Tech Tips Tuesday

This week's tip: Teaching during a pandemic

Over the weekend I listened to Edtech Brainstorm on the topic "What happens to education during a pandemic?" Mark Montagne asked whether our schools had plans in place for if our schools were closed for an extended period due to a pandemic. The discussion really got me thinking more about how I would continue to teach if my students were all in their homes and unable to attend school. I love the "What if?" questions!

This is what I think I would do:
I would create lessons using My Classes. I would put in resources for students to explore, then use the discussion area to create discussion around these resources. Students could also submit their responses to work in the e-learning folios. I would set Maths activities from other websites - probably Smart Kiddies so that I could monitor individual progress (or Mathletics once we have it). I would create forums in SuperClubs for students to further discuss class topics or work on literacy activities together. I would set spelling words and encourage students to practice these. I could video record myself doing a demonstration (science experiment or other) and post it in My Classes for students to use to complete for themselves.

For those with limited computer access, I could email or post activities. I could call these students (maybe in a conference call as there are not too many) to discuss the work and check on their understanding. I would also provide additional book resources for these students to be able to read for the information others are finding online.

Obviously, there would be gaps in this education, but for a couple of weeks at least it would keep the momentum going with learning. Ideally, students would need computer access and would need to be self-regulated in terms of focusing on the tasks. Problems would occur where there was more than one child in the family as computer time would need to be shared and teachers would need to schedule their forums/discussion times. This sort of program would also require parents to have an internet connections that allows for a substantial amount of downloading.

What would you do?