Tips and Tricks for Teaching Remotely
At Inspired Classroom, we advocate a blended approach to distance learning. That means using technology tools like Zoom video conferencing synchronously in combination with collaborative tools like Google docs, slides, and forms, asynchronously. There are many great resources out there to help you. Students will need to have an email to access Google Drive. Click here for a short tutorial video from Google.
You can learn and help (really, actually help) researchers with topics ranging from penguins to botany, astronomy to bacteria, anti-slavery manuscripts to maturity of baby sounds!
Are you familiar with Google Earth Voyager projects? I could spend hours checking out these voyages! The idea behind the Voyager projects are simple: Use Google Earth to explore a curated topic.
Technology is going to fail. It might be on your end or on your students’ end, but chances are it is going to fail. So, what should you do? After years of connecting with teachers and students here are my recommendations.
Here is a video we share with students and educators before any live event. It is a good reminder video and a way to help set expectations for your virtual class.
Sometimes, it’s a really good idea for students to see you teaching. It helps to build a sense of community and familiarity. Using your phone to record you is a simple, low-tech way to build an on-demand video.
You may be looking for great resources that students can use semi-independently. Inspired Classroom has partnered with Google Earth Education to create: Stories Golden Eagles Tell with the Google Earth creation tool. This project consists of eight interactive ‘cards’. Each card has basic content, videos, and interactive Google Maps directing students to explore the natural history of Golden Eagles, habitat, migration studies, and issues facing Golden Eagles.
Tools like Flipgrid are great to keep your class going as a cohesive whole. If you and students are all trying to learn remotely, the collaboration and sense of community are tough to maintain. Also, hearing students’ thinking is a key part of monitoring progress. Flipgrid is a way to empower your students’ voices by sharing short videos. Also, because you create the ‘grid’ it is private to your class, and responses are moderated by you. Click here for the Educator’s Guide to FlipGrid to help you get started.
Connecting with students through virtual video conferencing platforms is a great way to continue learning activities even if the school is closed. But what happens if a student has limited or no internet access at home? What if they don’t have a device to access your instruction?
This is one of my favorite resources to engage anyone and everyone in citizen science! The genius behind this platform is the connection between researchers and the rest of us. Researchers and organization submit their studies that they need help with to be highlighted on the platform.
Inspired Classroom has worked with CILC for 8+years! They are an amazing organization that connects museums, content providers, zoos, and organizations into the classroom via virtual field trips. In an effort to support parents and educators, CILC and their content providers (Inspired Classroom included) is hosting FREE streaming events.
Our friends at Google have shared a few resources with Inspired Classroom to highlight on our blog. We appreciate the shift of all educationally minded organizations that are working to help prepare educators, students, and parents for learning at home.
School Rubric is a great resource for educators. They have put together an article on improving the quality of instructional videos.
As we mentioned before, there are three main ways to capture and create a video for your students:
Using your phone
Using your computer with screen capture or a video conferencing platform
Using an animation or whiteboard program or app
I am in LOVE with Google Earth Creation Tools! It allows learners of all ages to become creators and producers while actively learning and engaging with content—-and learning a bit of geography as well! Did you see our post on Google Earth Voyager Projects? This tool allows you and your students to create a similar project!
Are you familiar with Google Earth Voyager projects? I could spend hours checking out these voyages! The idea behind the Voyager projects are simple: Use Google Earth to explore a curated topic.
Flipgrid is a favorite resource of Inspired Classroom! There are so many amazing ways to engage your students! Here is information provided by the company:
Here is a video we share with students and educators before any live event. It is a good reminder video and way to help set expectations for your virtual class.
A bit of good news—There are many options for connecting and teaching remotely. The technology allowing us to connect with video has exponentially improved in the last few years. You can now do more with limited technology than ever before. We strongly believe that a blended method is best and that involves virtual face to face time. As the teacher, you also become the ad hoc tech expert. Fortunately, most of the platforms support a variety of devices from phones to PCs and Macs, tablets and iPads. Here is how to get the best results:
If you are teaching remotely, you may be looking for great resources that students can use semi-independently. Inspired Classroom has partnered with Google Earth Education to create: Stories Golden Eagles Tell with the Google Earth creation tool. This project consists of eight interactive ‘cards’. Each card has basic content, videos, and interactive Google Maps directing students to explore the natural history of Golden Eagles, habitat, migration studies, and issues facing Golden Eagles.
Tools like Flipgrid are great to keep your class going as a cohesive whole. If you and students are all trying to learn remotely, the collaboration and sense of community are tough to maintain. Also, hearing students’ thinking is a key part of monitoring progress. Flipgrid is a way to empower your students’ voices by sharing short videos. Also, because you create the ‘grid’ it is private to your class and responses are moderated by you. Click here for the Educator’s Guide to FlipGrid to help you get started.
If you are teaching remotely, you may not have all of the curriculum materials that you typically use. There are many great resources to enhance your virtual teaching. For math, there is Kahn Academy. Khan Academy is a non-profit educational organization created in 2008 by Salman Khan with the goal of creating a set of online tools that help educate students. The organization produces short lessons in the form of videos website also includes supplementary practice exercises and materials for educators. All resources are available for free to users of the website and app. Click here for a quick start guide if you haven’t used Kahn Academy before.
Connecting with students through virtual video conferencing platforms is a great way to continue learning activities even if the school is closed. But what happens if a student has limited or no internet access at home? What if they don’t have a device to access your instruction?
Zoom Video Conferencing has compiled a blog post for educators who will need to teach remotely. Here is the article in its’ entirety. We will be highlighting specifics and the days to come.
We had a rollicking good time sharing ideas, wishes for the school year, and exchanging tech tips and tools. During Office Hours Deanna and participants shared some of their favorite tech tools.