Pandemic shift to online learning yields unexpected success

By Chuck Gibson

LOVELAND, OH (February 25, 2021) – Nobody would have predicted this outcome when schools shut down a year ago shifting to remote/online learning.

NEST Community Learning Center was already offering three learning and specialty programs to assist underserved students in the Loveland Schools community when the coronavirus pandemic struck. Those programs included an “After School Program”, “Early Learning”, and the summer “Lunch, Learn & Play” programs. When schools closed last March-2020, NEST had to adjust the same as everyone else. They found a way to deliver meals to the kids they already served and more through the end of the school year and throughout the summer. Pandemic restrictions meant the kids and NEST volunteers could not get on the NEST Mobile Learning Centers or meet in the park for the summer programs.

When summer ended, schools still faced the challenge of how to bring students and staff back into the classroom while meeting the health and safety guidelines required to protect everyone from the COVID pandemic. Likewise NEST was challenged to reach their students to meet academic, social and emotional needs while unable to meet them in the usual mobile classrooms. Remote online learning was the only way. That meant one-on-one tutoring using computers to connect virtually. By most accounts, virtual remote learning hinders the learning process. That was exactly the result Evangeline DeVol, Founder of NEST Community Learning Center, expected for the kids they are serving.  Surprisingly two things resulted.

“The first is our academic outcomes have exceeded what we were doing on site,” said DeVol. “The reason for that is all the things we’re doing with these kiddos is one-on-one.”

Evangeline (Van) DeVol, NEST Founder, tells the NEST story during a fundraising event for the organization (Chuck Gibson File)

DeVol cited the differences in having small groups inside the mobile classroom versus the one-on-one virtual remote session with the student and the volunteer tutor.

“Instead of some of the distractions we had out in our mobile classroom, it’s very focused,” DeVol explained. “The kids literally receive high-end tutoring wherever they need it. We meet them exactly where they are. So our academic outcomes have been better.”

DeVol estimates the same kind of high-end tutoring “out in the paying world” would range in cost from $50-$75 per hour, per student. NEST provides the service FREE to the kids registered in their program. She also pointed to a downside resulting from the remote online learning situation.

“The downside of this is we (NEST) are not getting the chance to maintain our relationship with new kids because we’re not out there,” said DeVol. “Hopefully back in the summer, things will change as well.”

Seeing better academic outcomes has been a positive for sure. At the same time, DeVol says delivering the one-on-one remote tutoring is not something they want to do exclusively. As a result, NEST has created a fairly sophisticated system with lots of checks and balances for working with the kids online. Many laws are in place to protect minor children and the adult volunteers working with them in this type situation.

“We have monitors that check in, that jump on these calls at the same time to protect us legally,” DeVol explained. “We have a registration form with a whole other set of rules put together by attorneys to make sure everything is on the up-and-up, and we’re doing everything best practices.”

NEST mobile learning centers have been mobilized to deliver meals and equipment during the pandemic (Chuck Gibson File)

NEST volunteers continue to deliver food out to the community and knock on doors of the kids they have not seen. They have written a grant to purchase new and refurbished Chromebooks for the kids in need. They literally have “runners” delivering the necessary equipment to kids and then picking it up, disinfecting it, and delivering it to another kid in an elaborate lending system. The system allows them to meet the kids online exactly when and where they need to for academic tutoring.

“Parents of the kids we are tutoring are thrilled,” DeVol said.

Bottom line, NEST is going to continue this new online academic program providing the one-on-one tutoring for their kids. They’ll work around whatever summer school schedule Loveland City Schools determines. It is important to note also, this program will be added to, not replacing any of the three NEST programs – “After School Program”, “Early Learning”, and the summer “Lunch, Learn & Play” – already in place. So, instead of three programs, there will now be four programs. Not just in Loveland, but also in Clermont Northeastern Schools (CNE) where they expanded services earlier this year. DeVol pointed to a couple of concerns leading to the addition of this program.

“There is such a deficit going on in developmental stages for these kids socially, emotionally as well as academically,” said DeVol. “We’re trying to tackle that whole piece. Staying in their lives all year round, even if we can’t see them, is our effort to mitigate some of that issue; especially for our low income kids. It’ll be forever. We now have four programs.”

NEST is looking for and training volunteers for the program.

CLICK HERE to visit NEST online for volunteer information and more.