New Views, New Roles: How Parents Supported Learning during the Transition to Remote Learning

Abstract

Sweeping pandemic-driven school closures led to an unprecedented need for parents to become active participants in their children’s day-to-day schooling. In this paper we report findings of a remote diary study that captured 109 diverse families’ experiences during the first wave of U.S. closures with the goal of understanding the ways in which families were adapting to remote learning. We address three main questions: (1) What learning partner roles did parents assume when schools transitioned to remote teaching and did they vary by family income level?; (2) How did these learning arrangements help families address the unique challenges they faced? and (3) Were there unexpected benefits? Our findings show how parents took on new roles by listening in on instruction, supervising learning, providing technical support, brokering connections, and collaborating. Benefits included new insights about what and how their children were learning.