Update Google Classroom or Microsoft Team regularly. You’ll need to give context for the week’s worth of work, including your objectives (in student-facing language), expectations for learning, a preview of the assignments, and where to find the resources, assignments, and assessments. Start with the end in mind: what do my students need to know and how will I know they learned this? If you do one big post with everything in it, you will help students plan out their week. If the unit spans several weeks, you will still need weekly updates with assignment checkpoints to ensure they are progressing and not waiting until the very end.

Screencast Your Update. A screencast with your voice will help make a switch to online learning feel less impersonal and more relational. Once you set up your Classroom or Team with the lessons of the week, we recommend that you screencast yourself walking students through your post, just as you would in class. This is your chance to tell them verbally what they will be doing that week/unit and what your expectations are. Post the screen cast in your Google Classroom or Microsoft Team. You may want to screencast a sample final project or a model of student work so students know what to expect.

Preload & Vary Your Resources. Preload all your resources and point to them in your weekly post. Consider the types of resources you expect students to access. It’s good practice to add docs or PDFs of readings and to vary the type of media (ie: screencasts, TED talks, video tutorials, etc.) to make up for you not being in front of them.

Assessments. Assessments with online students require careful planning. Traditional assessments can put remote students in a tricky position where a quick Google search makes cheating both easy and tempting. It’s our job to create a learning environment that sets students up for success rather than for a moral dilemma. This is a good time to consider other types of assessment. If a traditional test is out, how else can you evaluate what students understand? How else can you assess the development of a key skill? Project based learning, with multiple checkpoints along the way, is a great fit for remote learning.

Check in points. You need to make sure you are checking in with students twice each week. Attending virtual classes, posting to discussion boards, email, submitting assignments, etc., all constitute check-ins. The point is that you want to know students are working and not falling behind. If they are not checking in, we want to catch them early. Consider creating a “water cooler” discussion board for students to post questions and write about issues they are having.You can call it “Questions, Concerns, Comments” as an example. An open forum like this will allow not just you, but classmates to respond as well.

Set 'office' hours. Set up regular times when students can 'see' you to get support and clarification. Google Meet, Microsoft Meeting and Zoom are a great tool for this!

Flexibility. This is the time to adjust your curriculum to fit into a virtual school world. What is your comfort level? How will you use the synchronous and asynchronous tools? Make your plans, lay out your course, take a deep breath, and be flexible. If something doesn’t work, just like in your classroom teaching, adjust and go back or move on. Remember to reach out to your colleagues and tech team for support. We can do this...together!