Excerpts below from the April 6, 2020 Bethesda Magazine article ‘MCPS remote learning plan will improve over time, officials say‘.

The first week of online learning for Montgomery County students wasn’t perfect, but few expected it to be.

Last week, instead of congregating in school buildings, students continued to stay home, logging on to laptops, iPads and tablets from across the county to participate in classes.

The shift to remote learning comes amid a nationwide outbreak of COVID-19, the coronavirus, a new disease that has sickened more than 4,000 people in Maryland.

There were hiccups — despite MCPS loaning 45,000 Chromebooks to students, some still didn’t have a device to use. Many experienced technical difficulties or steep learning curves trying to navigate the new online platforms.

On Friday [April 3, 2020], Zoom, a web video service that teachers are using to hold class meetings, experienced a nationwide outage, leaving many unable to participate.

Still, school district leaders and community members dubbed the week an overall success and said the process will get smoother with time and through trial-and-error.