Responding to COVID-19, Pandemics, and Other Challenges in Rural Education

In this episode of the Rural Education Podcast, Drs. Bigham, Allen, and Silver discuss the current state of rural education in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The co-hosts discuss the challenges with addressing the pandemic given the little time to prepare in addressing large and small school districts, as well as the budgetary and logistical issues of moving curriculum from the classroom to online and distance-based learning. They discuss the current closure trends of schools, offering snapshot statistics on how schools are responding. They also discuss the purpose of the interim measures and how these decisions may impact learning long term. They discuss the current adoption of distance learning technologies and some pitfalls teachers, parents, and administrators should consider as they quickly adopt these technologies. They also discuss comparisons among the decisions made by our international colleagues in responding to the virus. They conclude by offering some insights and advice on how to react and some suggestions for coping with the current crisis.