Your asynchronous learning platform is your home base. It's a space for teachers to share learning materials and resources, assignments and other information with students. This is also a space for students to access and interact with those resources and learning experiences.

If your school district is already using some kind of learning management system (LMS), you should embrace that and learn the basics of how that works. An LMS is a great example of an asynchronous learning platform.

If your district is not already invested in a home base, we recommend starting with Seesaw or Google Classroom. They are easy to learn and have almost all the features you are going to want for distance learning. If you try them and find that they don't meet your specific needs, take a look at Canvas or Schoology. They are powerful tools that are also well-suited for this task.

Click below to learn more about the platform of your choice:

Regardless of the format of the learning environment (face-to-face, hybrid or remote), the following are applicable best practices:

• Communicate with stakeholders - It is important to make sure students and parents know what you are using for a home base, the requirements of the platform, where to go to log in and find materials, and how to get help if they run into problems.

• Organize and chunk content - Students and parents will be working through the content within the platform at their own pace at a time convenient for them. Anticipating learner needs will help ensure students successfully interact with the content.

• Consider your students - Each learner has different learning needs and preferences, and as educators we need to honor that. Consider the built-in accessibility features of your platform, as well as additional resources (such as Immersive Reader) that could support students. Varying opportunities for students to engage with content in multiple formats, while being mindful of additional learning needs and social-emotional factors, is essential for success.

• Establish clear expectations for participation and feedback - It is important to establish clear procedures for students so that they know how to succeed when you are teaching from your home base.

• Provide Social Learning Opportunities - Learning is a social endeavor and distance learning can be an isolating experience. Leverage the features of your home base to provide students ways to connect and exchange ideas.

Your synchronous learning platform will be a video conferencing tool that you can use to connect with your students in real time. It is most valuable for hybrid or remote learning environments.

If your district has already selected a synchronous platform, we encourage you to utilize that. If your district has not already identified a synchronous platform, we encourage you to start with Google Meet or Zoom.

Click on the button below to learn more about set up and features of the platform choices:

Regardless of the format of the learning environment (hybrid or remote), the following are applicable best practices:

• Communicate - Explicit communication prior to and following connections is important to ensuring that students and parents have the information needed for success.

• Build community - Just as you would in a face-to-face environment, take the time to build community in your synchronous platform. This will not only honor the need for social interaction, but will also establish an important foundation for academic skills.

• Establish clear expectations for participation and feedback - Just as in a face-to-face environment, establishing clear procedures and expectations help to use the time efficiently and support positive experiences.

• Consider your students - Every learner is unique. It’s important to consider not only academic needs, but also take into consideration additional factors such as home environment and social-emotional needs. When connecting, be mindful of student supports available in the platform, as well as additional accessibility features with content being shared. Also consider the formats of content being shared.

• Plan with purpose- Planning and purpose rule supreme. In order to make the most of the time together, consider the purpose of your meeting, what resources will be needed, how the time will be spent and the amount of time required for students to engage with the content.

You have now selected your synchronous and asynchronous tools and considered ways to use them to connect with your students. Let's create a plan to build this into your home base.

In this section, you will build a Home Base Plan to share with your colleagues, parents and students.

Use the work you completed in the Build Your Home Base Template to fill in this parent/student communication email to help share your plan with your families. You'll notice on the template there are specific <areas> where you can add in your responses from the Build Your Home Base Template.