Must-Have Chrome Extensions for Teachers

I rely heavily on the people I follow on Twitter to teach me something new. One of my newest "Tweeps" is an educator named Sam Kary, a veteran middle school teacher and instructional coach. Sam's New EdTech Classroom website, Twitter feed, and YouTube channel are FILLED with useful tutorials about all-things-EdTech. His "Must-Have Google Chrome Extensions for Teachers" is well worth your time if you are interested in adding some very useful Chrome extensions that can support remote teaching and learning. Check out his video below.

Must-Have Chrome Extensions for Teachers

7 Tips for Effective Online Teaching

While teaching online may be different from teaching face-to-face, it doesn't mean that it isn't as effective. In fact, a US Department of Education study found that "students in online learning conditions performed modestly better than those receiving face-to-face instruction" (US Department of Education, 2010). Taking technology out of the equation, online educators understand that they must adapt their pedagogy to be effective. Check out the seven "high impact", evidence based strategies below to help you transition to teaching online.

1. Keep your "virtual classroom" organized to make so that it makes sense for students.
• Have a single, dedicated hub where students can go daily to find their assignments and important announcements.
• Create and share a simple communication plan to let students know how and when they can contact you.
• Consider leading "learn your technology" days to help students learn how to turn in assignments and other tasks like signing in to synchronous lessons.
• Articulate clear, concise directions for students and consider making a short daily screencast video to communicate your expectations and work flow.
2. Chunk your lessons into smaller, digestible pieces.
• Online materials require a large cognitive load for students to process...a learner can only deal with a few concepts simultaneously.
• If you record and share your lectures with students, instead of recording an entire lecture, consider creating several smaller ones that focus on a single key idea. The sweet spot for instructional videos should be around 6 minutes to ensure that students' attention doesn't wane.
• Alternate between high- and low- intensity activities to give students time to process material and consider incorporating "brain breaks" into your instructional time.
3. Solicit feedback from students.
• In a face-to-face class, you can rely on visual cues and body language to determine if your students are engaged in a lesson. Not so in an online classroom where students may or may not have their cameras turned on.
• Regularly gather feedback from students on various aspects of your online class to identify what is working and what is not.
• Some sample questions to consider:
• Are you having any technical problems?
• Are you able to quickly find and submit your work?
• Is the virtual classroom easy to navigate?
4. Annotate and interject to scaffold learning.
• In a face-to-face class, it is easy to interject to point something out to students (i.e. locations on a map or information on a slide). Not so in an online classroom.
• Try using simple annotations like arrows and text labels to provide visual scaffolding to help direct students' attention and guide the cognitive process.
• Strategically interject questions into an instructional video at key points to check for understanding (Edpuzzle can help with this).
5. Assign frequent, low stakes quizzes.
• Low- and no-stakes practice tests enhance retention (i.e. Kahoot or similar learning games).
6. Connect with your students.
• You will need to make a special effort to create a sense of community in your virtual classroom to lay the foundation for engagement and learning.
• Communicate more regularly and more informally with your students.
• Demonstrate that you are personally interested and invested in each student.
• Some strategies to consider:
• Use unstructured time to chat at the beginning of class.
• Try using Zoom's "waiting room" feature wo welcome kids to class one-by-one.
• Use breakout rooms to split students into small groups for "ice breaker" activities and other relationship-building exercises.
• At the end of a lesson, ask students to reflect on their learning with discussion prompts or exit tickets.
• Pose fun questions like "what is your favorite movie" and have students share using digital tools like Jamboard or Padlet.
7. Take care of yourself!
• "You can't serve from an empty cup!"

Check out the full article from Edutopia.

Student Engagement: Virtual Whiteboards

If you have any experience teaching remotely, you know how challenging it can be to engage students in an active learning environment as well as assess their understanding in real time. Most instructional technology tools require a significant time investment for teachers to gain mastery and confidence before they use them. Not so with Whiteboard.fi, a digital whiteboard tool.

Whiteboard.fi is a simple tool that can be used instantly. By creating a class and letting your students join, everyone will get a digital whiteboard. You as a teacher see all your students' whiteboards in real time, so you can follow their progress. The students only see their own whiteboard and the teacher's. Whiteboard.fi is an instant formative assessment tool for your classroom, providing you with live feedback and immediate overview over your students.

Whiteboard.fi has several outstanding features:

• Instant Access: Setting up a new class whiteboard is lightning fast! No registration or logins needed! (Pro Tip: Share a link to your whiteboard via Google Classroom).
• Device Independent: Works on any device - no installation or downloads needed (Bonus: It is easy for students to draw on their whiteboard using the Chromebook's touch screen).
• Privacy: No personal information is collected, stored, or shared with third parties. Everything is deleted after the room is closed.
• Access Control: You have full control of who enters your room by using the waiting lobby. There is also an option to lock your room after your class has started, preventing new users from joining.
• Live Overview: Ask a question, and let the whole class answer by using Whiteboard.fi. This way you will activate the whole class, and everybody gets the opportunity to answer!
• Versatile Tools: Insert images, backgrounds, arrows, shapes and texts! There are many different, versatile tools available.
• Math: Insert math symbols, expressions or equations easily using the math editor, where you can type using a graphical interface or insert LaTeX code.
• Save Whiteboards: You can easily save all your student whiteboard images as a PDF file that can be saved locally to your device.

Learn How To Use Whiteboard.fi

Student Engagement: Synchronous Discussions

Many of the teachers I have spoken with, whether teaching remotely or in-person, have expressed their frustration with the lack of willingness among their students to participate in class discussions. A recent blog post from instructional coach Dr. Caitlin Tucker helps address this concern with concrete steps teachers can take before, during, and after the activity for more productive student engagement. 

Before: Preparing for Online Discussions

• create and share a planning document in advance of the conversation
• prepare a slide deck with your discussion questions

During: Facilitating Online Discussions

• establish communication norms
• employ facilitation skills to keep the conversation moving

After: Wrapping Up Online Discussions

• engage students in a post-discussion reflection
• ask students to assess their engagement and participation

Please take a moment to read the full article via this link as Dr. Tucker shares planning documents, a slide deck template for sharing discussion questions, sample communication norms, and post-discussion reflection documents. If you are on Twitter, consider following Caitlin Tucker for more outstanding instructional resources: https://twitter.com/Catlin_Tucker

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Did you know you can facilitate a synchronous online discussion using nothing more than Google Slides and Zoom? Check out the video below to learn how to use Google Slides' Audience Tools.

Google Slides Audience Tools