With schools closing during the COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic, teachers have been tasked with figuring out how to deliver lessons and classroom activities as part of distance learning. Moving from a bricks and mortar classroom to the virtual world was a steep learning curve for many of us, but now as the initial teaching troubles are over, all of us seem to have our virtual classroom and really enjoy it. Online teaching has opened up a whole new teaching and learning opportunity, and I have to admit there are fewer behavioral and discipline problems and students online are more engaged and motivated.
If any of you is fretting
about how to go from desk to desktop, here are a few suggestions from our first
month to get you started. It’s a list of online learning resources, some of the top virtual
learning platforms and tools for distance learning.
Remote Learning and Virtual Classroom Platforms +
Tools for Teachers
This school communication tool
makes it easy to stay in touch and track student progress too, always free for
teachers.
You can communicate with students,
share documents and assignments, and provide collaborative space with this
platform. EdModo is always free for teachers, parents, and students.
This site lets you create
interactive online lessons using a video clip of your choice. It provides
accountability and tracking for student progress, too. Basic plans are always
free, and they’re offering additional resources to schools closed due to
COVID-19/coronavirus.
Students and teachers
record short videos to document and share their learning on a subject. It’s a
kind of social media for learning, and it’s a great way to stay in touch.
FlipGrid is always free for
educators with a Google or Microsoft account.
Genially offers interactive
visual communication tools to create presentations, interactive images,
infographics, and more. Many of their premium
templates and resources are now available for free, for everyone.
You can create Multimedia Interactive Posters
and express ideas with ease by combining images, graphics, audio, video, and
text on one digital canvas!
A readily-available
resource for classrooms with tools valuable as schools convert to distance
learning. And …Google Classroom is always free.
It Is a fun online quiz game
platform.
Kahoot! Basic is free
for educators and students, but they’re also currently offering their Premium
distance learning tools for free.
interactive
presentations which students can participate in using their smartphones to
offer opinions, answer questions and vote.
Create a learning loop between
students, teachers, and families. Students show their learning, teachers gain
insights, and families stay engaged. You’ll also find intuitive tools like
draw+record, collage, video, and more.
Skype is another video app,
but Skype in the Classroom allows for free video discussions and tours across
the globe.
It Is an online bookmarker for educators.
It is a streaming library of ad-free, kid-safe
animated read-aloud storybooks brought to life, to help encourage the love of
reading.
Webex is offering free
access to all schools right now, along with resources and tips on using it as a
virtual classroom.
You can project your lessons in group
settings with zoom or even record the sessions for students who need to review
later. This video and audio-conferencing tool has a chat functionality where
students can ask questions as you teach. In countries affected by the virus,
Zoom has lifted its 40-minute time limit for the free Basic accounts.
Teaching Materials
Here’s a brief list of
websites providing lesson materials you can access for free.
Games and Activities (great ways to recycle,
practise and test!)
Kahoot
Online quizzes covering all manner of topics. Use other people’s quizzes or make your own with the free premium offer.
Online quizzes covering all manner of topics. Use other people’s quizzes or make your own with the free premium offer.
Wordwall
Learning made fun with a variety of different game options using target language as well as an automatic worksheet generator.
Learning made fun with a variety of different game options using target language as well as an automatic worksheet generator.
Make flashcard sets, drill
your students (or set it for homework), then use Quizlet Live for a fun and
competitive team game.
This is just a brief look at
some of the resources available to complement your online teaching.
Last but not least I would
recommend the eTwinning platform where
you can use any web2.0 tool available with great success.
