Things have changed quite a bit in one week! When I first started preparing this episode, I put together ideas surrounding the possibility of school closures and as of Friday, my district is closed for the next four weeks, as are many others in my area.
There’s been a lot of resources about free tech tools and how to share instruction with students over an online format. So today, I want to help guide you as you make this transition.
I also need to state that I am in a 1:1 district that allows secondary students to take their devices home and where most of our students will have Internet access. So the ideas I talk about may not work depending on your situation.
Of all the resources that have crossed my path thus far, the absolute best has been a podcast episode from Shake Up Learning where Kasey Bell interviewed Jennifer Pearson, a teacher who had to evacuate China and has been teaching online since the end of January. As of that recording a week ago, her school had 5 weeks of experience; they have figured out what works and what doesn’t and she had a wealth of information to share. I found it highly useful, so I’ll share the link to the episode down below so you can listen on your own.
Bill Harder, a professor at American University also has some tips for teaching online. As it just so happens, before the Coronavirus outbreak, he was on jury duty for four weeks and had to move his classes online. He shares his thoughts on how to prepare in this Twitter post. I’ve added the link to the tweet down below and even if you don’t have a Twitter account, you’ll still be able to access the link.
What you prepare for students in an online format is going to be very different from what you prepare in a face-to-face classroom. So here are some things to consider:
CREATE A SCHEDULE
One of the first things most online classes tell students to do is to create a learning schedule, writing down times that they will access the class, do any readings, and complete work. Then turn in the schedule as an assignment. This helps students be more mindful of their time and manage class assignments.
However, for our current situation, I would take it a step further and have both students and teachers create a daily schedule that can be adapted as needed and includes wake up times, meals, academic time, non-academic time, bedtime, etc. Sticking to a schedule will help things seem a little more normal and keep students focused on tasks.
Let me be clear, students should make their own schedules or with the help of a parent as they know their situation best.
Here’s a look at a rough draft of my schedule. In the role that I am in, I figure the first few days will be a lot of troubleshooting, so I’m not putting a ton into this until I get a better feel for what my weeks will be like, but I do like this other example by @mrsbyarshistory as she makes sure to add time to take a walk or have a snack while also checking in with students. If you would like to use this, go to file, then make a copy.
CLEAR DIRECTIONS
Next, when creating assignments have clear directions. Because you are not physically present, directions have to be very clear and should be repeated in several places. When you create an assignment in Canvas (or any LMS) put the directions in this space and also on any documents that go along with the assignment. Adding a rubric will also help students understand your expectations for assignments.
With online learning, if students don’t understand what they are supposed to do for the assignment they will become frustrated and give up. They tend not to reach out, so if you notice a student that was doing work and suddenly stopped, reach out to them and see how you can help.
You can also create instructional videos that show students step-by-step how to do something by sharing your screen. Studies on online learning show that students respond better to physically seeing their teachers, so make sure they see your face too. I recommend using WeVideo as you can easily share your screen and export videos to Google Drive or YouTube and share out. Note, students do not have access to export videos to YouTube.
Some teachers on Twitter shared some great ideas about helping with less physical contact. One teacher is creating a Flipgrid so everyone in her class can record messages and share with each other; nothing academic just a way for everyone to hear from and encourage each other.
Creating some kind of check-in for students will be important. Pear Deck already has this feature or you can create a Google Form that can be embedded in your Canvas course. Check out the Printable PD I created last week that links to videos to help with this.
Another teacher is creating a Q & A board in Flipgrid so that students can hold their paper up to the screen and talk through any questions they have. She’s also shared a guide for how to create this. I’ll leave the link down below.
When I teach online classes, I always create a discussion board labeled as a Help Forum. This is a place where students can post questions and anyone in the class, students and teachers can answer and help each other out.
Since many of our classes are combined into one course, you can create one general forum or create different ones and label one for each block.
USE DISCUSSION BOARDS & BLOGS
Overall, discussion boards are a great way to have students share their thoughts and communicate. You can add questions, photos and links. In the options, you can also choose to have students post a reply before seeing any other replies too.
If you want to learn more about discussion boards, you can refer to this video from season 1 of Tech Tuesday, where Chris Konig and I went over this tool in depth.
I also really like this idea from John Meehan who teaches English 11 in Arlington. He is going to have students create a blog on any topic they are passionate about. I see this having three benefits: 1) It will keep students writing skills up, 2) It will help relieve anxiety and stress about our current situation, 3) It will help students and you stay in contact with each other, opening up some forms of communication. Students could create blogs on Blogger or on Google Sites as Meehan suggests. Create a Google Form where students can submit the URL to the site and then share the spreadsheet with the whole class so they can visit each other’s blog.
DELIVERING CLEAR DIRECTIONS
I recommend doing direct instruction and lectures through a live conference or pre-recorded instructional video, especially if you are talking about a topic that may be harder for students to understand. But keep it short! Students will not watch a twenty minute video. If you have that much information to give out, break it into chunks of 7 minutes or less. Give some information, then do an activity, then give some information and another activity.
Utilizing Pear Deck will also be helpful with lectures. Add some interaction with their already created templates that will have students thinking before the lesson, give formative assessment during the lesson, and reflect at the end. Or create your own. Pear Deck has added quite a few templates for individual content areas since it was first introduced to our staff a year ago. Scroll down past the lesson builders and look for subject areas.
You can share your screen with both the live conference feature or with WeVideo. Either way, you can go through your slides and allow students to interact with the content. For pre-recorded sessions, open Pear Deck to student paced mode, which will allow students to go through the slides on their own and still interact. Click to present and once you are fully into the presentation, click the 3 dots in the lower corner and select student paced. You can go into the teacher dashboard and see all the responses come in, in live time!
I also learned a new way to share the slides with students! When you click present and login, on the page that gives students the code to join the presentation, there’s a link that you can copy and paste and students click on it, they will automatically be in the presentation.
Educator Stacey Roshan has some great tips from a recent blog post, which is where I learned about the new link thing. I’ll have that link down below too.
HyperDocs will be another great option to allow students to learn about a topic at their own pace. Select from one of the many pre-made templates at HyperDocs.co or find one to adapt at Teachers Give Teachers. HyperDocs are designed to give students everything they need in a structured manner and they can add their answers right in the document, then turn it in via Canvas.
ALLOW OPPORTUNITIES FOR VOICE & CHOICE
Don’t forget to let students have choice and voice. They don’t all have to create the same final product or assessment. One of my favorite online classes was a World Literature class. The professor gave us several options to choose from to complete an assignment including writing a paper, creating a PowerPoint or video or a poster. Or collaborating with another classmate to design a product. She also allowed us to mix readings. Comparing readings from two different parts of the world. Or readings from the beginning of the semester and the end, or what would happen if a character from this book met a character from this short story. It was so much fun and it allowed me to work on both my strengths and weaknesses.
You can give students 3-4 options to choose from or create a choice board or learning menu, allowing them to complete assignments in whatever order they choose.
Shake Up Learning has a great guide to choice boards and learning menus, while Ditch That Textbook has 50+ ideas for learning. Both links will be in the description area.
ALLOW FOR NON-TECH OPTIONS
Online learning doesn’t mean that all assignments have to be completed digitally. Allow students to have some non-digital or screen time free assignments; ones that allow them to find everyday things in their house. They can take a picture of a drawing and upload it. Allow them to have some time to be creative.
STAY PATIENT
This is going to be a learning experience for all of us! Give your students some grace, make sure you are taking care of yourselves and family, and know that there are people out here to support you! The education family is a tight one and I’ve seen great evidence of this especially on Twitter with educators asking for help and someone immediately jumping in with solutions. We will get through this, but not without some patience. Hang in there!
SEE YA SOON
I’m not really sure what the next few weeks will bring, so I don’t know when a new video will come out. I will most likely stick to the three week schedule, but may have some smaller videos come out based on teacher feedback and what support they need. So stay safe and healthy and I’ll see you in three weeks if not before then!
Ms Priester EDU 