Student Engagement

7 Tips for Increasing Student Engagement in Online Courses via Desire2Learn:
Offers the following tips: 1. Communicate in multiple formats, 2. Provide active learning opportunities, 3. Make Learning Social, 4. Gamify with Badges and Certificates, 5. Provide timely and useful feedback, 6. Add self-assessment opportunities, 7. Improve course accessibility for all.

Maintaining Connections, Reducing Anxiety While School Is Closed via ASCD.org:
Offers the following strategies: Send individual messages; Make phone calls; Send a brief letter to each of your students and include a stamped envelope so they can respond; Use a folder in Google Classroom or other file-sharing program for students to share art and other work; Hold "office hours" during which students and caretakers can check in through messaging, a conferencing app, or a phone call to ask for help or to connect; Create routines; Establish daily check-ins; Use the village.

Sample Weekly Schedule for Students:
Sticking to a routine is important not just for teachers, but for students as well. This is a template to help students create and hour-by-hour weekly schedule for themselves.

Free E-book: Leading Groups Online by Jeanne Rewa and Daniel Hunter:
The coronavirus pandemic has created new challenges for facilitators and educators, who are now being asked to lead groups online. Jeanne Rewa and Daniel Hunter swiftly wrote this booklet for this moment. Using their combined two decades of online facilitation, Jeanne and Daniel walk you through the basics of how to lead sessions online. They give you their top 10 principles for leading online groups, introduce you to interactive tools you can lead online, and answer commonly asked questions. Click here to get your free E-copy.

What Students Are Saying About Remote Learning via The New York Times:
It's interesting to hear a student's perspective on what's working and what's not when it comes to remote learning. The NY Times spoke to students from across the country, and their feedback may help you better strategize for student engagement. Consider surveying your students as well!

Canva: A free online design program that makes it easy to design flyers, social media posts, presentations, brochures, and more. You can either design from scratch or use one of their templates. It’s like a much easier to use version of Photoshop that you can access anywhere to create eye-catching content or recruitment materials for your site. Emily uses it at HQ, as do several other staff members, including Lovell at the Palmdale site. https://www.canva.com

G-Suite For Non-Profits: Help your nonprofit collaborate more effectively with smart, secure business apps like Gmail, Docs, Calendar, Drive, and Hangouts Meet, all with your own unique domain name. Benny Orduno from the Moreno Valley site recommended this on our Community Zoom Call on 4/10. https://www.google.com/nonprofits/offerings/apps-for-nonprofits/

Remind Texting App: This app allows for two-way communication for updates, instruction, and more between teachers and students. Free and paid plans available.Currently, the San Bernardino and San Diego sites are using this. https://www.remind.com

8x8 Phone Porting: Get your office phone calls ported to your personal cell phones. YCSC now has an 8x8 account, so talk to your principal if you're interested in getting one. https://www.8x8.com/about-us