Tips from your colleagues for providing distance learning
The fact that schools are closed and children stay at home does not mean that no lessons are given. On the contrary. Across the country, teachers and other education professionals are committed to providing the best possible distance learning. A selection of all their tips.
Image: Education magazine
Teacher Ilanit Blankendal goes 'live' on Instagram every day between 10.00 a.m. and 12.00 p.m.
"This does not mean that it is vacation," said Miss Ilanit Blankendal immediately after the cabinet announced that the schools would close due to the corona virus. "We're just going to work."
And she did. Blankendal, teacher in group 7 at the Annie MG Schmidtschool in Amsterdam, first sat down with her colleagues. How are we going to do it at home? And in what way? 'There are many opportunities to teach from a distance, but I couldn't see the wood for the trees.'
Until she came up with a 'fairly simple but effective' idea: Instagram. "All those kids already have that app and are using it." Every morning the teacher goes live, from ten to twelve, for an explanation, a dictation, a piece of reading, and just: a chat. 'They can see me, they can respond immediately in text, and I can respond to that immediately. And I post through posts the planning and homework assignments for that day. ' She remains available for the rest of the day for questions, comments and children who want to get involved.
LessonUp is popular
While Instagram works well for Ilanit and her students and colleagues, there are also apps, platforms, and sites created specifically for remote teaching that come in handy in these times. A tour of Facebook shows that the site LessonUp is a loved one and frequently used. Students log in with a pin code, teachers can use it to add videos, images, texts and quizzes. 'I'm a fan!', Says Dutch teacher Rosanne Brouwer. 'I put my spoken PowerPoint on it, and then I give multiple choice questions to check whether they understand what I have explained.' The teacher can also monitor how long a student takes on an assignment - and how well that assignment has been completed.
Menno Kolk, former chairman of the Groene Golf, the youth club of the AOb, also mentions LessonUp as a good teaching tool. He states in his blog on his site that it is important that you as a teacher can share your screen with the group. Interaction is also important, as is understanding what students are doing. And how they do that.
Whiteboards work well
Kolk also shares a few tools 'for different purposes' on his site. He calls this, in addition to LessonUp and Gynzy ('with handy tools and shareable tools for your explanation'), the handy Classroomscreen, which allows you to have a whiteboard 'in no time', without having to log in. A Web Whiteboard is useful for extended instruction, according to Kolk, because you can invite others to it.
De site Education Van Morgen also mentions a few useful whiteboards, such as Pixiclip ('most simple and effective'), FlockDraw (for drawing and painting extensively), Stoodle (for going through homework), Sketchlot (no registration required) and RealtimeBoardd: according to the site the whiteboard that you can use in most directions. "Think of functions such as uploading and sharing text files, drawings, websites, videos and PDF documents."
Share your screen via Zoom
Two other frequently mentioned tools are Zoom and Teams. Through Zoom the teacher can go live. 'The kids love it,' says Dirk Struijk, who teaches Dutch to VMBO classes basic / frame 1 and 2. 'They see each other, can talk to each other, and ask questions. And thanks to 'screen sharing' I can give my lesson instructions. '
They put the answers in OneNote: a digital notebook from Microsoft, which not only the student can use, but also the teacher. So it's easy to check.
Zoom has countless possibilities. You can post tutorial videos - and record your lesson and publish it later, so kids can not only see it live, but replay it later. The basic program is free to use for a maximum of XNUMX students per learning environment. Another nice side effect: you can learners mute when you are speaking (rest!).
Supplement: schools in New York are no longer allowed to use Zoom because the program is not safe. Read our news item about this via this link.
ProWise for the math teacher
Maths teacher Huub Kusters uses Zoom in combination with online learning environment ProWise. Ideal for his profession. 'You can watch live how they solve the assignment,' he says. 'They can also send the elaborations to you. In the burg class I use the free ProWise teaching material: ProWiskunde. '
Teams - also for the team
Angelique de Wever, teacher at a secondary school, prefers Teams from Microsoft. 'You can teach online, share files, have students submit assignments and also assess them via Teams. You can have contact with students via chat and meet and consult with colleagues. '
Not an online hero? The Catholic School Community Etten-Leur has posted a PDF online explaining how teachers can work with Teams. Educator Shauna Plompen warns on her website Continuing Learning that Teams can sometimes become a bit overloaded. 'But I also hear positive stories.'
Old and trusted: PowerPoint
Also an option: stick with the old, familiar PowerPoint. Can just. 'You can make Powerpoints more extensive in a simple way with a voice-over', pedagogue Plompen suggests on her site. 'That way you can offer just that little bit more.' Also handy (if not, indispensable): making a video via PowerPoint. 'You then film your screen via PowerPoint and automatically add an audio voice over please. ' In a video Plompen shows how all this should be done:
Learning words with WRTS
Teachers of French and English tip colleagues on Facebook pages the online tool WRTS. According to many, an 'ideal, low-threshold' way to learn words - both ways, to increase vocabulary and to test students digitally.
Pedagogue Plompen Mindmeister also tips, according to her a nice tool for students to collaborate via a mindmap. Can be used via your computer, iOS and Android. 'You can do various things with the tool', Plompen writes. 'Brainstorming, organizing, associating, collaborating, presenting.'
Snapped
Researcher Kees Vernooy, specializing in effective reading and language teaching, also delved into the possibilities for distance teaching. 'Teachers are inventive', Kees Vernooy agrees. "They have to, because they have to get started, because it is a crisis."
He continues: 'I mainly hear from schools that with Snapped that they find it easy to use this program at home. Teachers can see what children are doing at home and they can give feedback in case of problems. ' Snappet is a well-known, adaptive education platform. It is offered on tablets, on which students make exercises (a kind of replacement for the workbook). More and more schools - especially in primary education - are using Snappet.
Don't forget the publishers
Vernooy also wants to point out to teachers the possibilities that publishers offer during this corona crisis. 'Schools are very enthusiastic about this,' he says. 'They really feel helped, because they receive concrete training material and not so-called step-by-step plans where they then have to figure it all out for themselves.'
Zwijssen, among others, offers free home lessons en practice bundles , and De Lubas also offers distance learning. Malmberg has per method and per group material (math, language, reading), just like the Belgian publisher Van In.
Also Mouse work Flexi and Numo offer primary and secondary schools to apply for a free license, allowing students to access an online learning environment until the end of the school year. For the levels of groups 1 to 8 it concerns the subjects Dutch, English, mathematics, arithmetic, French, Spanish and soon also German. Muiswerk Flexi offers a lot of teaching material, formative tests, effective instructions and feedback.
Also via Publishing house Meulenhoff primary school teachers have options to teach remotely. The material is also accessible for secondary education and MBO and there are temporarily free licenses. Publishing house Noordhoff according to Vernooy offers 'solutions for each type of education', from primary education to higher education.
Free reading material
In addition, Vernooy would like to add children's books to the site that can be downloaded for free freebookendownload.nl He does emphasize that it is important for distance education to see each other, as if it is via a live connection. 'Interaction is important to keep children as attentive as possible. Otherwise it will be without obligation. '
Dutch teacher Dirk Struijk agrees. And he adds that this does not only apply to students and teachers… 'I have already held Zoom drinks with colleagues twice. To share experiences, but also to socializing.'
