Zoom School Diaries: Caregiver Insights From Listening in on Synchronous Instruction

Abstract

Continuing schooling during the Covid-19 pandemic dramatically changed the way students, families, and teachers engaged with school and academic content. Remote instructional methods utilized by schools to reach students in their homes often relied on internet-based communication tools and individualized learning platforms, and divided instructional time into two categories: synchronous and asynchronous. We consider how synchronous learning moments, defined as live interaction between the focal children and their teachers via video or phone calls, were experienced by 109 families of elementary school children across the U.S. Specifically, we examine who had access to synchronous lessons, what happened during those lessons, and what parents and other caregivers noticed given their proximity and ability to observe the lessons first hand. We discuss how the sense of connection to peers and teachers that the synchronous interactions provided was critical to engaging students with school during the transition to distance learning.