ERIC Number: ED622313
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 8
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
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Pods in Action: KaiPod Learning. "The Best Gig in Education Right Now." A New Company Sustaining the Pandemic Pod Model Offers Flexibility to Teachers, Students and Parents
Weiner, Steven
Center on Reinventing Public Education
KaiPod Learning is a for-profit company offering students enrolled in online schools the opportunity to learn in a physical location with adult supervision, academic support, and extracurricular enrichment. Tuition is attendance based, with the option of students going two, three, or five days per week. This report discusses how KaiPod Learning provides students enrolled in full-time virtual schools with a place to receive in-person academic support, along with the opportunity to socialize with peers and take part in hands-on, active learning activities. Inspired by pandemic learning pods, KaiPod aims to address many of the long-standing challenges of online education, including delayed feedback on academic work, the social isolation of learning at home, an unstructured daily schedule, and the passivity of screen-based learning. Critical to the model is KaiPod's onsite staff, called learning coaches, who--unlike traditional teachers--are not responsible for delivering academic content and instead focus on providing individualized academic support and curating extracurricular activities based on students' needs and interests. KaiPod's first year of operation suggests promise for the company's unique learning model, while also raising questions about its ability to be sustained and replicated, as well as open to more students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Descriptors: COVID-19, Pandemics, In Person Learning, Virtual Schools, Peer Relationship, Experiential Learning, Active Learning, Feedback (Response), Social Isolation, Coaching (Performance), Individualized Instruction, Disadvantaged, Educational Benefits, Blended Learning
Center on Reinventing Public Education. Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University. H.B. Farmer Education Building, 1050 S Forest Mall, Tempe, AZ 85281. e-mail: crpe@uw.edu; Web site: https://crpe.org/
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive
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Language: English
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Authoring Institution: Arizona State University (ASU), Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE)
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