Finish the Year Strong: Top 5 Practices for Effective Digital Teaching
Finish the Year Strong: Top 5 Practices for Effective Digital Teaching
Summer’s calling, a new normal is on the horizon, and the only thing standing in the way is a couple more days of school. No one, not one teacher or one student, escaped a steep learning curve when it came to remote teaching and learning. Much of our experience has been molded by trial and error, failure and success, frustration, and elation. Adopting technology into a classroom can enhance many valuable lessons, but one thing to remember over all else, is that technology is only helpful if it works well. That takes a systems-thinking approach, making sure that all the pieces, the technology, the teacher, the student, the school, all have their role; hope as we might, no technology is a silver bullet answer for any problem.
As we look toward planning for the new year in fall, the possibilities of some remote learning, or even a hybrid approach seems likely again. Schools can leverage digital learning and instruction during bad weather days, and in the long-run, schools may even rethink how they approach the school year, maybe adding remote instruction time over summer breaks. We may not know what the future in remote instruction holds, but we have realized we must be ready regardless. The overnight transition to digital instruction was a process in itself, and we can take away many lessons from it.
Throughout that process, these five practices have emerged as the most helpful to finish the year strong. If more remote learning is planned for the fall, keeping these practices in mind can ensure improved student success.
Know your roster - students may or may not be comfortable with this new avenue of instruction, so they may not be as willing to participate. Call on all students, not just the ones who are vocal in the chat, or video, just as you would in person. By making sure each student gets called on at different times helps them stay engaged. It will also help identify technology issues some students may experience, and find solutions to resolve.2
Keep digital teaching time short - If your school is doing live Google Meet, Zoom, Skype or any other combination classes, that’s wonderful. But after the novelty, sitting in front of a computer is tough for anyone, not just students. Allow time for instruction, and provide activities for students to follow along. Then allow students to jump off the call and go do the work - it should be just like work time in class. Whatever lessons and problems you are teaching, a meaningful assignment ‘unplugged’ is equally important. Encourage activities and work that will require them to move around, engage with other people in their household, and find relation to things happening around them. Easier said than done, I know, but these types of lessons are incredibly important. Once you have one, share them with your other teachers - I’m sure they’re looking for things too!
Keep teaching consistent - help students get familiar with Digital Learning by keeping a consistent structure. Class times should start on time, and be prepared with the material - you only have 10 minutes really to explain the concept. However, based on how students are doing, just like teaching in the classroom, be ready and flexible to change things up. Log onto the class link a few minutes before the class is supposed to start. This is for kids to talk amongst themselves, just as they would in school. Allowing for some social time is hugely important - it can be the only social outlet some students have outside of their homes.
Hold students accountable for their work. Different platforms have made it amazingly easy for teachers to collect work from students. Grading is a different story and one for another day - but ensure students are turning in their work that you’ve assigned. The learning during this time is self-driven, and having students be accountable to turn things in, provides students more guidance in uncertain learning situations. It also builds a responsibility for their own learning - and a pride in completing something. In the grand scheme of things, more than earning a letter grade, becoming a person who follows through on an assignment is so much more important, and by making sure you hold students accountable, they will be much better off as they grow.
Ask students for feedback - in the end, they’re the ones who are learning. They definitely have perspectives and opinions that can make learning in a remote-instruction time easier. Whether it’s making time for questions during the scheduled class, having office hours for students outside of class time, advice on at-home workspace organization for students, or even opportunities to log on your class link, and allow students to use it as a supervised free block to connect with others, can make all the difference in engaging and connecting with your students. By asking students, they will understand this is new for you as well, and by building that trust between you and your students is essential for success.
We’re all still learning. Technology is enabling what would not have been possible even ten years ago. Without technology, there would be no instruction. Without teachers, there would be no instruction. Brazen Learning is here to find ways to combine the two to make students successful. Let’s keep iterating and sharing best practices. I’d love to hear yours!