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DLAC: Giving Students Agency Through Digital Learning

The DLAC (Digital Learning Annual Conference) is centered in providing digital learning options for students and giving them agency or control over what, how, and when they learn. Digital learning has a wide-open opportunity window as we enter the 21-22 school year. I heard this repeated frequently in passing on the way to workshops, table talks, and general sessions (virtual or in-person). These learning opportunities are laser focused on the work I do daily. I couldn’t agree more.

by: Darlene Wilgus | August 21, 2021 12:04 am

By Darlene Wilgus | Aug 21st, 2021, 06:00 PM PT

The DLAC (Digital Learning Annual Conference) is centered in providing digital learning options for students and giving them agency or control over what, how, and when they learn.

Digital learning has a wide-open opportunity window as we enter the 21-22 school year. I heard this repeated frequently in passing on the way to workshops, table talks, and general sessions (virtual or in-person). These learning opportunities are laser focused on the work I do daily. I couldn’t agree more.

Topics of Conversation from DLAC 2021:

Outdated State Funding Model

This has been a year where digital education thrived and suffered at the same time. Chaotic service invention in the spring of 2020 and even into the past school year left a bad taste in the mouths of professional educators, parents, and most importantly, students. Our educational system was only used to one delivery option: 5 days a week, 6.5 hours a day. This antiquated system of state-funded, seat-based attendance was vacated by state health proclamation. Many public and private systems were left scrambling.

Student Engagement

We wondered why the same students that were marginalized continued to be so on Zoom meetings that were often dictated. Many systems began to wrestle with what student engagement looked like from the student and family lens.

Lack of Vocabulary Calibration

Educators called online learning many things: virtual, distance, remote – to name a few. Not only was learning disrupted, but we had no agreement on how to label delivery practices. The ground continually shifted, confusing those who were being served.

Implications for the 2021-2022 School Year

Planning this event served as a micro-model for options. No one knew what to expect. Emerging and reopening were themes in many locales late spring. As of this date, that would appear to be the case again. In some states, the debate about masks surfaces again with virus variants on the rise.

What We Know As We Approach This School Year:

Students and parent want to have digital learning options. Many stories exist about families that have discovered they don’t have to be locked in a traditional school calendar and don’t plan to return. How the delivery model will change in providing options to those that want a different model remains to be seen.
Live streaming was a positive communication piece for many.
Serving medically fragile or special needs students in a more personalized way was a win!
Teaching in-person and online at the same time was a huge lift and a recipe for burnout. Little advance training, if any, existed for this to occur.
Taking rural kids that live on a mountain top to the Smithsonian (digitally) was amazing!

My gem from DLAC came from fellow blogger and Colorado Springs alternative school principal, Nathan Gorsch. In essence, he said that making education look like a remodeled video store would be waste of time, energy, and resources. I wholeheartedly agree.

This is our time to provide agency through well-designed virtual learning options for our students! Let’s not return to a static system.

What is Next?

Digital Learning Annual Conference (DLAC) 2022

Marriott Marquis – Atlanta, Georgia

February 7-9, 2022

Please note that I do not work for the Digital Learning Collaborative (DLC). Registration, however, is open.