Learning from the Impact of Covid-19 on Educational Practice to Expedite Pedagogically Meaningful Digitization

In January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported the first infections with the Covid-19 virus in Europe. To control the infections, schools in Switzerland were closed nationwide. As a result, students were in distance education for eight weeks. Studies on the impact of school closures expressed certain fears but also hopes. Fears were expressed that students were experiencing more stress and mental health problems were more prevalent. Some studies on lockdown effects described also fears of stagnation, a decrease in student performance or a lower level of competence acquisition than in school years under normal conditions. This could also have a negative impact on society as a whole. Besides serious consequences for the individuals (e.g., lower chances in the labor market and lower future income), we assume that the pandemic has an impact on students' well-being and the perceived future prospects. Hopes were, in particular, that a more temporally flexible and individualized design of learning, a more undisturbed working environment for some students at home, the promotion of self-regulated and autonomous learning as well as an accelerated digitalization of schools would become possible. The available evidence on learning losses is characterized by a high degree of heterogeneity, and there are only few reliable findings for Switzerland. Consequently, it is difficult to draw conclusions about the Swiss situation from international data. To obtain evidence on this, we address the following research question (RQ 1): To what extent did learning losses show up at the time of school closures in Switzerland? The school closures have shifted the significance of digital tools to a new level. The role of such tools changed from an add-on to traditional schooling to a necessity in avoiding an entire educational shutdown. Switzerland is in the extraordinary position of supporting compulsory schools with digital learning support systems that allow to assess student competencies, offer feedback on students' learning progress and provide individualized learning tasks. To date, however, it remains unclear (a) how exactly teachers and students have used digital learning tools during the pandemic, (b) to what extent the factors relevant to distance learning influenced and interacted with the use of digital tools, (c) what their potential is for supporting learning in mandatory distance learning and (d) how the tools themselves might be further developed to support effective learning in comparable challenging situations. To obtain in-depth insights of both scientific and practical relevance, our project aims to address the following RQs: (RQ 2) What impact did school closures have on teachers' and students' use of digital learning support systems? (RQ 3) What relationships exist between the use of digital learning support systems by teachers and students and the (compensation of) learning losses? (RQ 4) Are learning losses, the use of digital learning support systems, and the relationships between learning losses and use of these systems moderated by school context (e.g., SES composition) and school type? (RQ 5) Which individual student characteristics are relevant to learning losses in distance education, and how are they related to the impact of learning support systems on these learning losses? (RQ 6) Which further developments with respect to learning support systems and their implementation into instruction are needed to better prepare for future pandemics (or comparable situations of distress) and to expedite pedagogically meaningful digitization? (RQ 7) How can the theoretical model of distance education proposed by Helm, Huber and Loisinger (2021) be further developed to reflect the role of digital technologies more precisely in distance education based on the experiences from the school closures?The digital learning support systems at the heart of the proposed project are Lernlupe and Lernpass plus, systems for primary school (3th to 6th grade) and lower secondary school (7th to 9th grade). We will realize two quantitative studies based on secondary analyses of Lernlupe and Lernpass plus datasets. First, longitudinal analyses with competence test data from the years 2019 to 2021 will be conducted. Second, changes in the use of tests and learning sessions available in the systems will be examined and related to students' competence development. By including school context and school type variables, variation in the use of the tests/training sessions and their relationship to test results will be analyzed (e.g., to investigate potential benefits of digital learning support systems for students from lower-proficiency school types). Moreover, a qualitative study based on teacher interviews and document analyses will be conducted. The interviews cover the following topics: Learning losses during school closure; usage of digital learning support systems before, during, and after school closure as well as implementation in distance learning; preconditions on the side of the teachers and preconditions on the side of the students. Additionally, we will analyze any documents provided by teachers that were used in classrooms or at school level which might give insights into how the systems were applied throughout the pandemic. Finally, we will analyze data from the study "Mein Coronatagebuch" ("My Corona diary"). In this study, among others, students were asked what worked well for them in distance learning and what difficulties distance learning had presented to them. As part of the proposed project, these questions will be evaluated using qualitative content analysis.Based on the empirical findings, a usage model will be developed that provides guidelines for the use and didactic implementation of digital learning support systems in distance education. To ensure that this usage model fulfills the requirements of practice, it will be developed together with the relevant stakeholders in practice (teachers, school principals, educational administrators, experts in digitization). Also with representatives of the practice we aim to further work out an existing theoretical model for distance learning with special attention to digital technologies. To establish the link to practice, partner schools are recruited and we have set up an advisory board with stakeholders from different levels. The board is chaired by Prof. Dr. Stephan Huber, who has broad experience in the field of cooperation with various practical actors.Taken together, the project will deliver results on three levels: (1) We will produce scientific insights, which will be disseminated through the main scientific channels, informing the scientific community, educational administration, and policy makers. Reliance mainly on existing datasets and secondary analyses ensures that these insights can be gained on a short time scale. (2) We will dedicate substantial dissemination activities to inform practitioners to enable a swift take up of research findings. Thus, in order to disseminate the usage model, Open Educational Resources will be developed together with teachers, explaining how to implement the model. In addition, workshops will be held for teachers, school principals and other interested persons. In educational forums, the usage model as well as the theoretical framework model will be discussed with stakeholders from the field. (3) We will address technology providers by delivering a conceptual blueprint, informing the further development of digital Swiss learning support systems as well as the future advancement of educational technologies more generally. As a whole, by advancing a pedagogically meaningful digitization in education, the proposed project will contribute substantially to mitigate the feared negative individual and societal impacts resulting from pandemics and similar states of emergency.