Photo by WKDZ Radio from its broadcast “GED Graduation Ceremony Held at HCC” on May 30, 2019.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

Students of all levels are welcome to join the class. However, the material is geared toward Level 2 students who have already been participating in GED class and Level 3 students.

During the pandemic, making classes available online was accomplished very readily using Zoom as the streaming platform; however, it was not done without some glitches. Through a little negotiation, the program was given permission to use Zoom for instruction rather than the KCTCS-mandated Teams since ABE students did not possess a KCTCS email. Further, as an accommodation through the pandemic, Zoom has allowed extension of session duration for educational entities free of charge.

LIVE AND LEARN, MESSY MOMENTS

Face-to-Face Messy Moments

The messiest or most difficult aspect was accepting new students on Day 1. Although we requested that students register, we let anyone who arrived take the class. If they were students who had stopped out and were returning, we had to pull records and update forms and, possibly, enrollment tests.  Whereas, new students required paperwork, testing, and setting up email and GED® accounts. Day 1 was pretty chaotic and required a lot of staff support. Each afternoon of Get ‘Er Done week students took a Ready Test, so we also had to determine which Ready Tests students needed to take.

Virtual Messy Moments

• Microsoft Teams was not useable for streaming classes because a KCTCS email was required which adult basic education students did not possess, nor were they able to have one generated via the staff portal. Hence, a different solution was in order. Through a little negotiation, the program was given permission to use Zoom.
• Student buy-in has been less impressive. There is a history for many of our students of not being successful in school because of poor work ethic and time management. This was accentuated by the online environment as some thought they could just pop in and out whenever they desired. As classes were able to resume on campus in August, some of the students would come to class in person a day or two, then online a day or two, then miss a month and pop in the online, etc.  This sporadic pattern was not only detrimental to the individual student but was spilling over to other students and creating a lackadaisical environment of hit or miss attendance. As a counter measure, it was decided to have students choose to be either online or in person to increase accountability and to alleviate teacher stress.
• We appear to only be reaching the higher-level students through online offerings. This is somewhat discouraging since we had made good progress with level 2 students in the previous year even as the pandemic caused a halt to everything at the peak time of productivity for adult education programs, i.e. March through May.

MASTERY MOMENTS

Face-to-Face

• In the last Get ‘Er Done week, we had specific Ready Tests assigned to each afternoon (refer to schedule). This helped greatly with organization and efficiency.
• Our local testing center also agreed to open 16 testing spots the week following the class. This permitted students to test while the material was still fresh.
• Zoom has proven to be reliable which is a pleasant surprise given the fact that everyone from schools to business are suddenly using it. Some of the instructors have been able to use the same class login for their students, greatly increasing ease of usability for the students which was one of our main concerns. The speed and intensity with which the shift to Zoom and online instruction was accomplished was nothing short of amazing, as teachers who previously did not want to be videoed out of modesty or shyness, warmed up to the new inevitability of teaching in a virtual environment.
• Several clients have been able to earn a diploma without setting foot in one of our adult education centers. Others have been able to finish portions of the regimen from home with minimal in-person services required.

Results of Product