Continuation of Learning allows teachers to continue their students' learning even though students are not in the physical classroom meeting face-to-face. This learning strategy involves using web-based virtual classroom environments. Although web-based, some have the ability for students to use a regular phone connection to join the learning and discussion. Here are some of the popular resources many school districts and teachers have been using with great success.
Google Classroom
Grade Levels: TK-12
Source: https://edu.google.com/why-google/k-12-solutions/?modal_active=none
What is it?
Google Classroom makes teaching more productive and meaningful by streamlining assignments, boosting collaboration, and fostering communication. Educators can create classes, distribute assignments, send feedback, and see everything in one place. Classroom also seamlessly integrates with other Google tools like Google Docs, Drive, and numerous third-party applications.
Benefits:
Easy setup—Teachers can set up a class, invite students and co-teachers. On the Classwork page, they can share information—assignments, questions, and materials.
Saves time and paper—Teachers can create classes, distribute assignments, communicate, and stay organized, all in one place.
Better organization—Students can see assignments on the To-do page, in the class stream, or on the class calendar. All class materials are automatically filed into Google Drive folders.
Enhanced communication and feedback—Teachers can create assignments, send announcements, and instantly start class discussions. They can also quickly see who has or hasn't completed the work, and give direct, real-time feedback and grades. Students can share resources with each other and interact in the class stream or by email.
Works with apps you use—Classroom works with Google Docs, Calendar, Gmail, Drive, and Forms.
Affordable and secure—Classroom is free for schools, nonprofits, and individuals. Classroom contains no ads and never uses your content or student data for advertising purposes.
| User | What You Can Do With Classroom |
| Teachers | Create and manage classes, assignments, and grades. Give direct, real-time feedback and grades. |
| Students | Track classwork and materials. Share resources and interact in the class stream or by email. Submit assignments. Get feedback and grades. |
| Guardians | Get an email summary of their student's work. This summary includes information about missing work, upcoming assignments, and class activity. Note: Guardians cannot sign in to Classroom directly. They need to receive email summaries through another account. |
| Administrators | Create, view, or delete any class in their domain. Add or remove students and teachers from classes. View work in all classes in their domain.
|
Professional Learning for Google Classroom:
Santa Clara COE has created professional learning material that is available 24/7 through the digital badge and micro-credential catalog. This personalized professional learning is competency-based with feedback and learning support provided by the Santa Clara COE Educational Technology team. The course takes most teachers about 2 hours to complete. This course can also be offered as a blended-learning course where teachers come together through a Zoom video conference for synchronous learning while continuing through the online coursework asynchronously, or as a face-to-face course as needed.
Link to online course: Using Google Classroom for Continuation of Learning
Seesaw
Grade Levels: TK-12
Source: commonsense.org/education/app/seesaw-the-learning-journal
What is it?
Seesaw is a digital portfolio and learning system where teachers can create multimedia experiences for students. Using Google, Clever, student emails, or a QR code, teachers assign tasks that engage students with a variety of work in the form of videos, photos, text, images, files, and drawings. Teachers follow up by approving posts, offering feedback, and, if desired, making items accessible to families via the Seesaw Family app (available online and via Android or iOS). Since teachers can view all students' submissions at once, it's an easy way to check for whole-class understanding. Teachers can also enable peer-to-peer feedback or create a class blog to encourage a richer, more connected experience. For added security, the blogs can be password protected, and teachers can opt to moderate posts.
Designed with an intuitive interface, Seesaw leads teachers through processes such as creating assignments, recording directions, providing student feedback, and sending family communications. Translation is available if the device language settings are different from the original message. The Activity Library hosts a variety of activities aligned with Common Core for all grade levels, and the Help Center provides support as well as professional development online for teachers. A paid upgrade allows tracking of skills mastery.
Benefits:
Students can show their work and thought processes in real time by submitting a video of themselves working through a math problem, snapping a picture of a paragraph they wrote, recording themselves reading a poem, or uploading a file to demonstrate their learning. Encourage kids to submit a series of images along with notes that tell the story that connects them. Or let kids collaborate with each other using peer-to-peer feedback to offer suggestions on writing content, scientific hypotheses, or creative ideas.
Teachers at all grade levels and across all content areas can use Seesaw to keep digital portfolios of student work, including commenting on student submissions. You can communicate with families easily and share student work with them, or push out assignments to students to individualize instruction. You can also choose work to share with a broader audience via a blog.
Source: commonsense.org/education/app/seesaw-the-learning-journal
Professional Learning for Seesaw:
There are many professional learning resources available on Seesaw's website. Santa Clara COE's Educational Technology team can also provide additional support for teachers interested in or currently using Seesaw upon request.
Link to online course: Digital Learning with Seesaw
Khan Academy
Grade Levels: TK-12
Source: khanacademy.org/about
What is it?
Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. We tackle math, science, computer programming, history, art history, economics, and more. Our math missions guide learners from kindergarten to calculus using state-of-the-art, adaptive technology that identifies strengths and learning gaps. We've also partnered with institutions like NASA, The Museum of Modern Art, The California Academy of Sciences, and MIT to offer specialized content.
Benefits:
Khan Academy offers standards-aligned online, video-based tutorials for nearly every subject and every grade level. A 2017 study conducted in Long Beach USD found students who used Khan Academy for more than 30 minutes a week was associated with a +22 point difference on the CAASPP math assessment. Online classroom environments can be created, giving teachers the ability to assign and review student progress.
Professional Learning for Khan Academy:
Khan Academy has professional learning videos, tutorials, and articles on their website.
FlipGrid
Grade Levels: TK-12
Source: commonsense.org/education/website/flipgrid
What is it?
Flipgrid is a website that allows teachers to create "grids" to facilitate video discussions. Each grid is like a message board where teachers can pose questions, called "topics," and their students can post video responses that appear in a tiled grid display. Grids can be shared with classes, small groups, or any collection of users interested in a common strand of questions. Each grid can hold an unlimited number of topics and each topic can hold an unlimited number of responses. Topics can be text-based or include a resource such as an image, video, Giphy, emoji, or attachment. Customizable security settings help protect student privacy.
Students can respond via the Flipgrid app or website with any camera-enabled device or by uploading a previously recorded video. Responses can be 15 seconds to five minutes, and a maximum recording time can be set. Teachers can also allow students to record replies to classmates' responses. There are a variety of moderation features teachers can turn on or off per topic. The CoPilot feature allows more than one teacher to be a grid moderator. Teachers have access to a help center and two active teacher communities: Disco Library for sharing grid templates and GridPals for connecting with educators and classrooms around the world.
Source: https://www.commonsense.org/education/website/flipgrid
Benefits:
Flipgrid offers a worthy, flexible venue for teachers and students to communicate. Students can learn to articulate ideas with well-planned responses and consider alternate viewpoints as they listen to their peers' responses. Flipgrid can be a great way to gather student responses delivered at their own pace without kids feeling "on the spot" in the classroom. Students can take advantage of the "sticky note" on the recording screen to type a short outline or key points before they start recording. Pause, trim, and re-record buttons can help students record their best effort, but teachers should be clear about their expectations so that students don't waste time trying to make a perfect presentation if an informal response is all that's desired. Also, some kids may be anxious about being on camera; it's challenging enough to answer a question when called on in class, but for some, formulating a video answer may be more agonizing than it's worth. As with any communication tool, focus on creating a culture of respect by setting clear expectations in advance.
When used purposefully, Flipgrid is an engaging way for teachers to foster discussion and collaboration in a space that feels like the best parts of social media discussion without the free-for-all feeling of Facebook or Twitter.
Professional Learning for FlipGrid:
The Flipgrid website contains many resources for teachers, including user guides created by teacher users. The Santa Clara COE Educational Technology team can also provide professional learning sessions on the use of Flipgrid.
EdPuzzle
Grade Levels: 5-12
Source: commonsense.org/education/website/edpuzzle
What is it?
Edpuzzle is a web-based interactive video and formative assessment tool that lets users crop existing online videos and add content to target specific learning objectives. Teachers can search the extensive library or upload their own videos to customize them with voice-overs, audio comments, embedded assessment questions, and additional resources. There are also options to choose from the site's curriculum content, assign due dates, and prohibit students from fast-forwarding through videos. Teachers can view students' scores and progress over time as well as the length of time students took to complete an assignment. Data from the embedded quizzes is saved in Edpuzzle's dashboard; however, teachers can easily export and incorporate it into other grade- and course-management systems.
Edpuzzle offers a space for a community of teachers to share their creations for inspiration or for easy classroom use. But since so many versions of the same original video are saved, teachers may have to scroll through the dozens of repeats before discovering different search results. A better use might be to turn this robust set of tools over to students, enabling them to find high-quality online video content and customize it in a way that demonstrates their learning.
Benefits:
Edpuzzle allows both teachers and students to customize online videos in ways that encourage more active learning. The quality of the learning will depend, of course, on the original video as well as how it's customized or remixed for classroom use, but you won't have to look too hard to find lots of high-quality options to use as starting points. Teachers who choose or create informative, engaging videos can add voice-overs, interactive quizzes, and audio notes to create a much more learner-centric experience and one that encourages students to be reactive viewers who critique what they watch.
While passively watching online videos may require only lower-level thinking skills, the ability to isolate and encourage interaction with the most important aspects of a video increases the relevance of content and depth of learning, especially if teachers take advantage of the options to add supplemental resources and links. Furthermore, critical thinking skills such as analysis and information seeking can lead students to a transformation of knowledge if teachers let students research, create, and share their own video lessons. While it will meet many needs, Edpuzzle could use more features to annotate and remix videos, especially the ability to combine multiple videos. Since this feature isn't yet available, the developers suggest a workaround: sequencing video lessons to create a similar student learning experience.
Professional Learning for EdPuzzle:
Professional learning is available through the Edpuzzle website.
Zoom
What is it?
Zoom is a web-based video-conferencing platform.
Benefits:
Teachers can use Zoom to provide lessons to students via an internet connection or dial-in number. Students with an internet connection can view the teacher's screen, or share their screen if the teacher gives them permission to share. Teachers can disable student cameras, and mute students' microphones when necessary.
Professional Learning for Zoom:
Professional learning for using Zoom in the classroom can be provided by the Santa Clara COE's Educational Technology team.
