In4All revamps programming for virtual learning

When the pandemic hit in the spring, students everywhere were sent home to finish out the school year and In4All was in the middle of its programming year. The staff worked closely with business and school partners to complete program delivery where possible, then spent the summer planning how to connect with students in the 2020-2021 school year which was likely to start with distance learning and continue for an unknown time.

I recently interviewed two staff members (over Zoom, of course) to learn how they felt about moving to virtual programming, what was involved in getting ready for the school year, and what they hope the experience will be like for everyone involved.

My first question for Matt Gross (Program Manager) and Kristin Payne (Program Impact Manager) was how they felt when it became clear the next school year would require delivering programming in a completely different way.

Matt Gross, In4All Program Manager

Matt: Honestly, I felt a little overwhelmed. It was a lot to digest all at once with all of our work and personal lives changing so dramatically in the spring. My first reaction was where do we even start?

Kristin: I found myself asking how do we take the STEM Connect and the design thinking programs which worked so well in the classroom and adapt them to virtual learning? We weren’t even sure what the technology environment and tools would look like in the different school districts.

So how did you go about learning what the technology requirements were going to be?

Kristin: We knew a lot of our districts were Google-based, but we didn’t know what else they were using. So we talked to the educators who serve on our board and connected with teachers in each of our communities. We also discovered that a lot of teachers were posting videos on YouTube to share experiences about the technologies they were using to connect with students in distance learning.

Were you worried about your ability to deliver programs using technology as your place to connect with students?

Matt: Everyone was a little unsure how it would work and what the experience would be like, but our community had faith that we would figure out how to build connections virtually.

Kristin: We certainly had to reshape how to do things, but we took the opportunity in the spring to test our ideas. It turns out our design thinking program, which involved a limited number of students and volunteers, was well suited to test the virtual experience. We were able to take what we learned and apply it to all of our programming for 2020-2021.

Kristin Payne, In4All Program Impact Manager

What were the biggest challenges in figuring all of this out over the summer?

Matt: Each summer, we have to assemble all of our science kits for the coming year. But, instead of preparing a few kits for each classroom, we were faced with creating thousands of individual science kits for each student we impact. It felt a lot harder to get ready for the year.

Kristin: We felt like we were doing math all day long because we had to figure out how much material to purchase, how much each student would need, how to package it, and how we were going to distribute all of it. Each idea we had for kits brought with it many layers of complexity to make it happen.

Matt: Fortunately, we had a lot of willing volunteers ready to help. A number of board members and volunteers did all the pre-assembly work. For example, a board member might be tasked with filling and labeling 1,000 ziplock bags with gravel for the water filtration activity. We had six organizations take those materials and build the kits that would go to each student. And we’ll be coordinating with the schools to distribute kits to students along with the other materials they are sending home through the process they have set up. A lot of people worked together in each community to make this work.

So, when you start delivering programming in the winter, what do you expect from the experience?

Kristin: We need to be realistic. This is going to be a learning experience for everyone involved. However, there is also a benefit to that. Students will see that volunteers and teachers are learning new ways to do things, just like students are asked to do as part of their educational process.

Matt: We also need to recognize that each school will need our business volunteers to engage differently. In one school, we may be delivering an asynchronous experience where volunteers are participating in sharing spaces or making “day in my life” videos. In another school, volunteers may be on a video call with 30 students doing their projects real time. We are all going to learn a lot in the process and hopefully share those experiences to inform how it works in the future.

Final thoughts from the author

As a board member who spent more than a few hours loading rocks in ziplock bags this summer, I have a real appreciation for the In4All staff and all the community members who came together to make sure students get a valuable experience in 2020-2021. Thank you, everyone, for continuing to create limitless possibilities for students!