Planning and Design
Need some help?
This site is hand-crafted by fellow educators to help teachers with:
simple overviews of digital learning tools,
curated links for basic and advanced training and support, and
considerations for the effective use of digital learning tools in the classroom.
The following resources may be helpful to plan, design, and implement the use of digital tools in your instruction. You may also want to scroll through the site guides for ideas specific to crafting a virtual classroom, managing student learning, screencasting, and a range of other digital uses.
Planning for Effective Remote and Hybrid Learning
With the physical closure of schools and the pivot to remote and hybrid learning, educators face unplanned and unprecedented challenges in their effective use of digital tools and services in the classroom.
Current CDC recommendations
Pandemic changes that teachers will keep to improve instruction
COVID-19 & Remote Learning: How to Make It Work
As part of their How We Go Back To School project, Education Week focuses on both technical and instructional considerations to make when planning for remote and hybrid learning.
Navigating Uncertain Times: How Schools Can Cope With Coronavirus
This rich guide from EdSurge and ISTE provides helpful blog posts, podcasts, and webinars covering practical challenges of learning and teaching online.
How to Plan Online Lessons With Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
Universal Design for Learning is a framework for designing instruction to reduce barriers to learning. This helpful overview from Understood.org provides practical considerations and a wealth of related guides and resources.
Social and Emotional Health and Learning
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is not a new concept, but the pandemic requires educators to teach and design instruction with SEL in mind.
Washington State Social and Emotional Learning Resources
This official site provides information about the SEL standards and other resources.
Teaching Social-Emotional Skills Amid COVID-19
This Education Week guide focuses on SEL and the pandemic with simple guidelines for educators. Additional links provide 'deep dives' and detailed guides.
Copyright, Fair Use, and Educational Resources
When using digital content in the classroom, both students and educators need to know if, how, and when they can use resources created by others.
Educators Guide to Creativity and Copyright
Creativity and copyright can be confusing and overwhelming. This no-nonsense resource explains what educators need to know about their (and students) use of any materials in the classroom setting. Includes a printable pdf, a useful quick guide infographic, and additional resources for more information.
Copyright & Creativity: Includes online trainings for educators and regular office hours to help you untangle the ins and outs of copyright.
Commonsense Media Lessons on Copyright
Langwitches Copyright Infographic
Can You Show Netflix in Class? While this article is from 2018, it still has relevant content, particularly in regards to teachers wanting to use a personal streaming account to show films, which is a violation of corporate user agreements for services like Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Student Safety and Privacy
The use of digital tools with students requires both common sense and legal considerations, particularly with younger learners. In addition to federal and state laws, local school district policies and practices need to be taken into account, particularly when using online services and resources that require students to register or provide identifiable data or information.
Educators Guide to Student Data Privacy
Like their guide to creativity and copyright, this resource from ConnectSafely.org provides an accessible FAQ about how, why, and when student privacy considerations must be made when using digital tools and online services in the classroom.
Educational Technology Standards
In 2018, OSPI adopted updated educational technology standards based on national ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) Standards for Students. These are designed to complement existing grade level and content area standards.
Washington State Educational Technology Standards
This official site provides detailed information about the standards including grade level guides with connections to other student learning standards.
This simple overview provides a quick snapshot of the seven standards with links to videos and additional resources.