Our study of more than 1,500 students at nine Australian high schools during 2020 found strong links between their level of adaptability and how they fared with online learning.

Students with higher adaptability were more confident about online learning in term 2. And they had made greater academic progress by term 4.

The important thing about these findings is that adaptability is a teachable skill.

What is adaptability and why does it matter?

We have been investigating adaptability for more than a decade. The term refers to adjustments to one's behaviours, thoughts and feelings in response to disruption.

The pandemic certainly tested every student's capacity to adjust to disruption. The switch to remote learning involved huge change and uncertainty.

Research has demonstrated positive links between adaptability and students' engagement and achievement at school and university.

As for online learning, the picture is complicated by the many factors identified as affecting its success. These include access to technology, academic ability, instructional quality, socioeconomic status, ethnicity and specific learning support needs.

The pandemic disruptions added to this complexity.

What did the study find?

Our latest study involved a survey of 1,548 students in nine schools in 2020. It covered a period of fully or partially remote online learning in maths (from the start of term 2).

We used the Adaptability Scale to assess how much students were able to respond to the disruption in their lives.

They were presented with nine statements, such as "To assist me in a new situation, I am able to change the way I do things." Students were asked to respond on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).

They also answered questions about:

• their confidence as online learners
• online learning barriers such as unreliable internet, inadequate
• computing/technology, and lack of a learning area to concentrate
• online learning support, such as satisfaction with the online learning platform
• home support, such as help from parents and others.

In the term 2 survey, we tested students' maths achievement. In term 4, they did a second maths test.

We found students with higher adaptability were significantly more confident about online learning in term 2.

These students also had higher gains in achievement in term 4. Online learning confidence in term 2 was linked to term 4 achievement gains.

After allowing for the many other factors affecting online learning, we found adaptability had a direct positive impact on student achievements.

Students who lacked adaptability tended to be less confident about online learning and it showed in their results.

Online learning support and online learning barriers also affected students' online learning confidence. Support was linked to higher confidence, and barriers to lower confidence.

Thus, as well as focusing on increasing students' adaptability, parents and schools should strive to minimise barriers to online learning and optimise supports.

So how do you teach students to be adaptable?

Boosting adaptability involves teaching students how to adjust their behaviour, thinking and feelings to help them navigate disruption. For example, in the face of new online learning tasks and demands, we could explain to students how to:

• adjust their behaviour by seeking out online information and resources, or asking for help — an example would be asking a teacher to help with an unfamiliar online learning management system such as Canvas or Moodle
• adjust their attitude by thinking about the new online task in a different way — for instance, they might consider the new opportunities the task offers, such as developing new skills that can be helpful in other parts of their lives
• adjust their emotion by minimising negative feelings, or shifting the focus to positive feelings, when engaged in unfamiliar activities — for example, they might try not to focus on their disappointment when the teacher's approach to online learning doesn't match the student's preferences or skill set.

Adaptability is a skill for life

Of course, these adjustments are helpful for navigating all sorts of disruption. Teaching young people adaptability gives them a skill for life.

It can be helpful to let students know that the three adjustments are part of a broader adaptability process — and they have control over each point in the process. The process involves:

• teaching students how to recognise important disruptions to their life so they know when to adjust their behaviour, thinking and feelings
• explaining to students the various ways they can make these adjustments to navigate the disruption (using strategies like those described above)
• encouraging students to take note of the positive effects of these adjustments so they realise the benefits of adaptability and are motivated to adapt in future
• inspiring students to practise their adjustments to behaviour, thinking and feelings so adaptability becomes a routine part of their lives.

It is fair to say adaptability comes more easily to some students than others. However, our longitudinal research among high school students has shown adaptability can and does change over time. It is a modifiable personal attribute. This is great news.

In the face of massive disruptions by COVID-19, we are constantly advised to adjust to a "new normal".

Part of this new normal is the increasing presence of online learning. Our findings show adaptability is an important personal attribute that can help students in their online learning during the pandemic — and likely beyond.

• Andrew J. Martin Scientia Professor and Professor of Educational Psychology, UNSW
• Rebecca J Collie Scientia Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, UNSW
• Robin P. Nagy PhD Candidate and Research Assistant, UNSW
• First published by The Conversation. Republished with permission.

The new rules will provide distance learning opportunities for those who could manage coursework online, such as prisoners, migrants, the homeless, monks, contemplative nuns and even busy bishops.

"By making use of distance learning, ecclesiastical faculties could broaden the academic formation they offer, to reach those who, in one way or another, are involved in evangelising activities".

"The poor, the sick, the marginalised, migrants, itinerants, circus workers, stateless people, prisoners, people who are alone, and those who live and work on the sea or on the streets are those who should be assisted, taken care of and humanly, socially and spiritually helped," the congregation said.

The text recognises that the evolution of digital communication techniques, since the beginning of the 2000s, has disrupted the academic culture and the methods of education and learning.

Pope Francis' 2018 norms for ecclesiastical universities and faculties included the possibility of the Vatican approving plans of studies in which some courses could be offered through distance learning "as long as certain conditions were fulfilled as regards the students' formation as part of a community."

In-person instruction and formation on-site with a community are still very important. It is an absolute priority for students pursuing their foundational "first cycle" baccalaureate studies in theology or philosophy, Archbishop Angelo Zani, the congregation secretary, told Vatican News.

For that reason, distance learning will not be permitted for mandatory subjects, assignments or seminars for a baccalaureate degree, except for specific cases.

"There are many professionals who would like to acquire some theological, philosophical or anthropological formation. They are knocking on the doors of our institutions. We can't ask them to attend like young students who are just beginning their academic journey," the archbishop said.

Distance learning will be permitted for up to a maximum of 30% of credits of elective or optional subjects, the instruction said.

As students pursue higher studies with a licentiate, there will continue to be mandatory in-person instruction and testing.

However, there will be more flexibility in determining which coursework can be online for a maximum of 30% of total credits. "A part of" all credits needed for a doctorate can be offered online, it said.

Sources

Crux

UCA News

ArchyWorldys

That has actually been a good thing in an era of "distance learning."

It was obvious from the start of the coronavirus pandemic that the students could not be expected to attend a battery of Zoom classes or watch online lectures for hours.

Some families probably have more students than internet devices in their homes, so our school kept things simple.

• Materials have been provided, but deadlines have been few and lenient.
• Teachers have been available but not nagging.
• Parents have been trusted to make decisions about what their children most need.

The new routine is stressful for me, but my kids seem fine.

They miss their friends, but they are not despondent or wracked with anxiety.

I am especially grateful at this time to have five sons who can keep one another company as they fish, build models and play backyard baseball.

Things could be so much worse and for many, they are.

Having said that, I will be thrilled when the school reopens.

It's not that the boys' education is running aground.

We are keeping up, more or less, with the curricula. What we miss are the people.

There is an energy, optimism and sense of purpose to our school community that seems to keep life moving forward.

In the mid-afternoon, I glance at the clock and feel sad that it is not necessary to drive over and pick up the boys.

The school is our village, and we are incomplete without it.

Distance learning is kind of a drag for me, especially because it forces me to push important tasks to evenings and weekends, when I would like to be enjoying my kids.

Our time together goes to grammar and spelling instead of hikes and board games. That's a bad trade, but at least I can teach them to diagram sentences.

I cannot single-handedly create a Christian community where my sons receive personal attention from many different adults, each with their own strengths and insights.

I cannot supply dozens of playmates from a range of different backgrounds.

I can tell them that they are members of the body of Christ, but I can't help them to experience this in the way that they do in Catholic school. Continue reading

They have been assisted by Hans Arns who is the project coordinator of Sharing the Word an initiative linking up Catholic seminary libraries and librarians throughout the world.

This is being done to provide all seminarians and theology students in Africa, Asia and Oceania with the best possible resources.

Sharing the Word hopes to give every Catholic theological student equal access to the world's best resources.

At present most seminary libraries in Africa, Asia and Oceania are isolated and poorly resourced.

This lack of resources affects the ability of the students to learn and achieve.

The Pontifical Mission Societies in Australia (known as Catholic Mission) is the lead agency for the Sharing the Word project.

The first step in the project is updating libraries and providing online resources is to install a computerised library automation system (catalogue) in every library.

The system was brought online in 2013 and is hosted in Sydney.

This means Sharing the Word is taking care of backing up the data and maintaining the system software.

When PRS began the work of cataloguing, the internet connectivity was slow and unreliable.

To provide uninterrupted service to the library the software and the data were duplicated on the local server.

The library used the local system to record loans and returns where necessary.

The updated data was then automatically sent to Sydney whenever the internet was available.

Internet reliability and speed is not an issue any more in Suva and it will not be an issue anywhere in the near future.

Catholic Mission will also assist each seminary to acquire a server and a number of workstations the librarians and students can use to access the available resources.

Hans is now busy finding free and up-to-date material that seminary students will all be able to access once the system has been installed in their seminary.

Who is using Sharing the Word?

Source

• Sharing the Word
• Image: Pacific Regional Seminary