Online Teaching Tools
In this post I am going to discuss a few main topics regarding teaching online...
As I have mentioned before, there is no 'one size fits all' when it comes to teaching, this applies to both teaching staff and students. There are so many edtech tools that one could use when teaching online but there are factors to consider such as accessibility, course content, staff and student digital skills and differentiation in the classroom.
First of all, it is important to follow standard pedagogical advice when it comes to lesson content such as introducing the lesson objectives to begin with, the topic in relation to the overall course structure, assessment schedules and differentiation for students.
My suggestion is, use your PowerPoint or Microsoft Whiteboard to introduce your topics and then set out your behavioural expectations for students to participate ( would you like them to ask questions in the chat or to raise their hands, cameras on or off?). Follow this introduction with a breakout room session to check that learning has taken place, ask students to collaborate with peer to peer study or discussions using a video call, Microsoft Whiteboard, the collaboration space in the class notebook or the posts tab. Alternatively task students with a personal project to then review at the end of the lesson or in their tutorial sessions or if you are confident with third-party tools, use Kahoot, Quizlet or Nearpod to change the pace of the lesson into something more interactive and stimulating. Finally set a homework task in the assignment tab to check on individual progress, also make the most of the Insights tab to review cohort trends with submissions and engagement!
The goal here as always, is to find new ways to make learning exciting for students and for them to participate actively because of this.
Finally, I have recently trialled ThingLink with a small pilot group of teachers from a variety of different divisions. This online tool allows tutors to use standard images or videos and 360 images or videos to create an accessibile, immersive experience for students when they cannot be on site.
Please see the article where I discuss this in more detail published by Jisc and linked in my ThingLink blog post.