In our conversation with Jeff Plaman—the Online and Digital Learning Specialist for the Minnesota Department of Education—we explore the current state of online learning, address some misconceptions, and explore the potential it has moving forward.
Level Up with Online Learning: Group or Self-Study Resources
Online learning is often misunderstood, especially after many teachers and families have now experienced remote teaching. However, what most people experienced during the pandemic was “emergency virtual teaching,” not true online learning. This is not surprising since entire systems were asked to transform to remote learning so abruptly. Teachers and other school personnel rose to the occasion and rebuilt entire systems with little or no formal training.
True online learning is different. It is not emergency teaching but rather a learning system that is intentionally designed for virtual learning right from the start. When done well, online learning is very effective. Explore the resources in the list below to learn more about online learning. While some of the resources were written to support teachers as they transitioned to remote learning, the same concepts can be applied to an entirely online learning experience.
Use the guiding questions to support your learning. Consider working through this content with a team of educators. This collaborative approach can amplify your learning, lead to stimulating discussions, and provide you with a team of support as you work to implement the strategies you are learning.
Shift to Online Discussions: Powerful but Different
Explore 4 steps for developing successful online discussions.
Establish a Positive Teacher Presence in Your Virtual Classroom
Explore strategies for maintaining a positive presence to keep students engaged and informed in your virtual classroom.
Design Summative Assessments for a Self-Paced Classroom
Develop authentic and engaging summative assessments for self-paced learning sessions.
Support Student Reflection With Self-Paced Virtual Strategies and Tools
Learn strategies, tips, and tools to promote student self-reflection during asynchronous teaching.
Choose Your Self-Paced Digital Feedback Strategies and Tools
Learn strategies for providing students with digital feedback while teaching in a self-paced learning environment.
Establish Your Communication Plan
Review these best practices and tips for establishing an effective communication plan for teachers, students, and parents.
Choose Your Self-Paced Remote-Learning Delivery System
Choose a digital delivery system that will best support self-paced, virtual teaching and learning.
Design Your Self-Paced Digital Classroom
Design a quality online classroom by following five guiding principles.
Deliver Your Self-Paced Virtual Lesson
Design and deliver an effective self-paced online lesson.
Extend Your Learning
- Care for Your Students During Self-Paced Remote Learning: Learn strategies to support your students’ social and emotional needs during online virtual learning.
- Empower Students Through Creativity and Choice: Design lessons that empower students by giving them voice and choice in the learning process as well as an opportunity to create.
- Develop a Positive Teacher Presence: Explore strategies for maintaining a positive presence to keep students engaged and informed in your virtual classroom.
- Choose the Right Digital Collaboration Tool for Your Lesson: Learn how to select the right digital tools that meet multiple learning needs.
- Authentic Demonstration of Student Knowledge: Helping Students Share Their Stories Authentically to Validate Their Voices: Discover strategies for empowering students to use their voices authentically in your classroom.
- Explore Best Practices for Teaching Remotely: Explore strategies for engaging students in the first day, first week, and first month of school to support pivots to different learning models.
- Foster Relationships and Build Community During Remote Teaching: Cultivate a culture of trust in your virtual classroom by nurturing relationships and helping students build empathy and understanding for each other and you.
- Develop Efficient and Effective Practices and Mindsets for Teaching Remotely: Explore strategies to reduce your teacher workload to save time and effort.
- Develop Your Students’ Digital Organizational Skills: Study Spaces, Routines, and Time Management: Discover strategies and digital tools that students can use to develop their digital organizational skills.
These collections change often as we add new curriculum and resources to AVID Open Access.
Find out more about how AVID Open Access is growing on our About page.