Coronavirus has Florida’s K-12 schools online only next week. Is this the new normal?

It’s not just Netflix and YouTube that have been crashing since folks were relegated to staying home during the coronavirus pandemic.

Online learning platforms have also been overwhelmed, thanks to a surge of new users as schools nationwide are forced to experiment with full-time distance learning.

The current crisis may offer a glimpse into the future of education — or what online educational companies hope is the future.

Miami-Dade, Broward and all of Florida’s school districts will start online distance learning Monday and could stay online for the rest of the semester. Many charter and private schools are also moving online, too. It’s not just schools in Florida — schools worldwide are using online learning platforms that can lag or crash as an unprecedented volume of users log on.

And while students, parents and teachers face a learning curve, these platforms are scrambling to meet a growing demand.

When Miami-Dade County Public Schools had a dry run of online learning last week, students completed self-directed learning on platforms designated by their teacher, with instructors available at least three hours a day for “office hours.” A district help line was flooded with complaints of log-in errors and crashes.

One of those systems was Edmodo, a platform with 100 million registered accounts globally.

Edmodo’s new No. 1 market? Italy.

“Like COVID in general, we’re trying to flatten the curve,” said CEO Susan Kim, whose company is based in San Mateo, California. “A lot of school closures got announced in certain parts of the country at the very last minute. In the last two weeks, we’ve scrambled.”

Her team of 80 has been working through the weekend, adding more servers and optimizing their usage. Two weeks ago they increased the site capacity 15 times. They just increased it another 10 times.

“Even if I could hire people tomorrow, it’s not going to solve the problem,” she said. “A lot of it is thinking it through and making sure we’ve got the content up and proactively communicating ... and just being more transparent to manage expectations.”

Edgenuity, another online learning platform, serves 20,000 schools across the country, including 22 of the top 25 school districts. It is the main online service provider for Miami-Dade’s middle and high school students.

“Like Amazon, all of us are trying to build capacity as quickly as we can,” said CEO Sari Factor, whose firm is based in Scottsdale, Arizona . “No one was prepared for this.”

She said Edgenuity is also adding server capacity and moving elements of its platform to the cloud. Her team has also been tracking usage, including when students log on. Peak times recently shifted from 10 a.m. to noon — a sign of students taking some liberty with their new school hours.

“These teenagers are just not waking up as early and getting on the computer at home,” Factor said. “It’s been interesting to see. I would’ve predicted it knowing teenagers.”

Broward has its own system

Broward County Public Schools created its own online system that will combine and simplify what its chief academic officer, Daniel Gohl, called a “scattershot of different activities.” It will also include wraparound services normally offered at schools, including student and family counseling, graduation concerns and special education accommodations.

“Where instead of classes and hallways, kids have a digital ecosystem they will navigate through,” Gohl said. “Teachers will have a different set of learning conditions. ... We want as normal a sense of learning to occur as possible.

“We know that we will not hit perfection on March 30,” he said. “We’re asking the community to have patience with us, but they should have confidence in us to iron out the wrinkles.”

These online companies say online distance learning during the pandemic will usher in a new era in education that puts digital learning front and center.

“We’ve actually talked a lot about the fact that this will be the new normal,” said Kim of Edmodo. “It’s actually accelerating schools to embracing these new technologies, and I imagine once we pass coronavirus that it won’t go away.”

Factor, the Edgenuity CEO, said online learning has widely been viewed as a supplement in the classroom or geared more toward self-directed student learning like credit recovery to make up failed classes.

“I think this is a huge opportunity to show the value of online and digital learning,” Factor said. “I think in some ways it’s been relegated to the side of the classroom.”

To ease the learning curve for educators, Discovery Education has recently hosted virtual conferences with 10,000 teachers registered around the world to help them collaborate and share resources.

“I feel like we’ve catapulted a whole entire industry, forcing their comfort level on technology,” said senior vice president Coni Rechner, whose company is based in Charlotte, North Carolina. “I would be hopeful to see more engaging ways to enroll students and helping them use technology to become creators and build their critical thinking skills and creative skills. I think that learning curve definitely is shortening.”

PowerMyLearning, an online platform based in New York that specializes in schools with large populations of students from low-income families, has made its team available at odd hours to support teachers and families and increased training options from monthly to daily, according to CEO Elisabeth Stock. The company has more than 1 million registered users in more than 40,000 schools nationwide.

“Amidst the many challenges of this time, there is a great opportunity to strengthen those relationships,” Stock wrote in an email. “When technology is used as a tool (not the be-all and end-all) to strengthen relationships, students, teachers, and families can have generative and positive conversations around student learning.”

A change in routine and some tips

Digital learning all day isn’t normal to students used to seeing their teacher and classmates. Edmodo is working on video conferencing capabilities to foster a sense of community.

“The kids, particularly our younger ones, are just missing connection,” said Kim, the Edmodo CEO. She stressed that online learning should allow for social time, time for kids to just be kids.

“It’s enabling kids to be in a virtual classroom,” she said, “where they can post things, share thoughts and [be] moderated by a teacher or parent, and they can stay connected.”

A designated quiet space to learn and a schedule helps, too.

“The things we need to think about are giving the kids a place, their learning space,” Factor, the Edgenuity CEO, said. “They should have devoted space and devoted time to go online and do their work. But I wouldn’t want them sitting in front of the computer all day long, either.”

Factor says parents should talk to their kids about how they’re learning. Tying content to the real world keeps the material fresh, said Kelly Hines, senior director at Discovery Education.

“One tip I would offer is explore interests together. Find ways to dive in together,” Hines said. “What are some things students always wanted to learn about and tie them with digital resources students are providing.”

And one thing everyone recommends to maintain normalcy: Log off after a full day.

“It may sound counter-intuitive, but schools should consider resources that encourage parents to connect offline with their children,” wrote Stock.

Help lines in Miami-Dade

To answer questions from students, parents and other community members about school-related coronavirus response efforts:

District Emergency Operations hotline: 305-995-3000. Hours of operation: M-F from 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

To support students, parents and teachers in engaging in distance learning:

Instructional Learning Plan hotline: 305-995-HELP (4357) — During Spring Recess, please visit icp.dadeschools.net for information and digital resources. Hours of operation: M-F from 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

To assist students and their families with mental health support:

Mental Health Services Parent Assistance Line: 305-995-7100. Hours of operation: M-F from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

To assist with wellness support for employees.

M-DCPS Employee Assistance Program: 305-995-7111. Hours of operation: M-F from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Help lines in Broward

Visit https://www.browardschools.com/learningnevercloses

This story was originally published March 27, 2020 at 6:00 AM.