For Educators

Review the Best Practices page to get a sense of what it takes to teach and learn online. Make notes to yourself about areas that you may need additional professional development and support. If you have questions for the IU team, please ask them in this form.

Investigate and become familiar with specific accommodations for Special Education, English Language Learners, and Gifted Support. It is important to offer a Free and Appropriate Public Education that includes all learners and that you meet the needs of all of your learners - even when you move to teaching virtually. Please review this supplemental fact sheet was released from the U. S. Department of Education regards to FAPE.

Review this document on Helping Children Cope with Changes Resulting from COVID-19

Identify your "warehouse" or learning management system for online learning, and become familiar with the platform. Your school may have already adopted a popular platform such as Google Classroom, Schoology, and Canvas. Consult with your district on the location you are expected to put your lessons/materials for ease of access to students. In the absence of a school selected tool, we recommend the use of a Google Doc / HyperDoc. If you are unsure about how to get started with this step, look for our webinar and office hours on this topic.

Build your lessons utilizing the designated planning tool of your district. You may choose to use the Online Wayfinding (OREO) document in best practices and/or share a Weekly Overview document with students. When you plan activities out, be sure to consider how you will change face-to-face instruction to online by looking at our conversion document.

Now you need to think about the tools needed to move to online instruction. Explore Online Content Resources and Free Online Tools to identify resources and tools which might help build your curriculum in an online environment. When possible, use resources that you or your students are already familiar with in order to curb confusion as you design your online experiences for students. Your district may already have access and support for these types of resources (such as Discovery Education). Also, consider which formats are going to best meet student needs. If internet access and bandwidth are a concern, utilize this Bandwidth Immediacy Matrix as a guide.

Maintaining communcation channels with parents and students is critical during this time of virtual instruction. Please review this document to consider the options you might employ to maintain open lines of communication. Be sure to check with your school district administration on what communication tools can be used.