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Last year our building had some extenuating circumstances with a small fire and lots of snow that had the possibility of sending us into the summer. In a planning meeting I half seriously suggested online learning. We were a 1:1 chromebook district and being a reviewer of online providers for our state was very familiar with the tools and programs out there; I could see how easily this could be done. My comment was met with a lot of skepticism from many of my colleagues, yet our Assistant Superintendent and leader of our TLI (Teaching Learning & Innovation) department expressed it wasn't a bad thought. He shared that it was being done back east to help with snow days. It turned out that online learning was not a good fit a the time but fast forward about a year and here we are trying to figure out how to do online learning equitably. There are a lot of hurdles that need to overcome and I don't have all the answers but I do want to address some of the ones that came up that are easy to deal with.
My colleagues had a lot of issues with online learning and I agree with some of them but that doesn't mean it can't work. One of the biggest is not all families have access at home; Yes this is a big issue but not so hard to overcome. Some districts have been issuing out hotspots to families that need them, providers are offering low cost internet for low income families, I am seeing more and more free hotspots pop up like comcast asking people with their modems to provide a hotspot, free internet at starbucks, etc. Cell companies like Verizon are now enabling phones to be used as hotspots on unlimited plans. So yes not everyone is connected there are ways to overcome this issue with a little creativity and resourcefulness. The second issue is what do we do about kids not showing up to "class online". What do we do with kids who don't show up to class in person? We mark them absent and a phone call goes home (at least in my state). Yes kids will not show up or will skip out in middle of class, etc. there just has to be consequences for when it happens. Trust me kids will show up if for nothing else to be able to be online (more on this later). The third issue was my subject can't be taught online for I teach music, art, science, PE, etc. and kids won't have the supplies. Well yes that is tough but again resources and creativity are the name of the game. There are tools like smart music, and flipgrid that students can record themselves playing and/or singing. While not perfect I believe no I know they will get better over time. As for science and virtual labs yes it is not the same as the real thing but then again medicine is not the real thing. More and more surgeries are becoming robotic in nature and even remote. I bet a scan you have had done recently was not read at the hospital/clinic it was done. I may have even been done in another country. I have read where doctors are not performing surgeries remotely. As for PE well that is easy. Look at companies like Peloton and Mirrorfit. You have virtual workouts. How could would it be to be able to customize a workout plan for your students. I could go on but the point is that with any new educational endeavor there will be obstacles and challenges. We need to see them as just that obstacles and challenges that can be over come not barriers to success.
To help overcome these obstacles and meet these challenges I want to talk about some tools I have used as I stepped into the world of virtual/digital instruction. The biggest one that jumps out at me is the concept of flipped classroom. This is where students watch the "lecture" at home and do the "homework" in class. Biggest difference is they might be doing both at home. How I use this in my classroom is not so much in a flipped way but to differentiated instructional way. I record my presentations so kids can go back and watch them, watching them if they were gone, watch them with a different language in the close caption. What I like is that it frees up my time to help students and get work done around the classroom. There are any number of tools out there to do screencasting of lectures. The 2 that I am most familiar with are screencastify (an ap/extension for your browser) and Movavi (a video editing suite). I prefer Movavi as it is a little more robust and give me more tools to work with but it does come with a cost as does screencastify. If you want to meet live with students you have google hangouts or the various web meeting programs/apps (Zoom, microsft teams, webex, etc.) I have used any number of these and they work great. The hardest part is getting people to overcome being scene on a webcam. This one I don't get as you are seen daily live by your students as well as public in all your glory. But having to use a webcam makes one shy and self-conscious? Get over it people. The keys I have found is make sure you are dressed (as well as others in your house) at least from the waist up. Do your morning routine of shaving, makeup, hair etc. and then get online. Make sure to have a neutral backdrop that won't wash you out and have fun. Don't worry if someone jumps in while you are recording or presenting. Remember it happens all the time with announcements, people walking into your class, and background noise. Just do what you naturally do but asking others to quite down, not disturb you, etc. As for online tools to help with remote learning there are any number of them like Google apps for edu, Microsoft 365, Peardeck, padlet, etc. that I could go one about but won't as you need to work with what your district gives you. What I will say from my experience from a reviewer of online providers is the most helpful and important is to have a quality Learning Management System (LMS) that is user friendly for students, teachers, and parents. Without this your program will fail. I have seen and worked with many LMS's both as a teacher, students, and reviewer and have can say that they are the tent pole that holds the whole thing up. There are many out there ranging from the simple Google Classroom to more complex/robust ones like Schoology, Blackboard, Canvas, etc. to ones that are integrated into actual online schools whose names escape me at the moment. I have my favorites among these but again I would encourage you to go with what your district offers or has in place for you to use.
Lastly are activities that can be done for online learning. This really excites me as a teacher not only because it is what I do as a CTE teacher but as a teacher who wants to help teachers be better teachers. This is where meeting your kids where they live (figuratively as well as literally), digitally, is both fun and important. I have written before about the power of projects and the many digital projects I do ranging from google lit trips/stories, coding, 3d and 2d design, 20% time, etc. (I actually find it harder to get physical projects up and running now) and I have found that the more I do digital project with kids the more they want to jump in and try it out. Not all work but that is the same with any project/assignment you do. This is a great opportunity for you to jump in and let your students be both learners and educators. You would be surprised at how resourceful they can be when they want to do something and need to figure out how to do it. Yes you will have those that sit and wait for you to help them but more often than not you will find students will find the help they need to get the work done. The key is to make projects engaging and something they want to do. Here is a list of suggestions of projects that can be done digitally in most any classroom:
- Do a digital version of getting to know you:
- I do one where I have students create a 1 slide presentation about
- Their likes, dislikes, motivation, heritage, etc.
- Then I have them use a voki (voki.com)to read what is on their slide
- Code.org for computer science
- CS discoveries for Upper elementary & Middle School ages
- Detailed lesson plans with differentiation built in
- CS principles for High school
- Detailed lesson plans with differentiation built in
- Free curriculum by those who create hour of code
- Creating online kids books with original art work and/or animations
- Doing a google lit trip instead of a report or essay
- Map out the journey of General Washington's battles
- Create a "field trip" of key land forms or historical places
- Map out how students get to school and back
- map out the story they are reading highlighting key landmarks
- Lead students through the games of interland to discuss digital citizenship
- Using phones or other devices create a virtual art gallery of things around their home
The possibilities are virtually endless as long as you are open minded and willing to be patient. That is the key being patient. Things are not going to work out as you plan, there will be snags, kids will need help, on and on. Just like in a normal classroom. Some suggestions when you hit these snags:
- Do things before hand
- But don't put too much effort into trying to know it all
- Let the kids explore on their own (model what you would do given the same situation)
- Show them how to use the help menu
- Show them how to find help online
- Encourage them to ask others
- See what they come up with and fit it into what you planned
- Don't be afraid to modify mid lesson
These are just some of what I do when working online/virtually/digitally with kids. Also don't be afraid to share with other colleagues lessons you learned and experiences you had so we can all grow.
I know this was a long read but hopefully you found it helpful. I would love to hear your experiences and suggestions as we move forward with online learning en mass. As always:
Go Forth & Do Great Things!
Podcast pt1
Podcast pt2
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