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The Technology Integration Matrix

The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) provides a framework for describing and targeting the use of technology to enhance learning. The TIM incorporates five interdependent characteristics of meaningful learning environments: active, collaborative, constructive, authentic, and goal-directed. These characteristics are associated with five levels of technology integration: entry, adoption, adaptation, infusion, and transformation. Together, the five characteristics of meaningful learning environments and five levels of technology integration create a matrix of 25 cells, as illustrated below. All TIM descriptors apply equally well to online and face-to-face instruction, Developed by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology (FCIT) in 2005, the TIM is now in its third edition (2019).

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Eight Great Habits for Learning with Technology

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Eight Great Habits for Learning with Technology

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Extension for working with math

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EquatIO has a premium subscription available for users and a free version able to users. With our premium subscription you will have access to a wealth of prediction, including formulas, matrices, and the ability to favorite items. You also will have access to alignment buttons, dynamic graphing, the Copy Math As button, Mathspace (WebApp) for remote learning, and other premium features included within the product.

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EquatIO - Equation Writer to Create Accessible Digital Math, Chemistry or Physics

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EquatIO has a premium subscription available for users and a free version able to users. With our premium subscription you will have access to a wealth of prediction, including formulas, matrices, and the ability to favorite items. You also will have access to alignment buttons, dynamic graphing, the Copy Math As button, Mathspace (WebApp) for remote learning, and other premium features included within the product.

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This collection will contain resources to help and support educators who are using or need inspiration about Jamboard.

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Live Quiz Game with power ups etc. Makes it fun!!!

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Gimkit is a game show for the classroom that requires knowledge, collaboration, and strategy to win. Get started for free!

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Modern Classrooms Project - Free blended, self-paced, mastery-based PD, built by teachers.

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An innovative, research-backed instructional model that responds to every student’s needs. Our free online course has empowered thousands of educators!

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EduProtocols are instructional templates that are designed to engage students in learning through critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity, in any subject or grade level. In this session you will see how engaging these can be for students by trying out several hands-on activities such as Sketch and Tell, Iron Chef, Tier List, Thin Slides, and more.

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https://www.controlaltachieve.com/

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Add questions to videos

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Great for writing stories with pictures. Connects with Google Classroom

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Your browser either doesn't support Javascript, or you've turned it off. To use Mentimeter, please make sure to turn Javascript on. How do I enable Javascript?

Gain valuable insights from everyone around you with Word Clouds, Polls, and Quizzes.

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Maximize the value of your work-related meetings. Gather valuable input, feedback, and insights from your colleagues to make better decisions together!
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Turn tough crowds into engaged audiences

Build an immediate connection with your audience and make them a part of your presentation.

Create an interactive experience letting everyone vote, ask questions, and interact throughout.

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Use a wide range of interactive slides to pose questions, gather feedback, and connect with your audience.

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"Mentimeter allows everyone to ask questions, to get clarification or a clearer understanding on subjects resulting in a more fulfilling learning experience." Teresa Delfin, California State Polytechnic University Explore more stories

Want to become a better presenter?

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Interact with your audience using real-time voting. No installations or downloads required and it's free!

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Kialo Edu is a custom version of Kialo ( kialo.com), the world's largest argument mapping and debate site, specifically designed for classroom use. Its clear, visually compelling format makes it easy to follow the logical structure of a discussion and facilitates thoughtful collaboration. Kialo's mission is to promote well-reasoned discussion online, and to that end, Kialo is free for educators to use.

To put their knowledge into action To sharpen their critical reasoning skills To demonstrate their understanding To engage constructively with each other
Take your classroom discussions online, break down complex subjects for students, and shake it up with new types of assignments.

Try Kialo in Your Classroom

What can you use Kialo for?

Create discussions for your students, where they can put their knowledge into practice, develop their own views on classroom content, and consolidate what they've learned. In a Kialo discussion, every student has a voice - there's no talking over each other, and students have the space to explore arguments at their own pace. Kialo's collaborative platform encourages students to work together to find the best way to express each idea.

Assign students to write a Kialo discussion instead of an essay - or use Kialo discussions to outline larger writing projects. Kialo's argument-tree structure leads students to consider counter-arguments, develop a logical outline of their argument, and visualize how their ideas fit together.

Write a discussion for your students to explore, and set out content in a clear and easy format. Link to additional sources and reading, challenge students to add arguments or question concepts.

How does Kialo work?

With Kialo, discussions and debates are clearly visualized as an interactive tree of pro and con arguments. At the top of every discussion is the thesis, which is supported or challenged by pro and con claims. Each one of these claims can in turn branch into subsequent claims that support or challenge them.

All discussions are private and can only be seen by those you choose to share them with. To start a discussion with your students, simply write a brief description and a thesis (or theses). Share the discussion with your whole class, or divide students into smaller groups.

Each claim has a comment section underneath that allows you to give students feedback, suggest improvements, and ask questions without cluttering the surface of the discussion. Similarly, students can easily collaborate with each other to improve their arguments, examples, and phrasing.

You can set up teams for each of your classes to easily share and organize the content you want your students to see. All content on Kialo-Edu.com is private, accessible only to the people you share it with.

These features are just a small fraction of what you can do with Kialo.
Find the application that works best with your teaching style.

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Kialo Edu - The tool to teach critical thinking and rational debate

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Kialo is a free tool used by educators world-wide to teach critical thinking, facilitate rational classroom debate and explain controversial issues.

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Use a Google Spreadsheet to customize, and create fun learning activities. Flash cards, jeopardy, word search/crossword, matching etc. Demos and templates make it very simple to do this.

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Flippity.net: Flashcards and Other Resources for Educators and Learners

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Create an interactive virtual breakout activity.

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How to use Google Classroom (Video series from Eric Curts)

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How to use Google Classroom (Video series from Eric Curts)

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Google Classroom is a powerful tool that allows teachers and students to create assignments, turn in work, grade assignments, share resources, have class discussions, and much more.

Classroom is constantly improving with new features. To help schools make the most out of Classroom, I have put together a series of videos on how to use this tool.

My goal for these videos is to keep them as short as possible, and have each one cover just a single topic. This way users can find just the information they need and can watch it quickly. Also, since Google Classroom gets frequent updates, it will be easier for me to replace a small video when it becomes outdated with a new version.

I plan to continue adding more videos to this series, so please let me know what Google Classroom topics or questions you would like me to address in a future video. See below for the current list of my Classroom help videos.

Google Classroom Help Videos

You can use the links below to open each video on YouTube, or scroll further down to watch any of the videos embedded in this blog post.

How to Create a Classroom (3 minutes) - YouTube link

How to Add Students (3 minutes) - YouTube link

How to Post to the Stream (4 minutes) - YouTube link

How to Add Materials to the Classwork Page (4 minutes) - YouTube link

How to Create an Assignment on the Classwork Page (7 minutes) - YouTube link

How Students Complete Assignments (5 minutes) - YouTube link

How to Grade Assignments (5 minutes) - YouTube link

How to Create Self-Grading Quizzes in Google Classroom (8 minutes) - YouTube link

Google Meet Integration with Google Classroom (6 minutes) - YouTube link

How to use Rubrics in Classroom (7 minutes) - YouTube link

How to use Originality Reports in Classroom (8 minutes) - YouTube link

How to Create a Classroom (3 minutes)
How to Add Students (3 minutes)

How to Post to the Stream (4 minutes)

How to Add Materials to the Classwork Page (4 minutes)

How to Create an Assignment on the Classwork Page (7 minutes)

How Students Complete Assignments (5 minutes)

How to Grade Assignments (5 minutes)

How to Create Self-Grading Quizzes (8 minutes)

Google Meet Integration with Google Classroom (6 minutes)

How to use Rubrics in Google Classroom (7 minutes)

How to use Originality Reports in Classroom (8 minutes)

Post by Eric Curts. Connect with me on Twitter at twitter.com/ericcurts

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Video Series: How to Use Google Classroom

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Google Classroom is a powerful tool that allows teachers and students to create assignments, turn in work, grade assignments, share resources, have class discussions, and much more. Classroom is constantly improving with new features. To help schools make the most out of Classroom, I have put together a series of videos on how to use this tool.

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Great tools organized by Early Years, Elementary, and Secondary

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Stepping Stones Webinar: SS through virtual or distance learning

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Stepping Stones Webinar: SS through virtual or distance learning

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origoeducation.com/stepping-stones-webinar-april-2020/

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Visualize your ideas in a new and collaborative way

Unleash your team's creativity with Jamboard. Sketch your ideas whiteboard-style while benefiting from the access and connectivity of an interactive canvas, on mobile, or right from your web browser. Drop images, add notes, and pull assets directly from the web while collaborating with team members from anywhere.

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Google Jamboard: Whiteboard App for Business | Google Workspace

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Visualize your ideas in a new and collaborative way Unleash your team's creativity with Jamboard. Sketch your ideas whiteboard-style while benefiting from the access and connectivity of an interactive canvas, on mobile, or right from your web browser. Drop images, add notes, and pull assets directly from the web while collaborating with team members from anywhere.

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Kahoot! | Learning games | Make learning awesome!

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Kahoot! is a game-based learning platform that brings engagement and fun to 1+ billion players every year at school, at work, and at home.

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https://www.openmiddle.com

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Quizizz

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We express ourselves in different ways. On Flip, you can use our simple and fun built-in camera to record your thoughts, add effects and share within your Flip group as video, audio only or text in your web browser or mobile app.

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Flip is a video discussion and sharing app, free from Microsoft.

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Flip (formerly Flipgrid) is a video discussion and video sharing app, free from Microsoft, built for classrooms and beyond. Learn more.

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millions use Screencastify to create amazing videos

/* Sets tab pane to display block instead of default display:none */ /* Allows CSS opacity transitions */ .w-tab-pane, .w--current { display: block; } /* Any .w-tab-pane that does not have webflow .w--curent sets opacity 0 */ .w-tab-pane:not(.w--curent) { opacity: 0; } /* Any element with .w-tab-pane that has .w--tab-active sets the opacity 100% */ .w-tab-pane.w--tab-active { opacity: 1; } /* Set the opacity transition to 1 second ease-in */ .w-tab-pane { transition: opacity 1s ease-in; }

Educator, student, marketer, engineer, gamer. Whatever part you play, you'll have simple, yet powerful screen recording and editing tools.
Learn more

Easily share your creations in multiple channels. Let more viewers watch, pause and rewind on their schedule while maximizing time by eliminating unnecessary meetings.
Learn more

Collect video assignments to ensure any team or student is heard. Track viewing activity and add interactive questions and more to ensure your message is understood.
Learn more

Educator, student, marketer, engineer, gamer. Whatever part you play, you'll have simple, yet powerful screen recording and editing tools.
Learn more

Easily share your creations in multiple channels. Let more viewers watch, pause and rewind on their schedule while maximizing time by eliminating unnecessary meetings.
Learn more

Collect video assignments to ensure any team or student is heard. Track viewing activity and add interactive questions and more to ensure your message is understood.
Learn more

loved by everyday video creators

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Screencastify | Screen Recording and Video Editing

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Screencastify is the leading screen recorder for Chrome. Install the extension to record, edit, and share videos in seconds. Create video class assignments, training and tutorials, and make business communication faster.

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Kaizena - Fast, Personal Feedback on Student Work

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Give your students fast, high quality feedback on their work. Record voice comments to convey emotion, embed explainer videos, save reusable comments, and track skills students demonstrate in their work.

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Interactive presentations and formative assessments to engage every student in your room, every day!

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Kami is an interactive learning platform empowering students and enhancing the way teachers teach, feedback, and assess.

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Excellent site to learn foundational concepts on Online Learning by experienced classroom teachers.  Free PD Modules. This is Kareem Farah's organization (he taught at charter school in Hawai'i for two years before teaching in DC High School with close to 100% free and reduced lunch students and knew he had to change the way he taught

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Modern Classrooms Project - Free blended, self-paced, mastery-based PD, built by teachers.

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An innovative, research-backed instructional model that responds to every student’s needs. Our free online course has empowered thousands of educators!

# data[].attributes.headline
Four tips for teachers shifting to online teaching

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Four tips for teachers shifting to online teaching

# data[].attributes.body
Kareem Farah is blended/flipped classroom guru and really gets at the heart of foundational tech pedagogy (not just a list of tools)

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An educator with experience in distance learning shares what he's learned: During the pandemic, keep it simple, and build in as much contact as possible.

The coronavirus has caused widespread school closures for an unknown duration. Teachers are scrambling to find ways to support students from afar through distance and online learning. If you're feeling overwhelmed by this daunting task, you're certainly not alone.

I've also struggled to reach students outside of class. For several years, I taught in communities where students struggled to attend school consistently. To help absent students access my courses, I developed a blended, self-paced, mastery-based instructional model that empowered all my students to learn, whether they were in my room or not. Today, I run The Modern Classrooms Project, where I help other teachers do the same.

Through teaching students and training educators, I've learned a lot about how to effectively create and implement digital instruction and self-paced learning. I'll share a few tips below, and if you're looking for further support on developing effective distance learning beyond what I discuss in this piece, explore the resources on our website or start our free online course, Building Modern Classrooms.

Here are some pointers that can help you create a sustainable and engaging distance learning experience for your students.

1. Simplicity Is Key

Every teacher knows what it's like to explain new instructions to their students. It usually starts with a whole group walk-through, followed by an endless stream of questions from students to clarify next steps. While this process can be frustrating at times, students can always rely on each other and the teacher in the room when they're stuck.

One of the challenges of distance learning is that you and your students are no longer in the same room to collectively tackle misconceptions. Instead, the large bulk of learning time is inevitably going to be driven by tasks that require a high level of self-direction.

As a result, simplicity is key. It is critical to design distance learning experiences that have very clear instructions and utilize only one or two resources. It's also best, when possible, to provide resources like readings as PDFs that students can always access.

Keep in mind that simple structures can still require rigorous work: Tasks with few instructions often lead to the greatest amount of higher-order thinking, as students figure out what to do within defined parameters. Distance learning should push educators to think about how they can be leaner and more concise with their delivery of new information.

2. Establish a Digital Home Base

In the spirit of simplicity, it's vital to have a digital home base for your students. This can be a district-provided learning management system like Canvas or Google Classrooms, or it can be a self-created class website. I recommend Google Sites as a simple, easy-to-set-up platform.

You need a single digital platform that your students can always visit for the most recent and up-to-date information. It can be tempting to jump around between all the cool edtech applications out there-especially as so many of them are offering free services right now-but simplicity and familiarity are invaluable. Students need to feel comfortable going to the same place to access the same tools. The farther away you are from your students, the more important it is to cultivate stability and practice norms.

Additionally, if attendance was a challenge before, distance learning is going to magnify it. So students need a place to go when they fall out of the loop. Filling in gaps is only going to get harder when the teacher cannot quickly engage in individual or small group instruction. Your students are going to need to take control of their own learning. Your goal is to create a clear framework that allows them to do that. You might want to check out a unit I created on probability and statistics to see how I provided instructions and set up checkpoints for my students.

3. Prioritize Longer, Student-Driven Assignments

Efficiency is key when designing distance learning experiences. Planning is going to take more time and require a high level of attention to detail. You will not be able to correct mistakes on the fly or suddenly pivot when kids are disengaged.

To effectively manage your time and sanity, you will want to prioritize longer, student-driven assignments and tasks that buy you time to keep planning future units-and that get your students off the computer. Focus on building toward long-term projects where students have autonomy and a clear set of checkpoints and deadlines that need to be met. When possible, create opportunities for students to discuss what they're learning with their families and include an element of student choice to really build engagement.

Check out a project set up by Modern Classrooms' co-founder, Robert Barnett, that integrates choice and family engagement: Demographer Challenge.

4. Individual Touchpoints Are Game-Changers

What your students will miss the most is the human connection that is cultivated in your classroom. The little interactions you have with them in the hallways, before and after class or during breaks in lessons, are irreplaceable. While it can be tempting to focus on content in your distance learning assignments and instructional videos, what matters more is creating structures for personalized touchpoints with your students.

You can create these touchpoints through any medium you like: emails, video messages, phone calls, messages through your learning management system, comments on shared documents, etc. Create a structure and stick to it. Your students will see your investment and know that you care about them.

It's important to bear in mind that cultivating an engaging distance learning experience is hard. It takes time and an incredible amount of patience. If you are new to the experience, you're probably going to feel like a first-year teacher again. That's OK! Tackle the challenges step by step, keep your students updated on your progress, and stay positive. You can do this!

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4 Tips for Teachers Shifting to Teaching Online

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An educator with experience in distance learning shares what he's learned: Keep it simple, and build in as much contact as possible.

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Microsoft Technology Enriched Instruction (TEI)

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Intro to TPACK - Punya Mishra, Michigan State University

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Imperative for all of us to consider as we implement blended, online and distance learning this SY - finding that SWEET SPOT

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9 Ways Teaching Online Should be Different from Face-to-Face

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9 Ways Teaching Online Should be Different from Face-to-Face

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Excellent, comprehensive article as we consider opening up this SY

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Sponsored by PowerSchool and ISTE U

It's a pretty safe bet that most teachers will be doing some form of online teaching in the coming year. Maybe you'll do it full-time, maybe it will be some kind of hybrid model, but one thing is for sure: This time around you won't be dropped into it without warning.

So with this chance to take a breath and do more thoughtful, intentional planning, the next question is What do we do differently? What shifts do we need to make in our face-to-face teaching practices to make the most of online learning?

To find out, I sought the help of Melanie Kitchen, a Coordinator of Instructional Technology and Staff Development serving 19 school districts in Western New York state. Melanie has years of experience working with teachers on developing blended learning and has now shifted to helping teachers develop best practices for remote learning.

Melanie Kitchen

I asked Melanie to share some ways online teaching should be different from face-to-face teaching. She came up with nine: three that are specific to community building and communication, and six that focus on instructional design. Along with these differences, she also shared a few things that should stay exactly the same.

Community Building & Communication

1. The first weeks of school should be devoted to community building and digital competency.

Resist the temptation to dive right into curriculum at the start of the school year. Things will go more smoothly if you devote the early weeks to building community so students feel connected. Social emotional skills can be woven in during this time. On top of that, students need practice with whatever digital tools you'll be using. So focus your lessons on those things, intertwining the two when possible.

"If you are explicitly teaching persistence," Kitchen says, "maybe I'm going to give you a challenge that's not content-related, but something that you might have to kind of grapple with. But when I assign that, if I'm using Google Classroom, then I'm going to assign that through Google Classroom and teach you how you're going to open an assignment, how you're going to submit it, how you'll be receiving feedback. So you are teaching these skills all at once, and it's not something separate or extra. It's just all done together."

Other good resources that can guide and inform the conversations you have in these early weeks are:

2. Communication with parents needs to be more thorough, streamlined, and predictable.

Parents are also adjusting to this new way of doing school. Because they are sometimes expected to play an even more prominent role in supporting student learning, they need more support from you. "We really need parents to be our partners in this learning community," Kitchen says.

Here are some guidelines:

Establish a consistent location and predictable schedule for sharing information. When parents know where and when to look for information from you, they'll do a better job of keeping up with it and following through on their end. Weekly updates are a good way to keep everyone informed about what's going on in your class. And rather than toggling around between emails, text alerts, blog posts, website announcements, and newsletters, choose one platform for outgoing information and stick to it; if your whole school can do the same you'll see even better results.

Set clear expectations and boundaries for communication. When can students and parents expect to hear from you? How and when can they get in touch with you when needed? If you don't set boundaries you'll end up feeling like you have to be available 24/7, which will quickly lead to burnout. Establish regular office hours and advertise them in an easy-to-find place so parents know when you'll be most accessible.

Create a backup plan for off-hours and tech support. If parents or students need help outside of your regular office hours or they need help with technology, who can they contact? Make this information clearly available.

Make communication multimodal. Although it's important to consistently post through one platform, it's also helpful to provide the information in more than one mode. For example, you might offer written announcements and record the same announcements in a short video each week so students and parents can choose the format that works best for them.

Provide parent tech training. Parents will be better able to support students if they understand how to use the technology, so provide them with tutorials on the tech you use, including whatever platform you use to disseminate information.

3. Community and connection need to be a priority for teachers, too.

"Teachers need to connect with each other now more than ever," Kitchen says. Your school leadership should be building in regular opportunities for you to stay connected to your colleagues during this time. If they are not, create those opportunities for yourself.

Staff meetings should still be held regularly-even if it's through a videoconferencing platform-to keep staff connected.

During these meetings, some time and attention should be given to teacher well-being and emotional health.

Smaller groups like teaching teams or content-area PLCs can offer even more support.

If you're not getting the support you need, seek it out through platforms like Twitter.

This article offers a more in-depth look at teacher well-being: How to Support Teachers' Emotional Needs Right Now.

Instructional Design

4. Teacher collaboration is even more important.

Meeting the challenges of online learning gets easier when we work together. "As we're all trying to get to know these students better," Kitchen says, "we need to be working together to do that." That means working more closely with specialists to make sure our lessons and materials meet the needs of all students, partnering with others in our content area to plan instruction, working together on cross-curricular projects, and dividing up the things all students need (like technology instruction) among teachers on a team or grade level so students aren't doing the same lessons over and over and our work isn't duplicated.

Fortunately, collaborating online can be even easier than trying to do it when we all teach in the same physical building. "This virtual environment has provided us the opportunity to break down those walls, to break down those silos," Kitchen says. "Our schedules and time constraints that we may have had before will come down. We may have more opportunity to partner with people that we didn't have the time or the space to be able to do that before."

5. "Face-to-face" time should be used for active learning.

Online instruction is made up largely of asynchronous instruction, which students can access at any time. This is ideal, because requiring attendance for synchronous instruction puts some students at an immediate disadvantage if they don't have the same access to technology, reliable internet, or a flexible home schedule.

But you're likely to offer "face-to-face" or synchronous opportunities at some point, and one way to make them happen more easily is to have students meet in small groups. While it's nearly impossible to arrange for 30 students to attend a meeting at once, assigning four students to meet is much more manageable. Kitchen likes "campfire groups," which are permanent groups of about four that stay together for long periods of time. This arrangement allows students to get to know each other better and establish more trust. Students might be rearranged for other activities to provide some variety, but the campfire groups would provide a stable base throughout the school term.

So what kind of instructional activities should be used for these different formats?

What works best, Kitchen says, is to keep direct instruction-things like brief video lectures and readings-in asynchronous form, using checks for understanding like embedded questions or exit slips.

You can then use synchronous meetings for more interactive, engaging work. "If we want students showing up, if we want them to know that this is worth their time," Kitchen explains, "it really needs to be something active and engaging for them. Any time they can work with the material, categorize it, organize it, share further thoughts on it, have a discussion, all of those are great things to do in small groups."

Small group strategies she strongly recommends:

6. Content needs to be simplified and slowed down.

Online instruction is not conducive to covering large amounts of content, so you have to choose wisely, teaching the most important things at a slower pace. To make those choices, Kitchen recommends asking some key questions:

What really holds leverage for the students? What has endurance? What knowledge is essential?

What knowledge and skills do students need to have before they move to the next grade level or the next class?

What practices can be emphasized that transfer across many content areas? Skills like analyzing, constructing arguments, building a strong knowledge base through texts, and speaking can all be taught through many different subjects.

What tools can serve multiple purposes? Teaching students to use something like Padlet gives them opportunities to use audio, drawing, writing, and video. Non-digital tools can also work: Students can use things they find around the house, like toilet paper rolls, to fulfill other assignments, and then submit their work with a photo.

7. Instructions should be easy to find, explicit, and multimodal.

Because you are not in the same room with students, your instructions have to work a lot harder than they do in a brick-and-mortar setting.

Provide instructions in a consistent location and at a consistent time. This advice was already given for parents, but it's worth repeating here through the lens of instructional design: Set up lessons so that students know where to find instructions every time.

Make instructions explicit. Read and re-read to make sure these are as clear as possible. Make dogfooding your lessons a regular practice to root out problem areas.

Offer multimodal instructions. If possible, provide both written and video instructions for assignments, so students can choose the format that works best for them. You might also offer a synchronous weekly or daily meeting; what's great about doing these online is that even if you teach several sections of the same class per day, students are no longer restricted to class times and can attend whatever meeting works best for them.

8. Traditional grading practices should take a backseat to feedback.

"We saw a transition during emergency remote teaching where each of us had different requirements about grades or no grades, pass and fail," Kitchen says. "This whole environment really needs to be supported by communication and connection. If I'm to receive an A or a 95 or a 65, that doesn't necessarily tell me as much as verbal feedback or print feedback to what I'm doing right, what I can improve on."

So when teaching remotely, put the emphasis on formative feedback as students work through assignments and tasks, rather than simply grading them at the end.

Most learning management platforms, like Google Classroom, have built-in features for giving feedback. Use these as your primary method.

Tools like Floop offer other ways to provide on-the-spot feedback and can be especially good for math.

Feedback should be frequent and specific. Consider some of the methods shared by Matthew Johnson in Flash Feedback.

Provide a pathway for students and parents to give YOU feedback on assignments as well.

9. Summative assessment should focus on creation.

In online learning, Kitchen says, "There are so many ways that students can cheat, so if we're giving them just the traditional quiz or test, it's really easy for them to be able to just look up that information."

A great solution to this problem is to have students create things. These can be videos, podcasts, digital or physical art, writing pieces, comics, and so on. "It's a lot more difficult to cheat when you have to make something or do something. And it also integrates all of the areas and it builds up, all of that learning builds up into this creation that they will do."

For assessment, use a detailed rubric that highlights the learning goals the end product will demonstrate. A single-point rubric works well for this.

To help students discover tools to work with, this list of tools is organized by the type of product each one creates. Another great source of ideas is the Teacher's Guide to Tech.

When developing the assignment, rather than focusing on the end product, start by getting clear on what you want students to DO with that product. This list from Bill Ferriter explores the difference:

Image Credit: Bill Ferriter (CC BY-NC-ND)

What Stays the Same

Not everything in online teaching is different. Some aspects of good teaching should definitely stay the same.

Clear and consistent communication

Creating explicit and consistent rituals and routines

Using research-based instructional strategies

Determining whether to use digital or non-digital tools for an assignment

A focus on authentic learning, where authentic products are created and students have voice and choice in assignments

The teaching environment may not be the same as we're used to, but it's important to remember that good teaching is still good teaching. "All of those things that we know are really good practices can still be done virtually," Kitchen says. "It just might look a little bit different."

You can find Melanie on her website, creativecuriosity.org, or on Twitter at @MelKitchenEDU.

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9 Ways Online Teaching Should be Different from Face-to-Face

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What shifts do we need to make in our face-to-face teaching practices to make the most of online learning? What can stay exactly the same?