We started this series on Thursday, March 12, which almost feels like a month ago.
With all the new developments this week (can it really be only Tuesday?) some have had immediate concerns more pressing than teaching. I know distance teaching/distance learning must still be an issue. I know this because I called my niece today and they were having fits at their house related to distance learning, technical difficulties with a printer cartridge, no ability to go out and get another cartridge, unrealistic instructor deadlines and expectations.
We do have one more post in the can, from Martin, on Assessments. And we were planning on separate guest posts on individual technologies: one on Zoom and one on Slack, and likely others.
We had lots of ideas in 2020 BL (Before Lockdowns) The question is, do you want us to pursue them, or has life “provided” higher priorities? Is distance teaching still a priority for any of you?
Here’s what we had planned lo that long ago… on Monday! Take a look, and share your thoughts in the comments, please. It’s up to you. Should we stay or should we go?
Several people have stepped forward and shared what they know about distance teaching. If you indicated last week that you might write something up, please don’t be shy. Just do it!
· Do you have experience being a single parent and working from home with small children? Please consider writing up a guest post.
· Is there some aspect of distance teaching, not yet covered, that would be helpful? Please mention it in the comments below.
· Are you particularly experienced with one of the major distance teaching tools? Please consider writing up a guest post on that one tool.
· If you think this series has run its course, please let us know that, too, in the comments.
Upcoming Posts:
· ZOOM – Immanentize
· Slack – Martin
Any interest in a post on these:
· Blackboard
· Canvas
· Google Classrooms
Much Needed Respite: Viral Humor
Tim C.
I can only speak for myself; I think it’s useful. I’m rapidly putting together online curriculum for Algebra, Government, Geography, and English. All for different ages. So anything that’s shared is potentially useful.
Mary G
I don’t teach, but I enjoy reading anything those two write. So a want, not a need.
randy khan
Many people who aren’t distance teaching would be interested in the post on Zoom (like, you know, me).
Mnemosyne
I was able to clear just enough room in my craft room to put my work laptop in there. It needs to be aired out, though, which is a little tough since we’re getting a lot of rain (and even some hail!) ‘round these parts.
HumboldtBlue
O/T, Newsom press conference ongoing
Martin
I thought I was being clever crafting plans that would keep groups under 30 people to avoid any gathering provisions. I never thought we’d get to a full lockdown here in the US, but that’s where I am now.
So, I have faculty that aren’t supposed to go to their office to stream their class, and other faculty that because they’re over 65 are doubly not supposed to. So I’m not sure we can actually even pull off online classes. We’re in finals now, and still trying to sort that mess out, and this almost defies planning since it’s moving so fast. I had half a dozen contingency plans, but none for this. This is surprisingly close to our ‘earthquake destroys the campus’ plan, at least in terms of disruption to instruction.
schrodingers_cat
A thread for the primary results?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@schrodingers_cat: please
?BillinGlendaleCA
Gotta have these posts, cause folk want to see the dog.
LuciaMia
Thats it! My sense of time has gotten so twisted. So much to absorb, the day seems to fly by. But when I think of things that happened a couple days ago it feels like it was a week past.
Brachiator
I would be interested in seeing something on Zoom and Slack, if the guest posters have time
Elizabelle
It’s my favorite dog photo.
Soon, perhaps, to be joined by a pupcake avatar. Although it’s real hard to imagine pie-ing anyone in these threads.
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: I did add a pupcake today that Another Scott found. And now Avalune is on the case, and agreed to work on a pupcake modeled after my beloved CatCake.
Elizabelle
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Yup. That hound rocks.
mali muso
I like to read ’em! Would be doubly grateful for anyone who wants to share tips on productive and enriching activities to occupy toddlers at home.
Kifaru1
Khan Academy is an amazing resource for science and math education. My son loves it. They even track your learning and don’t alow you to move forwards on a subject until you get 80% or higher on the quizzes. They track everything so it could potentially prove how many topics a person has covered as well. I believe I heard that a few school systems use them.
Kent
My two girls (grades 8 and 11) finished day two of online learning. In their case it was just pulling assignments up on Google Classroom and doing them. They were both done by noon each day so if we are talking HS, your parents will appreciate it if you send an adequate amount of work for the kiddos to do to keep them busy.
Also, every online instructor should be advised that every online assignment they are creating should be considered a group assignment. It is only day two and my kids are all in group chats for all their classes so basically their phones are blowing up with stuff like “hey…what did you guys get for question #5?” that sort of thing. So create your lessons with the assumption that they will be group collaboration assignments. The kids all have phones with cameras.
WaterGirl
I will put up Martin’s thread tomorrow (assuming that works for him). Wondering what time of day is good for these posts?
BrotherMaynard
I would be interested in a post or thread just dedicated to resources for younger kids. Kindergarteners and 1st graders who aren’t really able to do the distance learning. What is everyone using for math and reading? And is it independent or do you have to help a lot?
WaterGirl
@BrotherMaynard: Question for you: If we don’t have someone to write a guest post on that, would it be helpful to have a thread where that is the whole topic, and see what commenters suggest?
Maybe have brainstorming threads for various age groups? What would be the age breaks?
Kindergarten and first grade? K thru 5?
Keithly
A post on Blackboard would be helpful. The pie filter will probably get heavy use on that one, so it might be prudent to have the pupcake queued up and ready to go before posting.
Brachiator
@Keithly:
Is there some controversy about this product?
Kent
I don’t teach those ages, but I did have 3 kids go through those ages. I’d frankly just find online games and such for a lot of it. My kids used to spend ours doing reader rabbit CDs and that sort of thing. There must be more modern versions out there. It is probably going to be better than anything you can create on the fly. Of course not all kids are going to have access to that stuff.
But I’m also very curious what teachers in K-5 are going. Gotta be a lot more challenging. Especially for kids who are mostly going to be alone. Not every child has a parachute mom nearby to help.
cwmoss
Here’s the only post you need about Blackboard, courtesy of Dave Noon.
https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2014/01/christ-i-hate-blackboard
Kent
@cwmoss: Or just google: https://www.google.com/search?q=blackboard+sucks
Jess
We will survive!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCe5PaeAeew
FlyingToaster (Tablet)
We just finished day 1 of distance learning via Zoom (& Schoology & IXL, already in use).
It seems to be structured as: join your class at the top of the hour, mute for presentation, unmute if called on, move to group/ section for collaboration and discussion. Class ends at :50, go take care of whatever, log into the next class at the top of the hour.
5 classes a day (4 core, a different specialist each day), todays homework was all reading.
Spring play rehearsal will also be via Zoom.
WarriorGirl spent her breaks playing music; I heard her on violin, keyboards, recorder and kazoo. The situation still sucks, but maybe not so badly as I’d feared.
Captain Sunshine
I appreciate the posts and will be passing them along to my school admins, so yes please, keep ’em coming. Especially for Zoom.
Fairchild
I’m happy to write something about Google Classroom, if it would be helpful. I’m a lurker here, but I’m the instructional technology coordinator for a public K12 district in California.
Gvg
I am not a teacher, I am a Financial Aid Counselor in a big office at a big University. Last week Wednesday , Professors were told to move their classes online and most students sent home. Today we got the email we are moving online and most administration. We are apparently getting training in canvas and zoom tomorrow and some way of doing phones from home, voic? This is not something we would normally be doing for years. Our fairly new migration to PeopleSoft didn’t go smoothly IMO just a year ago and that was with 3 years of planning. I expect this to be difficult and a lot of work. No choice of course. Students need that money to eat. So many questions not answered yet. I had never seen Canvass till an online video at home a couple of hours ago and never heard of zoom till reading this series this week. So things that are supposed to be for teachers are being adapted for other uses, be warned!
my nephew is in 5th grade in a private school. They closed following public school and are trying to go online. Each grade teacher is finding whatever works. Monday’s planned app FaceTime didn’t work well enough. Some people couldn’t get in and the app was dropping people out. I got the impression they might have just been swamped nationally. I predict all the companies that do these kind of things are going to have issues due to a sudden BIG traffic the teacher tried GoTo meeting and it pretty much worked, however my nephew was trying to use my older iPad and it turned out not to work for GoTo but my new one did, so appparently out of date operating system wasn’t compatible with new app. Grand dad found his tablet will he think work too so I got my iPad back. It looks like I will need it for work soon. Everyone in the class has different devices. I predict this is happening all over, and my office may be next.
stinger
Probably VoIP – Voice over Internet Protocol.
Lyrebird
@Mary G:
Thank you for the Shonda Rhimes (sp?) quote,
I shared it further and it brought more smiles.
to WaterGirl,
I thank you so much for doing this, even though I don’t know whether you’ll see this reply. I’m in the “Yea” column. Especially for Zoom, also just for the commiseration. Yeah I know I have first-world problems, but I really want to do right by my students and teaching from home in these circumstances is pretty rotten.
Lyrebird
@BrotherMaynard: If you’re still reading: Prodigy is free if you do not let them buy any upgrades or memberships, that has adaptive math instruction with handy helpers on the side.
For language stuff, I am frustrated that our library’s eBook selections are super limited. I am grateful that many kids shows these days, like UmiZoomi or WildKratts or Diego, are less crappy than what I grew up with. Older shows more likely to be available for streaming within whatever you might subscribe to.
JaySinWA
Another non teacher here adapting to distance meetings and presentations. Give me more of this, please. Not to diverge from a teaching perspective but because a lot of it is relevant to other uses.
I am working with volunteers and diverse equipment and skill levels. We are constrained to Skype, MS Teams and trying to do offline stuff with groups.io (a mail list server) so it is unlikely that there will be directly applicable tech talks, but hopefully general principles will help.
Slack would be fairly close to MS Teams. Looking for techniques for Q&A and discussion management among peers. I imagine a good deal of the back office prep work with teachers for distance learning would be applicable.
Torrey
I teach college and am moderately experienced with the use of online platforms–in fact, one course is a hybrid. I have really appreciated the posts. I’ve learned from both the posts and the discussions that follow. Reading what people in different situations have tried has given me more than a few lightbulb moments, not to mention the moral support that comes with reading what others are doing. So continuation, please?
WaterGirl
@Fairchild: That would be great! Just sent you email.
WaterGirl
@Gvg: We are living in interesting times!
Anyone out there willing to write up a guest post on Canvas?
WaterGirl
@Lyrebird: You are most welcome!
WaterGirl
I know everyone is super busy and quite possibly super stressed, but if you have expertise with one of these tools – and would be willing to take the time to write a guest post on it – it would be so appreciated!
Please leave a comment here or contact me by email. Thank you.