This is the fourth in our series identifying best practices in online learning. As stated in earlier posts, supporting students’ (as well as educators and their families) social and emotional needs must come first in any learning environment, particularly a virtual one in the midst of a pandemic. Next, educators should foster building relationships with each other, with students and with families. After establishing these foundations – which must be nourished throughout the academic year – educators can begin focusing on creating engaging content. One critical component to build a successful learning environment is to ensure that educators, students, and families know how to use the technology provided to them.
Create a virtual learning “studio.” Moving learning into an online environment is hard. Instead of using the first few days of class to practice new technology applications, create a space to practice delivering the content before working with students. Doing so will add an air of professionalism and create a smoother transition to online learning on the first day. There are two major components to this aspect of online learning: visual and audio. Importantly, neither of these require a large investment in equipment.
Visual professionalism includes:
- Adding a webcam or setting up the internal camera so that the you face is well-framed (you might need to stack some books under your computer).
- Ensuring good lighting by placing one or more lighting sources (e.g., window, lamp) in front of the camera.
- Dressing for the occasion.
- Setting up the background. Some instructors have gotten creative with backgrounds and have held class in different locations in their homes on different days to spark student interest. Some educators have made scavenger hunts with their backgrounds – use this tool to your advantage!
Audio professionalism includes:
- Having a quiet space for the meeting, free from audio distractions.
- Ensuring that the microphone is good and does not echo
- Speaking in a clear, engaging style (you might need to slow down so learners can stay engaged)
Educators should practice video sessions with a friend and/or record a practice session to practice, review, and refine. Over time, this process will become smoother, and taking these initial steps will ensure both educators and students are comfortable with the process.
Get to Know Your Learning Management System (LMS). Additionally, educators should take the time before classes meet to get to know the features of their online LMS and/or group meeting platform. Can participants chat in your platform? Can participants use a chat feature? Can you create breakout sessions? Do students and families know how to use your various platforms? Make sure you take the time to answer these questions and familiarize yourself, as well as students and families, prior to the first day of class. Also, be sure you (and students and families) know where to go, and with whom to contact, for technical support.
For example, use features embedded in Zoom to create polls, break out rooms, share screens, and take quick temperature checks of participants using emojis (e.g., clap, thumbs up, etc.). Doing so helps make learners feel safe to share answers, stories, ideas, and to speak up when experiencing a technical issue and need help. This gives learners a voice when they could have easily fallen through the cracks.
Use the chat function. Public speaking is a strong fear for many adults and children, and sometimes it can be challenging to get people to speak out – especially when the topic is quite personal. One of the benefits of virtual meeting programs is the simple text chat feature. Educators who are working with groups of more than 5 participants at a time would be wise to become familiar with the chat feature and to encourage its use. This feature is clearly better suited for older students, and is also useful for family members helping younger students engage in online learning.
Use technology to meet the need – rather than finding the technology first. Most importantly, use technology and platforms that will actually help fill a need rather than finding a technology application and forcing their desired content or need into that application. There are a lot of great educational technology resources out there, and not all of them will be right for you or your students. For example, technology can be used to engage students by sending messages to families (using platforms like GroupMe or Class Dojo), texting students an interesting question for them to respond to during synchronous or asynchronous gatherings, creating individualized assignments with video, and using Google voice/voice memos/videos to provide comments and feedback on students’ assignments. Similarly, students can share their work using video (such as Loom), images or Google voice/voice memos. This creates personalization in the learning and allows students to showcase their work and talk about it without interruption from peers.
As you move forward in an online learning environment, we hope these best practices will help you navigate these challenging times. If you want to learn more, stay tuned for our summative report!