8 Distance Education Best Practices for Teachers
Design created for mobile devices. Remote work. Teleconferences. For years, the business world has adopted tools and technologies to adapt to an increasingly connected and mobile world.
Educational institutions have also embraced some of this digital transformation, using cutting-edge technology to deliver world-class education and forward-thinking training. Learning management systems and teacher support network tools that support and complement the work teachers already do are increasingly common and necessary.
Below, we’ll look at some ways teachers can transition to distance learning and keep students engaged without having to redo their entire curriculum.
1. Adapt your teaching style for distance learning
Distance education requires readapting face-to-face activities: what may work for face-to-face education may not work for online training. Fortunately, we have compiled these tips that can serve as a guide for an effective transition to distance learning.
2. Create a Layout for interaction
Since children have a short attention span, distance learning comes with challenges in keeping students engaged, especially from home. A virtual classroom should include ample space for interaction. Teaching and training interactively encourages students to pay attention because they are participating in a group event. Question-and-answer sessions, group discussions, and turn-taking activities help set an interactive tone.
Additionally, research shows that interactive teaching produces better results because students retain information faster and more vividly. Neural connections formed in multiple robust networks produce more synthetic understanding, like the difference between having a conversation with an old friend or listening to them tell an endless story.
3. Focus on teaching actively
Don’t just interact with your students, get them involved through an active teaching method in your virtual classroom. Putting the principles into practice is a good way to keep students connected to the educational experience and appreciate the value of the current lesson in context.
For example, if teaching the Pythagorean Theorem, an active teaching instructor would have each student find a tape measure in their home and measure the length of the hypotenuse or diagonal of the room they are in. If a student is studying the periodic table of the elements, he or she may be asked to review cereal boxes to identify any chemical names from the periodic table in the nutritional information. If you are teaching civics, you can ask students to find the websites of local elected officials, call those officials’ offices, and report back what they learned.
Your students are full of energy and curiosity, use that to your (and their) advantage.
4. Shorten the time of your lessons
Distance learning means that your virtual classroom has to compete with the distractions at home. To maintain attention, do your best to avoid long lessons. In your virtual classroom, focus on teaching specific segments or parts of the lesson plan to keep students engaged.
Why is it necessary to do this? Because shorter lessons and classes allow students to explore the content and use it more if required.
5. Take advantage of technology
Technology should help, not hinder, the teaching and learning process. Many teachers wonder how to be more successful with their students in the virtual classroom and complain about the effect that technology, especially in the case of cell phones, has on the learning environment. What better time to experiment with a technological method to create a virtual classroom?
If the issue of cell phones in classrooms is already a difficult battle, you are not going to have better luck when students are at home, so use this to your advantage. Distance learning offers the opportunity to adopt and apply a broader range of technological tools.
Consider experimenting with some of these technology tools in your virtual classroom.
Lucidchart
In the case of individual assignments, your students must keep their tasks and processes organized. Visual workspaces like Lucidchart give students the ability to create thought maps, project plans, courses of action, and more from a secure, collaborative, industry-leading web platform. Lucidchart also offers custom templates that allow teachers to assign, collect, and grade assignments. Teachers can even encourage remote teamwork with Lucidchart’s advanced collaboration tools, such as chat, feedback, and color-coded brainstorming sessions.
Slack
For group tasks, your students will need to communicate with each other; Maybe it’s time to introduce them to Slack, the industry leader in team communication. Using professional-grade communication tools is a great way to offer students an education they find engaging as well as the opportunity to develop professionally once they finish their classes. On the other hand, think about how fun it would be to tell a student in your class who likes to be funny: “It’s your turn to finish your work.”
Canvas
Online teaching has progressed in leaps and bounds in recent years thanks to digital infrastructures like the Canvas. In addition to its paid plans, this online learning management system offers a free open-access platform for 2-4 4-year universities, preschool through high school, and nonprofit organizations serving public or educational services. , and government agencies focused on education.
Educators who use Canvas appreciate the functionality of its adaptive cloud technology and robust learning management system. Canvas also provides free access to all data on the site, making research a breeze for education professionals.
6. Conduct assessments and readiness checks periodically
When big changes occur, time becomes a rival. Timelines are especially difficult amid widespread change, from large-scale digital adoption to distance learning. Applying periodic assessments will have several positive effects on your digital classroom.
First, students who receive regular evaluations will have greater self-awareness and a greater ability to evaluate and feel comfortable with themselves over time. Secondly, they will have a strong propensity to show high performance: “He who knows more, he does better.”
One way to conduct assessments is by using exit tickets: have students show you their work or explain a key concept to you at the end of a lesson before you let them go, and use that information to assess the student’s level of mastery. and the type of support you still need.
Additionally, assessments help instructors keep the curriculum relevant by providing qualitative information about the effectiveness of the lesson plan. Readiness checks keep classrooms prepared and one step ahead in the event of a potential emergency.
Check-in regularly with students and make sure they are learning. For example, call on your students throughout the lesson, not just at the end. Create some quick ways for students to respond. Have students hold up one finger if they agree and two fingers if they don’t. Periodically check that students still understand the experience or story, ask someone to summarize the main point of the lesson or anecdote, and open the group from time to time to ask questions or discuss. Be sure to check for any body language, acting, or distraction. Just like in the classroom, body language doesn’t lie.
And don’t stop at learning checks. Also, take the time to do emotional well-being checks. Ask your students how they feel and if there is anything they want to talk about. Create a table called “How do I feel?” and bring it out at the beginning and end of your class sessions. Ask students to take their photos on the left side and drag them to the emoji on the right side that best matches their current feelings.
Allowing students to engage in this type of visual emotional well-being check makes it easier for them to communicate their feelings even if they cannot articulate them verbally. Students who would otherwise feel too shy to talk openly about their feelings will be more willing to share them during this type of in-class exercise.
7. Share and learn from other teachers
People create bonds through identity and shared experiences. You don’t live in a space nor have you ever wanted to. You’re not the only one and other teachers have faced similar challenges. Have you already looked for all possible solutions or are you just one step away from solving it? Are you doing the right thing? Or are you still working on making adjustments for education?
All of these questions and more can be answered simply by being in a community with other teachers. That means that not only are there resources available to you, but you can prove to be a powerful resource. Ask for help and give it too!
8. Be brave and just do things
You will make mistakes, and that’s okay! Transitions don’t have to be perfect. And your students are always more forgiving than you think, more admirers than you notice, and more grateful than they know how to express. At the very least, your class provides a sense of normality and structure.
Although distance learning comes with its challenges, there are plenty of resources to help you thrive during the transition. Distance education can be fun, engaging, collaborative, and imaginative – it all depends on how you use the tools available. When pedagogy meets technology, powerful things happen.
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