts. They
expected to notice an increase in assignments being turned in because students worked with their
cohorts and teachers. This meant that students were logging into Schoology at a higher rate to
complete asynchronous assignments. Additionally, they observed a strong correlation between
asynchronous assignment turn-in rate and office hour attendance. This increase in student
engagement directly led to an average increase in overall academic grades as students became
accustomed to the new learning format. Unfortunately, LAUSD issued a mandate that no student
could receive a grade lower than a ‘“D” without full justification and documentation for assessing
that grade. A minority of students took that mandate as a reason to tune out and refused to engage
with the class fully. However, most students continued to foster relationships with their cohorts
and engage in class. Moving forward, Mr. N continued to build from the CoP findings and shared
them with other LAHS teachers and co-teaching teams. He also sensed an opportunity to become
more adept at using digital tools and providing visible data and resources (i.e., Google drive with
resources) for teachers to use for remote learning.

Literature Review
On March 13, 2021, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Los Angeles Unified School

District (LAUSD) closed all its schools. Students, administrators, teachers, and support staff were
all sent home to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. The closure of Los Angeles’ public
schools came days after most private schools in the city also shut their doors. The dramatic changes
caused by the school shutdown led to numerous discussions on how to best support student
learning. The closure of schools was a pivotal moment for LAUSD, as the majority of its students
transitioned to remote learning off-campus, and schools had to adapt rapidly to this new way of
teaching. Fortunately, in 2015 LAUSD adopted Schoology, a Learning Management System
(LMS). Schoology allows teachers to manage student grades, develop and deliver curricula, and
collaborate online with other teachers, students, counselors, and parents by providing a cloud and
an online platform. Schoology also gives teachers the ability to deliver learning resources to
students online and provides classrooms access to digital tools for content management,

discussion, safe messaging, and assessments. Using its Analytics function, Schoology gives
educators a comprehensive picture of each student and the digital tools or applications they use.
Using Schoology in the learning process helps facilitate online learning because it provides
educational material without restricting a school setting. Two weeks after LAUSD shut down
inperson instruction, LAUSD unveiled a $100 million investment to improve online learning and
an agreement with Verizon to provide all students with online access (Haber, 2020. This literature
review’s findings support an LMS’s benefits and access to online learning content to engage
students. This review will investigate the factors that influence the acceptance and usage of LMS
from teachers’ and students’ perspectives during the COVID-19 pandemic. The themes that I will
explore are Traditional School-Home Communication and Implementing an LMS, Pupil
Engagement during Distance Learning, and Online Learning Challenges.

Traditional School-Home Communication and Implementing an LMS

Most schools have an official website with quick links to faculty email and a calendar of
events. Some schools have also adopted text messaging systems in place of robocalls to inform
parents of campus and community events. Current technology offers both conventional and novel
methods of school-home communication. Advancements for communication systems in education
have quickly developed because of the increase in smartphones and cloud-based mobile
applications. In 2015 64% of adults in the US owned a smartphone compared to 35% in 2011
(Lara, 2019). Smartphones and other mobile technologies are helpful and are viable school-home
communication tools, which has made parents, students, and educators receptive to digital
communication tools, like an LMS.

Using an LMS, an educator can create and distribute instructional material or integrate
language learning software into lesson plans. Most LMS systems allow parents to access and
view their child’s courses, classwork, homework, grades, and teacher feedback on assignments.
Accessing the school’s LMS gives parents a more comprehensive overview of their child’s
academic performance. One aspect of utilizing an LMS in K-12 settings is the advantage it can
offer parents to engage with teachers through the LMS (Lara, 2019). This interaction can provide
added value to their children’s education and lead to their success in reaching educational goals.
A good relationship between teachers and their students’ families can positively impact a
student’s academic achievement.

Teachers need to be aware of the benefits of new technology and how it can satisfy their
teaching objectives. Bridging that gap is a critical part of successfully teaching with an LMS.
Jamsri’s research details what teachers want to do with an LMS and their problems with learning
new technology. Jamsri (2015) argues that communication is an essential part of collaboration.
Teachers’ choice of digital tools can help or hinder the learning process, especially where
software might conflict with different operating systems.

An LMS has the potential to support the five basic categories of learning: initial,
continued, remedial, upgrade, and transfer learning (Jamsri, 2015). It can become a crucial factor
in effectively assisting teachers with the tasks they perform throughout the semester (Lara,
2019). The selection of an appropriate LMS for the school represents a first step toward
developing quality online instruction.

Both authors concluded that teachers should train to use an LMS through self-education
and professional development. Most importantly, teachers should see examples of the adopted
LMS in practice. Formal training and concrete examples help build teachers’ self-confidence and
belief that they can effectively utilize an LMS or any digital platform in their classrooms. In turn,
teachers can help students gain experience with the LMS through the school’s advisory or
homeroom classes by approving and implementing a schoolwide vision of LMS usage. Faculty
and staff can have Instructional Leadership Team meetings with the Student Government to see
how the LMS implementation has progressed. Also, students and parents can participate in
planning sessions to integrate technology for students’ learning.

Pupil Engagement during Distance Learning
One of the primary challenges of students enrolled in online courses is their feelings of

isolation, lack of community, and experiences of limited engagement with the instructor (Gay,
2020). Social isolation is an individual’s absence or the low number of meaningful ties with
other people, making them socially isolated (Gay, 2020, p.93). The closing of schools, retail and
entertainment complexes, the suspension and cancellation of social activities because of social
distancing protocols decreased social contact between people, leading to isolation worldwide
(Syauqi, 2020). The authors argue that socially isolated students are positively stimulated to
engage in online classes through a Learning Management System. Therefore, a student will
accept using an LMS because it allows him to engage socially with his peers. This research

demonstrated that student engagement could be high in an online course when using an LMS.
LMS evaluations between 2014 – 2019 reflected increased student satisfaction with the given
class (Gay, 2020). This was also due to the integration of collaborative digital tools such as
Kahoot, Quizizz, Flipgrid, Padlet, and Voice Thread. Students and teachers proved these digital
tools could be valuable teaching supplements that simulate in-person collaborative group work.
Combining group assignments in an LMS with collaborative digital tools allowed students to
apply prior knowledge, skills, and experience gained before school closures. Also, students
gained soft skills that are attractive to potential employers, including problem-solving, working
collaboratively in teams, communication, leadership, and time management.

Research into the impact of Covid-10 on distance learning infers that students are spending
five or more hours a day on a district-mandated LMS. Teachers report that more than half of their
students’ parents engage with their children’s learning. Among secondary school parents,
classroom engagement is 56% compared to primary school engagement of 48% (Hill, 2020). The
student’s age influences this, and parents of secondary school children are more like to have
difficulty in supporting their child’s learning. According to the data, parents with a high school
diploma or less had a slightly lower internet use than parents with a bachelor’s degree. Households
with parents holding a bachelor’s or master’s degree had a higher comfort level using the LMS to
support their child’s learning and communicating with teachers (Lucas, 2020). Besides parental
support, limited student access to WiFi and laptop computers or tablets is a significant challenge.
97% of California households have access to broadband at speeds high enough for some video
calls. However, large households with multiple children and adults using the internet slow the
network down. Nearly 42% of California families reported that unreliable internet access was a
challenge for them during distance learning, and 29% said lack of devices was hindering their
children’s learning experience (Hill, 2020).

The Challenges of Online Distance Learning
There are substantial obstacles with distance learning, and students without reliable

internet access and technology struggle to participate. This gap is seen across countries and
between countries’ income brackets. For example, 95% of Nordic students own or are provided
with a personal computer for schoolwork, in contrast to only 34% in Indonesia (Halif, 2020). In
the US, this inequality is divided neatly along the perpetual wealth gap. The vast majority of

students from middle to upper-class households owned a personal computer for online learning.
Nearly 29% of working-class and low-income students did not. While most school districts and
some local governments have been providing digital equipment to students in need, there is a
concern that the pandemic will widen the achievement gap (Lucas, 2020).

Data shows that students with access to an LMS for online learning retain 25% to 60%
more material than 8% to 10% in a classroom setting. This access is attributed to students’ ability
to learn faster online because they can learn at their own pace, going back and re-reading,
skipping, or accelerating through concepts as they choose (Halif, 2020). However, the
practicality of using an LMS for online learning varies according to age. The data shows that
young children require a structured online environment to decrease potential distractions. The
most significant mistake educators can make in adopting and utilizing an LMS for elementary
students is replicating the physical classroom through teleconferencing. Instead, educators need
to adopt a range of digital application tools for the LMS that promote collaboration and
engagement for younger students (Halif, 2020).

The sudden change away from in-person instruction worldwide has led many educators to
consider whether the adoption of online learning using an LMS will continue after the pandemic
abates. More importantly, how will such a change will reshape the way we view traditional
education? Education reform advocates, educators, and academics argue that the pandemic
disrupted an antiquated education system. They argue that despite 21st-century advances in
educational learning theory, schools still teach traditional academic skills and rote learning
instead of teaching students how to develop a growth mindset and use critical thinking skills
(Syauqi, 2020). For those educators, the lesson of distance learning during the pandemic is clear.
Adaptability is the most critical skill for students to have a successful future. Online learning
using an LMS is the catalyst to create a unique, more effective method of educating students.
Some form of hybrid model with in-person instruction and synchronous distance learning may
become the new ‘normal’ (Syauqi, 2020).

Summary

Traditional schools aiming to reopen post-pandemic must respond to the changing needs
of students and their parents. Each study’s results in this paper help inform administrators,
teachers, parents, students, and education advocates about adopting an LMS, factors that

influenced distance learning during the pandemic, and online learning challenges using an LMS.
Administrators could gain flexibility in course offerings to students by using an LMS to develop
blended learning and flipped classrooms. Classroom teachers benefit from the knowledge that
using an LMS will help them differentiate instruction and target subgroups like English Language
Learners and Special Education students. Students will use an LMS for lesson support,
asynchronous learning, and even credit recovery courses. Parents can access their child’s online
classes, view assignments and grades, and send direct messages to teachers. However, school
administrators should also understand that the adoption of an LMS alone is not enough. Integrating
an LMS must have an adequate amount of high-quality professional development and avoid the
dreaded one-size-fits-all approach that often plagues professional development learning. Students
access technology regularly; thus, using an LMS, whether in a traditional school setting, hybrid,
or flipped classroom, must include digital applications and instructional material constructed for
students with various needs and abilities.

Conclusion: Knowledge for Practice

The problem of practice that I identified was the lack of student engagement during
distance learning. Students were not logging into Schoology to complete assignments. Although
students were familiar with Schoology, only 47% of students were logging in and completing
their assignments. LA High School’s population is 19.8% English Language Learners (ELs). My
next step was to narrow my focus to just the ELs. The data on ELs showed the number of logins
and coursework completion was even lower, around 28%. So, my educational focus area
concentrates on finding the factors causing low engagement and then increasing said engagement
and learning using our LMS platform, Schoology.

The literature I chose addressed traditional school-home communication before the
pandemic and subsequent distance learning. It also addressed student engagement during this
period and the challenges of online learning using a Learning Management System. This research

supported my improvement cycle by providing an in-depth analysis of the challenges schools faced
in delivering effective distance learning using an LMS during the pandemic’s initial months. It
supported my learned experience that parents, and teachers primarily used email and phones to
communicate. Teachers initiated communication more frequently than parents, but despite many
school districts using an LMS, most parents and teachers continued to use the same communication
tools they had been using before the pandemic.

Knowledge in Practice

Our school began to implement Blended Learning through Schoology and Zoom to provide
more opportunities for homebound students, students with jobs, and the general student body to
interact with technology. So, our students were interacting online through Schoology prior to the
school closure. Despite exposure to Schoology, the vast majority of students did not have
significant training on how to access materials, upload homework, and check their assignments for
feedback. This unfamiliarity became a problem compounded with low levels of parental
engagement with home learning and limited student access to consistent broadband internet. I
noticed that 80% to 90% of our students attended Zoom class meetings and actively listened,
learned, and participated. However, once they logged off, they were not completing homework
assignments on Schoology. On average, 70% of our students were logging into Schoology every
five days or less. 30% of the students were logging in every five days or more. Only 47% of all
students completed all their assignments, 28% turned in at least half of their assignments, and 25%
did not submit any assignments. Based on the Schoology analytics data, we selected to focus on
the student group that had not logged onto Schoology in five or more days and had not turned in
any assignments since the beginning of the school closure. My initial focus was to assess how

engaged students are using the Analytics feature on Schoology. I then expanded my research to
consider factors that might be driving student engagement and how schools are providing remote
learning support for pupils. My study found the problem of practice was that students are not
turning in their assignments through the online platform because they needed a smaller
environment to feel comfortable tackling projects, asking for clarification, and communicating
visually and verbally with teachers. I concluded that students who do not turn in assignments were
not learning or engaging comfortably with Schoology or its applications, which affected their
confidence in the learning process and, ultimately their grades, and progress as a learner.

I recognized that several factors are likely to influence students’ engagement, including
access to an electronic device, internet access, parental engagement, and the type of support
received from the school. On average, elementary and middle school students are more engaged
in remote learning than high school students regarding uploading assignments to an LMS (Andrew,
2020). Elementary and middle school students are also more likely to have support from their
parents and contact from their teachers than high school students. Obtaining parental engagement
during the initial weeks and months of distance learning was challenging at best and disastrous at
worst. Therefore, it was crucial to equip students with digital devices and WiFi hotspots. The
research made a strong case that failure to disperse and support the use of digital devices could
lead to greater disengagement, which will widen the achievement gap between low-income high-
need students of color and high-income students.

Knowledge of Practice as a Conclusion

LAUSD, California state, and the City of Los Angeles need to explore how schools can
give sufficient attention to ongoing remote learning for students alongside the proposed hybrid in-

school option. Given the positive link between student engagement and schools’ use of an LMS,
there is a need to promote these platforms’ benefits to schools, increase the number of schools
using an LMS, and support schools to implement them. At the Local District level, leadership also
needs to ensure that teachers have sufficient training and equipment to deliver practical remote
learning support and use technology effectively. School leaders must focus on the most effective
means of supporting students’ learning, for example, focusing on delivering high-quality
instruction using Schoology. During department meetings, chairpersons should promote active
forms of teaching and learning, which have a positive connection with student engagement. These
include telephone calls, videoconference calls, LMS messaging, and direct messages or emails
between teachers and students, and parents.

The data also showed that not enough parents are supporting their children’s learning.
Schools have an essential role in supporting parents, particularly if they have few resources and
find it challenging to support their child’s learning (Drayton, 2020). Administrators should use
School Site Council and Coffee with the Principal as platforms to highlight how parents can
support their children to manage their learning while motivating their children and praising their
efforts. As well as increasing parental engagement, this will help maintain the school community,
despite the disruptive effects of Covid-19. As LAUSD begins reopening schools, there is an
opportunity for educators to start the process of re-engaging students who have not been
participating in remote learning and assessing where they have gaps in grade-level expectations.
As school districts and teachers’ unions look to the future and plan for the inevitable hybrid model
of online learning and in-person instruction learning, teachers should draw on the lessons they
have learned over the past year. Building on this knowledge and integrating an LMS into their

planning, schools can work proactively to ease students’ transition into different combinations of
remote and face-to-face instruction. Reasonable next steps include:

1. Providing multiple, ongoing training opportunities using Schoology for parents, students,
teachers, and staff.

2. Creating district-wide professional development for Schoology training, including video
tutorials, in-person sessions, work aides, and opportunities for one-on-one guidance.

3. Designating technology coordinators at each school site to provide ongoing support and
training for faculty and staff, including working directly with new district hires to train
and support their use of Schoology.

4. Regularly showcasing the benefits and effectiveness of Schoology use for all
stakeholders.

5. Recognizing not all stakeholders have regular internet access. Regularly surveying
students to ensure communications via Schoology also reaches that population.

My Improvement Cycle research has provided an in-depth analysis of the challenges schools face
in delivering effective remote learning during this period. Researchers have long explored the
impact of parent involvement on student learning. Olmstead (2013) wrote, “because proactive
involvement does not require parents to be physically at their children’s school, the question of
how technology can be used to keep parents involved in their academic lives becomes important”
(p. 28). My research demonstrates that an LMS can provide parents with the necessary resources
to engage in their children’s learning. However, school districts adopting this technology must
proceed with precise goals and sufficient faculty, staff, and parent development opportunities.