Digital Learning Environment
(In-Person or Distance Learning)
Four components of a successful digital learning foundation.
A HOME BASE, a place where the student, parent or administrator can go to get the daily assignments. This could be Google Classroom, Google Sites, Canvas or just a link to a document or slide deck that you update daily.
A MEANS OF CONNECTING with your students personally, such as Google Meet, Zoom or the classroom.
You might schedule daily meetings or a few short meetings a week with the whole class.
You might schedule optional office hours on a daily basis that the students or parents can drop in, if they find they need further assistance. You might consider having different office hours on some days to accommodate parents that work.
You might create a way to connect individually with students and parents through Google Chat, Google Voice, Class DOJO, Class Tag or Remind. These allow you to communicate without giving your personal cell number.
You might create a virtual bulletin board to showcase student work, post a class newsletter, or class announcements. This can be done on Google Sites, or Padlet.
Schedule some optional virtual recesses or social times weekly or every two weeks for your students to connect with each other with no content requirements. This might consist of free time to just talk, or play non-academic games such as Kahoot, activities to build community and activities to support their social emotional well being. Breakout rooms would be great to mix the whole group/small group experience.
A WAY TO RECORD your screen so you can create instructional videos to record yourself explaining the material without students. This could be Google Meet, Zoom, Loom, or Screencast-O-Matic, just to name a few. Once the video is recorded, upload it to either Google Drive, YouTube or Edpuzzle and then post on your home base.
A PLACE TO TURN IN WORK such as through Google Classroom, a personal student folder in Google Drive or Google Forms, just to name a few. Different means of turning in work, such as Interactive Slide Decks or documents, Flipgrid, Seesaw, Screencastify, Vocaroo, just to name a few.
Remember to have PATIENCE AND A GROWTH MINDSET with yourself, your students and their parents. Ask the students and parents what is or isn't working and adjust.
