# data[].attributes.headline
Student collaboration and group work online

# data[].attributes.subject
Student collaboration and group work online

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Student collaboration and group work online

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Educator Steven Kolber discusses the importance of randomly grouping students and collaborating with one another in online learning environments.

# data[].attributes.body
Educator Dr. Heather McClure shares ideas and strategies for taking English classes online.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Have you checked out our new educator professional development resource: Teaching Online Masterclass (TOM)? TOM is a free online professional resource for educators to help teachers make the leap to remote teaching and learning.

It's a cornucopia of resources to help you teach in online and blended learning environments and includes:

Taking Classes Online

Taking Classes Online is a series of interviews and blog articles, by educators for educators to share best practices in online and blended teaching.

In the series, educators share their wins, lessons learned and strategies that they are using successfully to engage and motivate those they teach.

Very little is known about effective online teaching in the K-12 in the educational space. This series aims to help fill this gap.

Blogs

Here are the two latest blogs we've published.

If you're interested in writing a blog, send me an email and I'll be in touch.

Interviews

Last month, I interviewed, UK educator Dr. Heather McClue about the trials and tribulations of taking her law classes online. Heather generously shared her wins, lessons learned, and strategies that worked when she made the leap to online learning earlier this year.

Be warned, there's a lot of laughing in the episode. So it might be wise to have the volume down if you're watching this one.

Do you want to share your story? Send me an email and I'll be in touch.

What Are You Waiting For?

If you haven't checked out Teaching Online Masterclass (TOM) yet, I suggest you get started.

You'll be sure to find something of interest to help you navigate the online teaching and learning space.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Episode 1: Taking Classes Online - Makematic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Have you checked out our new educator professional development resource: Teaching Online Masterclass (TOM) ? TOM is a free online professional resource for educators to help teachers make the leap to remote teaching and learning.

# data[].attributes.headline
Taking European Studies and Modern Foreign Languages Online

# data[].attributes.subject
Taking European Studies and Modern Foreign Languages Online

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In her first blog for Makematic, Dublin based, European Studies and Modern Foreign Languages Teacher, Victoria Malcolm talks about how she successfully took her classes online.
March 12th, 2020 - We are sent home from school with hardly enough time to think about which books we might need for a period of lockdown. After all, none of us have done this before. Teach all their classes from home. Whilst simultaneously running primary school classes for our kids, queuing everywhere for everything, learning how to keep a safe distance and minding ourselves and others in this "new normal".

In the weeks running up to the lockdown in my school, a huge amount of work had gone on in the background to help us make the move to online learning. We had chosen Google Classroom as our means of communication and collaboration, as many colleagues were already using this. That said, having a class set up on Google Classroom and being relatively confident using it did not in any way prepare me for the demands of online teaching. In the space of a week, we went from never having heard of Zoom to black belt proficiency as we struggled to work out how we could best provide some sort of continuity of learning for our students. Add to this the ever-increasing saga that was Calculated Grades and the worry that kept you awake at night wondering had you done everything you could to make sure that your 6th Form students received a fair, reflective grade.

Five Months Later ...

Fast forward to August 2020 and we are once again consumed by thoughts of school. Are those same classrooms that we longed for in the dark days of April really safe for us to go back to? How will lockdown have affected our colleagues and our students? Will we have everyone back at school? What happens if there is an outbreak of the virus in our school? It is this last question that causes me to look back at my experience of online learning and ask myself what worked, remember - with blushing cheeks - what didn't and think about how to incorporate this into a plan of action for the new term where online learning may, once again, play a key role in our classrooms.

Zoom Actually Works

What worked? Zoom, surprisingly. Thankfully, all the internet horror stories of suddenly finding yourself in Johnny's bedroom, watching him eat breakfast in bed at 11am and go through his German homework at the same time weren't borne out - in my classes at least. An online code of behaviour is, however, non-negotiable.

Set basic rules of engagement for your students:

Behave as you would in class,

Dress appropriately,

Have all the class materials you need for the lesson,

Be patient and respect others.

Webcam On or Off?

Decide from the outset whether you want cameras on or off, your own included -

often a quick check-in at the start of the class and a quick round-up at the end is enough with cameras on but it depends on the activity.

Here are some ways I navigated this:

For my Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) classes, we were building towards an online oral exam as part of the end of year assessment, so being able to see one another was important.

If I was working on a grammar point, however, the cameras would be off. No need for us to see the pain etched on one another's faces.

Private Chats and Breakout Rooms

But it's not just the webcam, it's the private chat function and the breakout rooms that were a game changer and is something I would love to be able to do in my real-life classroom! Here's how:

At the start of class, I use the private chat function on Zoom to check-in privately on individual students. I found that a number of students who are normally very quiet in class really embraced the chat function as they felt they were able to ask questions without fear of intimidation from students who work at a faster pace.

At the start of online teaching, I was overwhelmed by the intensity of the 30-minute class online. It was very demanding. However, giving students a task and putting them in breakout rooms to work on something for a timed period allowed me space to breathe and also to think about how the remainder of the class would progress once we were back together as a group. I made sure to drop in on each breakout group at least once to make sure that they were on task - they always were and I think they enjoyed the break from me as much as I did from them! I always chose the random allocation function for the breakout room, as that way, students who might not ordinarily work together in class, got the chance to do so.

Google Classroom

Google Classroom worked well, especially since not all students were able to attend live online classes or simply found them overwhelming. Here are some things I would recommend:

It is important to give clear, concise instructions. Don't write essays.

I got into the habit of writing a quick summary of what we had covered in class that day plus noting any work I had assigned for homework.

Following feedback from my classes, I tried to put up a scheme of work for the week, including any homework exercises, on a Monday morning. That way, if anyone missed a class, the work was there for them. It also had the advantage of keeping me on top of everything and it is a written record of what we covered, including any notes posted, for when the new school year starts.

In the beginning, I was frustrated when students were uploading handwritten work and I was trying to encourage them to type it. Then you realise just how much longer an assignment takes when you are doing it online. Very few of them are graduates of the Mavis Beacon School of Typing and so found that typing assignments made the whole process even longer. You can annotate a photograph of a handwritten page easily in Google Classroom so don't sweat the small stuff.

As an aside, I believe that Microsoft OneNote was the absolute bomb for those schools using Microsoft Teams as their online forum. You can do all sorts of lovely things like recording verbal feedback for pieces of work, which cuts down on your workload considerably. That said, it is possible to upload audio files to Google Classroom so if you want to record yourself explaining the complexities of German word order and send it on to your students, you can!

Keep It Simple

Overall, I kept it to these two main tools - Google Classroom and Zoom. I dipped into Quizlet once or twice for new vocab but found making new quizzes time-consuming to be honest. Colleagues had good success with pre-recorded material - voicing over PowerPoint presentations, showing worked examples via Screencastify - but I found that Google Classroom and Zoom suited my MFL classroom and, importantly, what I was comfortable and confident using.

Check This Out

Finally, I found a great visual from Online Teaching @ KIS; Do This, Not That by Alison Yang with some very simple, but very important advice...

the online classroom is not the same as the real life classroom and you cannot simply transfer your teaching from one to the other.

Top Tips

Don't take on too much - whether this is using new technology or taking up work to correct and, most importantly, give yourself some time off.

Be available during the school day but don't answer emails from students or parents outside of office hours unless you wish to.

Don't beat yourself up if your lesson doesn't go as planned. Learn to laugh at yourself. Your students will find the whole experience much easier if there is not an air of palpable tension in each lesson.

And finally, use the first few weeks back at school to show your students how to use the technology you would plan to use if we need to go back to working from home. Second time around has to be easier, right?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Taking European Studies and Modern Foreign Languages Classes Online

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In her first blog for Makematic, Dublin based, European Studies and Modern Foreign Languages Teacher, Victoria Malcolm talks about how she successfully took her classes online. March 12th, 2020 - We are sent home from school with hardly enough time to think about which books we might need for a period of lockdown.

# data[].attributes.headline
Three strategies for increasing student engagement online

# data[].attributes.subject
Three strategies for increasing student engagement online

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Three strategies for increasing student engagement online

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Educator Michael Cohen discusses three strategies to engage students online learning environments: student choice on project methods, using praise and shout outs.

# data[].attributes.headline
Using Video Feedback for Teaching Online

# data[].attributes.subject
Using Video Feedback for Teaching Online

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Using Video Feedback for Formative Assessment Online

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Educator Steven Kolber discusses how he uses video feedback in formative assessment in blended and online learning environments.

# data[].attributes.headline
What educators need to know about cognition

# data[].attributes.subject
What educators need to know about cognition

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What teachers need to know about cognition

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Neuroscientist Jared Cooney Horvath, shares three things educators need to know about cognition in online and blended learning environments.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Power of Social Presence for Learning

# data[].attributes.subject
The Power of Social Presence for Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Key Takeaways

Social presence remains the key to a successful learning experience, and understanding social presence, with its critical connection to learning and community building, allows us to better support faculty and students.

Understanding a wide selection of tools, media, and reflective activities helps faculty assist students in taking responsibility for their own learning.

Providing iterative feedback and mindful assessments helps faculty meet learning outcomes and guide student learning.

Implementing change in small steps is the key to understanding which strategies work and which lead to frustration and discontent.

Aimee L. Whiteside is assistant professor at the University of Tampa; Amy Garrett Dikkers is assistant professor and Somer Lewis is a teacher-in-residence at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
Throughout the past decade, we have researched, studied, and explored a variety of face-to-face, online, and blended learning experiences across different modalities, contexts, and audiences. For students and instructors alike, one concept has remained the key to a successful experience: the power of human connectedness for learning. ¹

Our long-term research with administrators, teachers, and students suggests key strategies to better support faculty and students to develop this connectedness. ² These strategies are as follows:

Understand social presence for learning

Create social connections to build community

Understand a variety of tools and media

Harness reflection and prior experiences

Provide early and continuous feedback

Design with assessment in mind

Encourage change in small steps

Understand Social Presence for Learning

Social presence involves a level of connectedness among instructors and students that determines how motivated participants are to take an active role in their own and their peers' meaning-making processes. Educational theorist and practitioner Etienne Wenger explains that learning is the social negotiation of meaning that involves reification (making meaning from abstract information) and participation (active involvement in the social process). ³

Social presence can maximize the reification and participation in the online learning process. As a student in one of our studies suggests, "A sense of community helps reduce stress and the sense of loneliness. The instructor absolutely needs to get involved in learning and the students absolutely need to be able to communicate!" This student's comment is exceedingly perceptive because, as human beings, we crave connectedness.

Cultivating supportive online learning environments is an art that begins with nurturing connectedness and community through social presence. Thus, we suggest that IT professionals, administrators, faculty, and students begin to advance their understanding of the nuances of online and blended learning, and the importance of social presence, the literature behind it, its foundational theoretical frameworks, and the following simple, practical suggestions.

Create Social Connections to Build Community

Faculty can purposefully create social areas in their online spaces to encourage community building within the course or program. To help diminish feelings of disconnectedness and isolation among online participants, Rita Conrad and J. Ana Donaldson suggest integrating social activities to establish connection and relationships before adding academic content into the course. In their early work, Conrad and Donaldson called this first phase of engagement "social negotiating"; more recently, they refer to it as simply "connect." ⁴

The goal of this first phase of teaching online is to connect with students and give them opportunities to connect with each other and the instructor. The process includes a series of icebreakers, such as assigning and modeling an extended introductory profile with three to five brief but rich paragraphs about the individual to help establish connections within the course community. Faculty can also shape the online learning environment with informal discussion areas, social and informational lounges, or virtual cafés for students.

Understand a Variety of Tools and Media

A wide array of media is available to help us enrich our course content; however, it is also important to identify various media and resources aimed at connectedness. Examples include collaboration tools (such as Google Docs), shared calendars, blogs, wikis, online discussions, annotation software, and polling tools, as well as various content-specific applications. As always, when introducing new tools, we should consider students' aptitude with technology, their level of interest, their learning needs, the extent and constraints of the content, and the overall context of the learning experience.

Harness Reflection and Prior Experience

Reflection lends itself as a powerful formative assessment tool, encouraging learners to actively reflect on course readings and assignments in relation to their prior experiences, interests, and career plans. In this metacognitive approach, learners take ownership of their learning and autonomously acquire additional knowledge as needed. Learners determine their current knowledge level, as well as what they hope to learn by the end of the course. Metacognitive opportunities help learners transfer their knowledge to other situations and tap into prior knowledge and experiences, which can increase their satisfaction.

Also, when instructors purposefully integrate authentic or experiential learning practices - that, when possible, refer to practitioners' actual materials and situations - students obtain critical application skills that will assist their transition into the workplace. As a teacher in one of our studies noted, "A learning community should reflect the way humans live out their lives. The Social Presence Model appears to me to be a model of real-life interactions."

Provide Early and Continuous Feedback

We suggest that instructors offer early and continuous feedback for students on their academic performance, perhaps beginning with a diagnostic in the first week. This early, often formative feedback helps students quickly understand their progress. In fact, our research suggests that the earlier the feedback is provided, the more successful the learning experience will be for everyone involved.

We also suggest that organizations purposefully design automated mechanisms that let faculty maximize personalization without absorbing too much time. For example, you could design an automated template that lets instructors write a single letter to students with key points of feedback, then send it individually to students - personalizing it with their names and adding specific comments as needed.

Design with Assessment in Mind

Including multiple, simple formative assessments in course content helps guide student learning and helps students connect with the content through multiple methods. If social connectedness is a goal in any learning experience, that goal must be connected with course outcomes, activities, and assessments.

In the age of outcomes assessment, closing the loop of effective assessment planning with data-driven changes can yield increased student learning outcomes in future iterations. Although our accrediting bodies might be the driving force, it is also fruitful for us to offer workshops that help faculty build in and measure the effects and results of social presence. We must be driven by pedagogy, but we must also be mindful of mapping our learning outcomes, instructional activities, and formative and summative assessments.

Encourage Change in Small Steps

Not even the most adept, advanced instructor should try to do too much at one time. Multiple, simultaneous new features and interventions can consume instructors' time and begin to chip away at their sanity. Moreover, in the end, it will not be clear which features yielded the results and which caused frustration and discontent. Thus, we strongly encourage incremental, planned change.

Conclusion

Babson Research Survey Group Directors Elaine Allen and Jeff Seaman reported that as of 2013 "there has been no drop in the numeric increase in the number of online students" and that the online learning growth rate "is still substantial." ⁵ They noted the challenges of retention rates, and they also documented several barriers to online learning. Therefore, because faculty and student satisfaction plays a key role in retention rates and because increased social presence often leads to an enriched learning experience, it is advantageous for organizations to support faculty as they integrate social presence into learning environments. In offering the strategies explained here for social presence, we hope to help you maximize connectedness and pave the way for engaged learning experiences that increase student and faculty satisfaction.

1. Aimee L. Whiteside, "Introducing the Social Presence Model to Explore Online and Blended Learning Experiences," Online Learning, vol. 19, no.2 (2015); Aimee L. Whiteside, Exploring Social Presence in Communities of Practice within a Hybrid Learning Environment: A Longitudinal Examination of Two Case Studies within the School Technology Leadership Graduate-Level Certificate Program, dissertation, Department of Writing Studies, University of Minnesota, 2007; and Aimee L. Whiteside and Amy Garrett Dikkers, "Using the Social Presence Model to Maximize Interactions in Online Environments," Computer-Mediated Communication Across Cultures: International Interactions in Online Environments, Kirk St. Amant and Sigrid Kelsey, eds., IGI Global, 2012, pp. 395-413.

2. Amy Garrett Dikkers, Aimee L. Whiteside, and Somer Lewis, "Virtual High School Teacher and Student Reactions to the Social Presence Model," Journal of Interactive Online Learning, vol. 12, no. 3, 2013, pp. 156-170; and Amy Garrett Dikkers, Aimee L. Whiteside, and Somer Lewis, "Get Present: Build Community and Connectedness Online," Learning and Leading with Technology, vol. 40, no. 2, 2012, pp. 22-25.

3. Etienne Wenger, Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 62-71.

4. Rita Conrad and J. Ana Donaldson, Engaging the Online Learner: Activities and Resources for Creative Instruction (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004), p. 9; and Rita Conrad and J. Ana Donaldson, Continuing to Engage the Online Learner: More Activities and Resources for Creative Instruction (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2012), p. 14.

5. I. Elaine Allen and Jeff Seaman, Changing Courses: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States (Babson Survey Research Group, 2013), pp. 18, 29-31.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
the power of social presence for learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Power of Social Presence for Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Social presence remains the key to a successful learning experience, and understanding social presence, with its critical connection to learning and community building, allows us to better support faculty and students. Understanding a wide selection of tools, media, and reflective activities helps faculty assist students in taking responsibility for their own learning.

# data[].attributes.headline
Making Adjustments during Remote Learning

# data[].attributes.subject
Making Adjustments during Remote Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This is the first article in our series of educator insights. In this first article, Leader of Learning Support, Kate Macpherson talks about how she's making adjustments to support learners with language and learning disabilities.
I have taught remotely for just over four weeks now and it has been a steep learning curve! At Emmanuel College, we have had to shift our curriculum to the online and remote format with very little time to prepare. We teachers have worked harder than we ever have - and I didn't think I could work harder than I was!

Teachers are doing their best to teach their curriculum in a remote learning environment, whilst also ensuring we continue to meet our assessment deadlines. At the same time, we need to remember that there is a human that is behind the curriculum and the computer screen. Especially those who have learning challenges and additional learning needs.

The World Has Changed A Lot

In pre-pandemic teaching, students with learning challenges and additional learning needs relied on their peers, as well as the physical classroom, to help them through their lessons. They were able to watch and observe what others were doing, to know they are on the right track, and they had the ability to seek advice from peers. They were used to looking at their teachers non-verbal cues for guidance and reassurance. Teachers could do the same. In the remote learning sphere, all these support networks are no longer possible. Our students are now sitting behind a computer screen, possibly without an adult to support them. They are largely left to complete their assigned learning alone; it's hard for them to see what their peers are doing, they can't easily ask their friend what the instruction was, and no longer have teacher notes on a whiteboard to remember how to do a task. They are now largely relying on what the computer screen is telling them to do. And they are struggling with this.

Teachers do not always know what is happening in the homes of their students and cannot understand fully everything that impacts their learning. We can't see if there is an emotional toll on the student as a result of fear and anxiety related to family stressors caused by this world in which we now find ourselves. We always need to remember that behind our curriculum and computer, a human being sits there needing us to remember that they are there and, if need be, to help them.

Teachers Are Key

This is where the role of us teachers is even more paramount. We need to remember that this new learning environment is more likely harder than the one at school, and that the usual school supports are no longer in the form they once were. That's why as teachers we need to be making adjustments for our students with disabilities more than ever before. We need to do this with greater emphasis, so that they are able to engage with learning and that they are not disadvantaged as a result of their disability.

Below I've created three lists to help you make adjustments to your classes and help your students with disabilities.

10 Adjustments to make to help Students with Disabilities

1. Reduce workload expectations. Learning is hard at the best of times, but learning is even harder now. Give these humans half of what you would expect the rest of the class to do. In acknowledgement that work takes longer for them. To avoid unnecessary overload. In a deliberate effort to keep them engaged in the class and their learning. In acknowledgement that work is harder for them now.

2. Break work down into smaller, manageable chunks.

3. When asking the class to watch and respond to a video - set target watching times on the video with questions directly related to that section of viewing.

4. Make sure communication to your students is deliberate and considered.

5. Only send emails that are in bullet point format. Use numbers to provide sequence to your instructions

6. Be very direct, explicit and succinct in your emails - too many words become overwhelming and are unnecessary.

7. Limit the number of platforms you are asking your students to access that lesson. The fewer platforms the better.

8. Provide links, where possible, in your written instructions for ease of access

9. Try to establish patterns and routines - don't make every lesson different. These students need familiarity and consistency.

10. PRAISE, PRAISE, PRAISE - give them as much positive feedback as you can. Most importantly, praise them for their efforts and for their attendance. They need your reassurance and support now more than ever. They can't see your smile in class but they can still receive your praise in the online world. Emoji's make this fun ?

7 Adjustments to make when holding 'Live Sessions'

I have become a big fan of Zoom and use this each time I have my class. However, I know there are other video meeting platforms that teachers are using, so please adapt my references to Zoom to your platform.

1. Record the live sessions with students so that students can watch it at a later time and at their own pace. This supports a range of students from those who have hearing impairments, to those who process slowly and need learning repeated.

2. Hold personalised tutorial sessions in the breakout rooms in Zoom, or have deliberate Zoom workshops with specific students: To further explain a concept, to demonstrate how to do something, to provide small group or 1:1 support and guidance, to encourage workshop participation.

3. Ensure a Learning Support Officer, when in your lesson, is placed in a breakout room to provide targeted support

4. Have students share their screen with you to show you how they are progressing with their work. I have found this so helpful. Being able to see what the student is trying to do on their computer helps me better respond to their needs.

5. Deliberately group students in break out rooms for collaborative tasks. Make sure you are very deliberate and considered in who you are asking these students to work with.

6. Avoid asking students to take notes in these sessions. Instead, provide them with a summary or a copy of the presentation - preferably before the session. In acknowledgement of their reading or writing disability. In acknowledgement that copying takes longer and is harder and the mental effort is better used with the actual class activity. In acknowledgement that note-taking is a skill that may be challenging

7. Ask your students which form of communication they are most comfortable with so you can communicate with them in that way.

6 Adjustments that support Cognitive Deficits

1. Design activities that make specific use of the accessibility tools in the Microsoft suite such as Immersive Reader. The 'read aloud' function and the 'dictate' function are particularly useful, as is the line focus. Other platforms have similar accessibility functions.

2. Give the student an alternative activity to the rest of the class.

3. Modify the class activity

4. Ask your student to complete only specific sections of work - better yet, give them exactly what you want them to complete so they don't know they are only doing a certain section.

5. When you have a Learning Support Officer (LSO) in your class, design and plan your lesson with them in mind. Be targeted and specific with your use of the LSO.

6. SLOW DOWN everything for these students - including your expectations of them.

Most of all, be kind to yourself. As a teacher, you are doing an amazing job at teaching remotely and you can't be expected to replicate what you do in the classroom in the online world. But you can still remember the human behind your computer screen.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Making Adjustments During Remote Learning - Makematic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This is the first article in our series of educator insights. In this first article, Leader of Learning Support, Kate Macpherson talks about how she's making adjustments to support learners with language and learning disabilities. I have taught remotely for just over four weeks now and it has been a steep learning curve!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Teacher as the facilitator in online teaching

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Educator, Emma Humphries discusses the key facilitation skills and strategies, teachers need to develop to teach online.

# data[].attributes.headline
8 Strategies to Improve Participation in Your Virtual Classroom

# data[].attributes.subject
8 Strategies to Improve Participation in Your Virtual Classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In every classroom, there are students who always have their hand raised to participate, and those who are hesitant to engage. Whether they're introverted, tend to think awhile before they contribute, or are just having a bad day, it can be hard to bring kids into discussions who are reluctant to add their voices.

The challenges of getting students to participate have intensified during remote learning, we've heard from many teachers. Digital platforms can create added communication barriers by making it hard to know when to talk, for example, or how to read subtle but important elements of discourse like a person's body language and facial expressions. Additionally, online discussions are often hindered by variability in students' access to technology and by privacy concerns, and consequently many teachers have had to rely on students' submitting work over isolated channels like email, which can leave back-and-forth between peers (and between students and the teacher) by the wayside.

Getting kids to contribute in virtual classrooms takes some work, it turns out. "We keep calling this generation digital natives as if they are simply whizzes at everything computerized. They aren't," wrote Tim O'Brien on Facebook. "They need personal support, scaffolding, and reassurance that technology does not provide. It is simply a tool, not a teacher."

To find out how to improve student discussions and participation in online learning, we culled through hundreds of comments on social media and followed up with more than 20 educators to see how they tackled the challenge last spring. Teachers offered a range of smart strategies, both synchronous and asynchronous, to integrate the values and the voices of all kids-even the quietest or those with disrupted schedules-into their classes this fall.

Synchronous Strategies

For synchronous learning, some teachers said they translated traditional discussion strategies from the classroom to live video chats, while others found that digital tools helped boost classroom participation.

1. Spider web discussion: During remote learning this spring, students in Shai Klima's high school class led their own discussions over Google Meet. Before the live class, students answered questions independently, and then shared their responses at the start of the meeting as a jumping-off point for a broader class discussion.

While students conversed on video, Klima listened and drew lines on a sheet of paper tracking the flow of the conversation, resulting in a spider web. At the end of the discussion, Klima shared the drawing over video, and then asked students to reflect on the experience and what they learned about who talked, who listened, and who built on the ideas of others.

"It has been successful as a means to get kids to credit their peers with helping them come up with new ideas, which helps build rapport," said Klima, who let students struggling with bandwidth call in to the meetings.

2. Using chat to check for understanding: After giving lessons last spring, Paul France had his third-grade students use the Google Chat feature to ask and answer questions or type in emojis, like a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, to show whether they understood a concept. To create structure around the responses, he guided his students in creating norms around using the chat feature-they decided as a group to use only one emoji at a time, for example. France said the practice helped him check for student understanding and pushed students to engage more with the content.

Kindergarten teacher Ruth Calkins, meanwhile, used Zoom chat when holding live lessons with her kindergarten students. She said they enjoyed typing "T" or "F" for true and false questions while answering math problems in the chat box, and some even attempted to write sentences in response to her questions. Typing responses also provided a lot of keyboard practice for her young students.

3. Flip your classroom to stimulate deeper discussion: Forrest Hinton, a high school math teacher, says he found that a blend of asynchronous and synchronous instruction worked well to stimulate student discussion during remote learning.

First, he taught new content asynchronously through recorded videos and online activities. At the start of his live class, students briefly summarized the concepts they had learned together and then divided into breakout rooms to solve related problems in small groups. Flipping his classroom allowed Hinton to spend less class time in direct instruction-and listening to students at the start of class and in small groups helped him identify, and then address, where his students were struggling. "This has allowed me to clarify concepts in a more targeted way and better assist students," said Hinton.

4. Adapting think-pair-share to Zoom: Ryan Tahmaseb, director of library services, says he found that giving more project-based learning activities to his elementary and middle school students-and allowing them more autonomy over assignments-naturally encouraged richer discussions in virtual learning. "If we give students as much freedom as possible to experiment, research, and pursue interests within our content area, then they inevitably have a lot more to say," said Tahmaseb.

When it came to class discussions, Tahmaseb adapted think-pair-share to Zoom. Students were given a prompt, broken into groups, and then placed into breakout rooms to discuss and record their answers on a shared Google doc, which allowed students to share their thinking in writing or read aloud. Since Tahmaseb wasn't in each breakout room to listen to the conversations, the Google doc kept students accountable. Once they returned to the whole class, volunteers from each group shared their answers with everyone.

5. A new twist on show-and-tell: To get students comfortable with online participation, Brittany Collins, the teaching and learning coordinator at Write the World, a global online writing community for middle and high school students, converted the familiar show-and-tell activity into "think, write, share."

In one activity, Collins asked middle and high school students to find a photo, painting, or drawing that represented intergenerational connection and independently respond by writing to the following questions from the Making Thinking Visible Framework before discussing them over video as a class: What are we looking at? What makes you say that? What do you notice (see, feel, know)? What more can we uncover? What do you wonder? "It helps to break the ice in a virtual learning setting where unplanned participation can prove challenging for some students," said Collins.

Asynchronous Strategies

Although some teachers-and students-said that synchronous discussions were more engaging because they resembled a traditional classroom, many educators found that asynchronous discussions were more equitable because they opened up participation to students with low bandwidth, who had schedule limitations, or who were uncomfortable engaging with the full class.

6. Online forums create back-and-forth dialogue: Angelina Murphy, a high school English teacher, said she used Google Classroom's question feature to get her class to respond to readings and discussion prompts during remote learning this past spring. When each student commented, Murphy replied with clarifying questions to create a back-and-forth dialogue and also asked every student to respond to at least two of their peers' comments to create a broader base of discussion.

Fifth-grade teacher Raquel Linares said she used Nearpod Collaborate (Apple, Android), a virtual collaboration board, to get students to share images or write a response to show what they had learned about an article they read. To inspire connection and reflection among classmates, Linares also used Flipgrid (Apple, Android), so that students could hear their peers' voices even though they were remote.

7. Seeing and critiquing peer work through virtual gallery walks: Virtual "gallery walks" give students an opportunity to view their classmates' projects while learning from each other, according to Joe Marangell, a high school social studies teacher. After his students presented their own projects through five-minute screencasts, they were then required to give feedback to at least two other students on theirs.

Using Google Sheets, students provided feedback to their peers by answering the following prompts: What's something new I learned about this topic?; What's something that surprised me about this topic?; What's something I liked about this presentation? The online format gave every student the opportunity to see their peers' work and their assessment on theirs for deeper reflection, Marangell said.

8. Moving station brainstorming online: When carousel or station brainstorming activities are conducted in traditional classroom environments, small groups of students rotate around the room to different stations to answer prompts-and view and add to each groups' responses.

To translate this online, Marangell divided his students into groups online and created shared Google docs-or a series of Google slides-for the prompts/questions. Each group left their thoughts under the questions by the assigned date and then followed up by commenting on the other groups' responses the next day. "The strategy still allows them to maintain a sense of classroom community [in a virtual setting]," said Marangell.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
8 Strategies to Improve Participation in Your Virtual Classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Educators share their best synchronous and asynchronous strategies to boost student participation during online learning.

# data[].attributes.headline
3 Strategies for Personalizing Feedback Online

# data[].attributes.subject
3 Strategies for Personalizing Feedback Online

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
3 Strategies for Personalizing Feedback Online - Dr. Catlin Tucker

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Feedback is one of the most powerful tools teachers have in their "teaching tool belts" for guiding learners toward mastery. Without feedback, students do not have a clear sense of what they are doing well, what they need to focus on, and what they can do to improve.

# data[].attributes.headline
Visualizing Content to make it more memorable

# data[].attributes.subject
Visualizing Content to make it more memorable

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Visualizing content for memorable online teaching

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Educator Michael Cohen discusses how visualising content to make it more memorable can be used in online learning environments to help cognition.

# data[].attributes.headline
Preparing Students with Disabilities To Return To School

# data[].attributes.subject
Preparing Students with Disabilities To Return To School

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This is the second article in our series of educator insights. In this second article, Leader of Learning Support, Kate Macpherson talks about how she's preparing vulnerable students to return to school.
Many countries worldwide are beginning to reduce restrictions. They are starting to open up their town and cities to some semblance of the life they knew before covid-19. This includes schools.

Our students have not stepped foot inside their school gates for a couple of months. Other countries will be longer. When my state government announced the return to school timeline, I asked my students to give me an emoji rating of how they felt. Their responses included ???????, and some a whole combination of these!! These responses were from my year 9 class and none of them have a disability.
Let's Talk About Students On The Autism Spectrum
Since the announcement, I've had a few phone calls with families who have a child with a disability. The parents' reaction has led me to wonder - how do we prepare a student with a disability to return to school? Especially students on the Autism spectrum. Many who have already struggled with all the changes occurring in their life, and that's not including what is happening in the world at the moment. Change is not easy for these students.

Some of the concerns raised in my conversations include:

I'm not looking forward to seeing my classmates

I'm worried about the workload when I return

What will I do without my iPad at school?

I'm nervous about seeing everyone again - I like being home

I don't want to wear my school uniform again

I don't know what to expect when I return

I don't want to go back to school, I like learning from home

So, how do we prepare our most vulnerable students at this time?
Let's Start Slowly

1. Find out from your students what they are worried and excited about - it's always important to focus on the positives!

2. Normalize your students emotions, especially their fears of the unknown. As their teachers, we also have our own fears and worries about what is to come and how school will look and work.

3. Ensure all staff who have contact with this student are aware of these feelings so they can respond appropriately for their subject. Have a common response so as not to confuse the student in these preparations.

4. Be willing to talk about their return to school - don't be afraid to have these conversations with your students.

5. It is best to gradually build up their return to your classroom. Seek their feedback about what they liked about your subject or class during remote learning, and ask them to suggest ways it could work in the physical environment.

6. Plant little seeds about changes your school is making due to social distancing guidelines and personal protection measures.

7. Support your parents as well as the student - this is difficult for them as well!

8. Encourage parents to gradually build up the transition back to face to face learning

Start putting on the school uniform gradually, adding one item each couple of days until they are wearing their full uniform in the last couple of days of remote learning

Slowly reestablish bedtime and morning routines that they would be expected to follow once back at school - a lot of my students are rolling out of bed a few minutes before their morning homeroom!

Start to bring back some of the pre-lockdown norms and expectations at home such as limiting screen time, (difficult when we are expecting them to still work on their computer during the school day, but this refers to the fun screen time).

Discuss the differences and slowly ease back on the fun screen time.

I do not know exactly what our return to school will look like at this stage, but I do know that there are many families and students who need our support to make it as smooth as we possibly can in such a time of uncertainty. I am aiming to keep them informed and to slowly build up their positive mindsets and willingness to cope with, yet another, change!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Preparing Students With Disabilities To Return To School

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This is the second article in our series of educator insights. In this second article, Leader of Learning Support, Kate Macpherson talks about how she's preparing vulnerable students to return to school. Many countries worldwide are beginning to reduce restrictions. They are starting to open up their town and cities to some semblance of the life they knew before covid-19.

# data[].attributes.headline
Infographic - Online Facilitator Top Tips

# data[].attributes.subject
Infographic - Online Facilitator Top Tips

# data[].attributes.headline
Using the buddy system in online teaching

# data[].attributes.subject
Using the buddy system in online teaching

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Using the buddy system in online teaching

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Educator Michael Cohen discusses how implementing a check-in buddy system and scheduling flexibility increases students engagement in online learning environments.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
One of the key elements of effective feedback is the ability for learners to use performance related comments in order to improve in a subsequent task. For the feedback process to be successful, it is therefore critical that educators consider what learners will do with the feedback comments, and how usable they are. This necessarily requires that educator-provided feedback comments are clearly interpretable by the learner, and provided in time to be used on a subsequent task.

Feedback comments need to be both forward and backward looking. Case study 3 demonstrated that feedback comments could look back at how the learner performed in their previous assignment, as well as looking forward to what they could most usefully improve as they face their next hurdles.

Feedback comments need to be provided at a time that learners are best able to use them. In Case study 6, feedback information was provided to learners rapidly: learners received immediate responses to multiple choice questions, detailed group comments on observations of clinical simulations at the next meeting, and one-to-one discussion of clinical performance on the same day. In Case study 4, learners received feedback comments via social media constantly throughout the semester as they completed their work.

The timing of feedback comments may need to be anchored to a subsequent related task. Feedback comments in Case study 2 were scheduled to occur seventeen days after the due date of each assessment task, which meant that learners received their feedback comments seven days before their next assignment was due. This element of the feedback design was closely linked with in-class activities to maximise the impact of forward-looking feedback on learners' preparation for the next assessment.

Feedback information needs to be actionable. Feedback comments need to provide some insight into what the learner can usefully improve. For this reason, it is most likely that some specificity and detail to feedback comments will be more useful than generic praise or criticism. An example can be found in Case study 2, where educators used audio recordings to explain how learners could use feedback comments in their next assessment task, and incorporated concrete examples drawn from the learner's work for both positive and critical comments.

Learners need to be able to make sense of the information. This point has two implications. First, it means that the educator-provided information needs to be created in a way that is most likely to be readily understood by the learner. Second, it means that learners may need support, resources or explicit teaching in order to gain the skills and knowledge to make sense of the information. For example, alongside the feedback comments, the educator may need to provide additional resources that explain key ideas, exemplars, or study guides. In Case study 1, educators introduced each assessment task to learners, explaining how it would extend their skills from the previous task and prepare them for a subsequent task.

6. It is tailored to meet the different needs of learners

It is unlikely that a single feedback design will be effective for every type of learner, so it is important to try to understand the nature of different cohorts. It can also be worthwhile for educators to pay attention to each learner's individual strengths and weaknesses, and their personal barriers and motivations. Feedback can involve a large emotional investment for both educators and students. Tailoring feedback can involve extra work from educators, but these efforts can foster a relationship of respect and trust, and ultimately increase learners' levels of receptiveness to the feedback comments. Individualised feedback can also help learners feel more engaged and motivated to achieve.

Understand that first year learners may need extra support. There can be dramatic differences between feedback experiences in secondary school and university. First year learners may therefore lack the knowledge of how best to enact feedback comments to enhance their future work. This was recognised in Case study 1, in which the educators worked towards ascertaining individual learners' capabilities, barriers and motivations. In addition, they were assisted in their transition with assessment tasks that aimed to incrementally build their skills around seeking and using feedback.

Foster relationships between educators and learners by maintaining consistency of assessors. In Case study 2, educators were assigned to assess the same cohort of learners across multiple assessment tasks throughout the semester. In this way, assessors were able to monitor learners' progress across multiple assessments, thereby developing an understanding of each learner's strengths and weaknesses, and what sort of information they needed to improve.

Ask learners what they want with relation to feedback. In Case study 6, the subject co-ordinators sought information from learners at the end of each teaching period to ascertain how feedback processes could better meet the needs of learners.

Recognise the emotional impact of feedback. Students can have emotional reactions to feedback comments, particularly those provided by their educators. Comments that are too harsh or overly critical may be ignored by students, or make them feel discouraged. This was recognised in Case study 7, as the educators teaching into that subject were encouraged to use respectful language in feedback comments. Case study 2 also primed educators to recognise the potential emotional impact of feedback by placing markers in their learners' shoes, with educators receiving audio feedback on their own feedback to learners.

7. A variety of sources and modes are used as appropriate

Effective feedback involves providing information to learners through a range of sources and modes. Multiple sources and modes can be used for the same feedback instance, as well as across feedback instances over time.

Learners need opportunities to engage in feedback cycles with a variety of sources. Feedback comments are often provided by people with whom learners engage regularly in class, such as educators and peers. However, they may also be provided by people in learners' wider personal networks (e.g., family, friends, and educators), as well as from sources that learners have never met (e.g., online support and tutoring services, social media users). There are also a variety of automated feedback sources, such as intelligent tutoring software, online quizzes, grammar checkers, program compilers, and simulators. This was a strong component of Case study 5, as learners were able to regularly receive feedback comments from teaching associates during and after each practical classes, from senior educators in optional weekly drop-in sessions, from peers when developing group presentations, and from software that designed individual revision packages for learners based on results from online test scores.

Feedback comments can be provided using various modes. Written comments and rubrics are not the only way for learners to receive performance information. Different modes of feedback comments can cater for a variety of learner needs in differing contexts. In some contexts, a mixture of modes can complement each other and help learners' sense-making of the information. Feedback comment modes include dialogue (in person or via videoconferencing), audio and video recordings, screencasts, inking, and track-changes. In Case study 2, educators recorded audio files with feedback comments relating to a journaling task, while in Case study 1, students received face to face feedback from educators and peers on multimedia presentations during a Medieval Expo event. In Case study 4, learners received feedback comments through a variety of modes: audio, traditional long-form text, and short-form text (Twitter).

Tailor different kinds of feedback to different types of tasks. The feedback design used in Case study 6 recognised that different activities and forms of feedback were needed for different purposes. For example, for learning outcomes related to clinical skills development, learners undertook practice activities while an educator provided feedback comments based on direct observation of their performance. Likewise, in Case study 2, audio recordings were used to create feedback comments, as the conversational tone complemented the reflective nature of the journal entries that were used as assessment tasks. The subject outlined in Case study 4 was specifically designed to build learners' skills in the kinds of activities that would be required of them in professional practice. As the subject related to digital media use, it was appropriate to use an assessment and feedback design that utilised social media (such as Twitter). This sharpened learners' focus and motivation, as they were fully aware that their learning would be utilised in their future professional settings.

8. Learning outcomes of multiple tasks are aligned

Feedback is not an isolated event, but a cyclical process in which learners obtain information related to an initial performance, and use that information to improve their future work. Effective feedback design therefore involves the alignment of multiple assessment tasks with linked competencies, interspersed with opportunities for learners to seek and receive useful information that can influence their next task. In this way, each feedback cycle builds on the previous one, and learners have several opportunities to demonstrate their understanding and strengthen their performance.

To enable this, educators should consider designing assessment tasks, assessment criteria, and feedback approaches simultaneously, so that they are all aligned and relevant to the learning outcomes. Mapping out assessment and feedback designs early on will help identify ways in which assessments can be linked or reconfigured, how feedback can best be integrated, and what role the learner will take in the feedback loop. Educators who clearly demonstrate to learners that the assessment, feedback, marking criteria, and learning outcomes are aligned may foster higher levels of learner engagement and motivation. This is because the purpose of the tasks will be clear, as will be the ways in which the feedback comments relate to the learning outcomes.

Enable learners to use feedback by explicitly designing connected assessment tasks. This was demonstrated in several cases in this project. For example, in Case study 4, the two big summative tasks overlapped in terms of learning outcomes, and students used the feedback from one to do better at the next. In Case study 7, assessment tasks were designed so that learners were challenged to meet more difficult learning outcomes over time. The tasks also contained overlapping competencies so that learners had an opportunity to enact new strategies they had gained through engaging with peer and educator evaluative processes. A similar design was evident in Case study 1, where assessment tasks were iterative and comments were provided quickly, allowing learners to improve in related tasks. Strategies for enabling this design involve spacing tasks out, front-end loading tasks at the start of the subject, and providing low-risk tasks. Case study 2 also featured a series of three journaling tasks, with learners directed to build on past tasks through in-class activities and feedback that explicitly referenced directions for the next journal.

Plan for interconnectedness of tasks and feedback across subjects and programs. In Case study 3 the team had a long-term development plan for the improved design of the subject, based on best-practice literature. This plan was actively driven and supported by an education manager, and supported by the Faculty and school.

Ensure that standards and criteria are clear. The alignment and interconnectedness of tasks are dependent on teachers and learners understanding of the standards and criteria of those tasks. In Case study 1, learners were explicitly made aware of the standards and criteria for assessment tasks early on. Rubrics were provided for all assessment tasks at the commencement of the subject via the learning management system, and learners were asked to assess their own performance on the major assessment task (the research essay) using the same rubric as the educators.

Provide early feedback opportunities. Feedback influences subsequent work and learning strategies, therefore, learners would benefit from more feedback opportunities earlier in a subject. In other words, feedback should be front-end loaded. An example of this was found in Case study 5 in which learners had the opportunity to understand the effectiveness of their study techniques early in the semester through the regular use of clicker quizzes in laboratory sessions, fortnightly in-class short answer tests, and by receiving immediate feedback comments on online quizzes.

Feedback should be a regular occurrence. When learners are provided with the opportunity to experience regular and varied feedback loops, the likelihood of important information being understood and acted upon increases. This was evident in Case study 4, where feedback occurred not just in isolated instances, but comments were provided to learners regularly via social media. Similarly, in Case study 5, the feedback design included face-to-face discussions, clicker questions, written feedback on tests, on line quizzes, and peer assessment, while Case study 6 featured instant responses to multiple-choice questions via scratch cards, and both group and one-on-one discussions.

Click here to continue reading about Culture for Feedback, or click here to return to Capacity for Feedback.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
One of the key elements of effective feedback is the ability for learners to use performance related comments in order to improve in a subsequent task. For the feedback process to be successful, it is therefore critical that educators consider what learners will do with the feedback comments, and how usable they are.

# data[].attributes.headline
Visualizing content to make it more memorable

# data[].attributes.subject
Visualizing content to make it more memorable

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Learn the ten most useful tools that you can incorporate into your eLearning courses to get your content to stick and resonate with your audience:

Choosing photos should not be an after-thought. It is not a chore that you approach without a thought and then do a slapdash job of it. A relevant, memorable image is a powerful instructional tool that drives learner engagement, reduces cognitive load, and fulfills the learning objectives most efficiently.

Meaningful and relevant photographs stir audience emotions and compel them to pay attention to the content. Photographs can also simplify complex learning matter and make your content stick in the learner's mind. But beware of abusing this powerful visual tool; you can easily go wrong.

Here are some tips:

Stock photography sites may not always have photographs that suit our purposes. Using illustrations and icons in such cases to help learners make sense of complex learning matter is fundamental. Here are some tips on creating effective illustrations and icons:

Use illustrations when you have to point out and explain the different parts of an object or a process, or when the parts are minute and remain hidden from the eye.

Use illustrations and/or icons to represent complex relationships and hidden patterns.

Use icons to organize content into a scannable and easily digestible form. This discourages distraction and helps learners make sense of your content quickly. For instance, use icons for bullet points. This adds an element of interest to the content without taking up valuable screen real estate.

Also read: Design Styles You Can Adopt When Creating eLearning

Visualizations like charts and graphs are excellent learning tools to explain complex relationships, reveal hidden patterns and trends, and associate seemingly unrelated concepts and ideas.

Flow charts (or flow diagrams) are graphics that represent a series of steps or processes. They are especially useful to visualize a multi-step process or a series of conditional outcomes.

Pie charts show percentages of a whole - how much government spending went to each department last year, for example.

Vertical bar graphs are good for showing change over time - total spending over each of the last ten years.

Read more: 4 Types of Visualizations You Can Use in eLearning, And Why They Work

These are the best visual tools to explain computer processes. eLearning courses that teach how to navigate a new program or how to use an application use screencasts extensively. It makes perfect sense because the learners actually get to see and work in a simulated version of the real environment that they would perform in when they go back to their desks.

Screenshots are also ideal for courses that teach how to fill out forms and submit them on an online platform. You can then enhance these visuals and make them more effective by adding text blocks and arrows to explain terms and jargons and point out relationships between the various elements on the screen.

Some tools you can use:

Jing® is a nifty screen capture tool you can use.

Skitch (owned by Evernote)

Here are a few tips to help you create impactful and memorable characters for your eLearning courses:
We are social animals. We relate to other human beings and are influenced by their opinions and suggestions. In fact, we relate more to "faces" than to "voices" that we consider impersonal and unfriendly. That is why, using characters in your eLearning courses can create more impact than a chunk of text that seems to be broadcasted at all and sundry by just another brand eager to thrusts its goods down your throat. What is more, using characters in your eLearning courses gives learners that familiar sense of being instructed by a teacher or a mentor, as they had been back in school. It also gives your audience something to visualize and hold onto in the sea of new information they are being immersed in.

Study audience demographics thoroughly to find out about the types of personalities they can easily and commonly relate to.

Using characters or avatars lets you impart an informal tone to your messages. Make sure your character speaks naturally but engagingly.

Get creative! Here Are 5 Character Archetypes You Can Use in Your eLearning Courses

Here are some more tips on how to create believable and human characters that can build a rapport with your audience.

Animated GIFs are not just for websites or to send funny cat videos in emails. They have an important place in your eLearning visual toolkit as well. In fact, they usually create more impact than photographs because they contain action. We love action! And what is more, animated GIFs can be as effective in conveying meaning, eliciting emotions, and explaining processes as videos without gobbling up bandwidth like the latter. Besides, you can use animated GIFs within a myriad of settings-from explaining the steps of making organic soaps to creating a mood.

If you are a regular on the Internet, then you know infographics are everywhere. From explaining complex analytical reports to listing processes and from representing statistics to telling a story, infographics come in handy and are effective in communicating many different scenarios.

Infographics are not only quintessentially cool, but they also provide a visually attractive way to present complex information and keep learners hooked.

You can also create infographics to liven up content, say, for example, a list of statistics. Here is a 5-step guide to help you create compelling and effective infographics for eLearning.

Also, follow these tips on how to create meaningful infographics that turn heads.

Hark back to your childhood when you "behaved" the whole week so that Mom would let you watch your favorite cartoon show on Sunday. Remember your wonder and fascination when you first laid your hands on the weekly or monthly comic book? You used to finish it by the time you reached home from the bookstand.

Sketchnotes or visual notes are way more fun than presenting boring written text. These let you organize and integrate knowledge, bring concepts together, connect different ideas and translate them into visual forms with the help of a few simple lines, arrows and a little text.

You can create awesome visual notes even if you don't have a degree in fine art! Sketching does not aim to create an artistic masterpiece; it is just a technique to translate your content into a concrete, visible form that you can share with learners.

Did you know that 90% of your web design is typography? If you master typography, you can enhance readability, encourage information processing, and even engage learners' emotions .

Here's what you can do to grab the attention of learners with typography:

1. Use fonts that are clear, legible, and stand out from the other graphical elements on the screen.

2. Play with colors to draw attention and improve visibility and readability of the text on the screen.

3. Synchronize text with images so that they create harmony on the screen.

4. Set up contrast between different fonts or between text and empty space, to focus learner's attention.

Have you ever wondered why the same learners who can't seem to remain awake during a PowerPoint presentation sit entranced through a video? What is so riveting in this medium? In a nutshell, video fits the learning preferences of most learners.

Familiar Format: The wild success of YouTube, Vimeo, and Vine prove that today, people are more comfortable consuming content through videos than reading or listening to it.

More Interesting: Moving images breathe life into dull content. Videos provide you with the opportunity to present content in an engaging way, using real-life stories and scenarios.

Using videos for training makes instructional sense too. Videos make learning more effective, and as an instructional designer, you want your courses to have the maximum impact, get talked about, and make a difference to your learners' lives. Right?

Start creating your own DIY videos! Go over this short and simple tutorial.
Why Video is a Must-Have for Your eLearning Strategy 5 Ways to Make Onboarding Training More Engaging with Video
Other recommended reads:

You have a large visual eLearning toolkit to pack a punch in your courses. Make sure that you use the tools appropriately and with restraint and empathy to impress your audience. But don't let your creativity be stifled either. We all want to have fun, and your corporate adult learner, bored with dull presentations and mountains of statistics, craves it.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
10 Types of Visual Content You Should Use to Increase Learner Engagement

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn the ten most useful tools that you can incorporate into your eLearning courses to get your content to stick and resonate with your audience: Choosing photos should not be an after-thought. It is not a chore that you approach without a thought and then do a slapdash job of it.

# data[].attributes.headline
Engaging Communication in instructional videos

# data[].attributes.subject
Engaging Communication in instructional videos

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Engaging Communication in instructional videos

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Educator Steven Kolber discusses how communicating in an engaging manner when creating instructional video increases student engagement with the content.

# data[].attributes.headline
How to Build Effective Exit Tickets to Promote Reflection

# data[].attributes.subject
How to Build Effective Exit Tickets to Promote Reflection

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As institutions increasingly adopt project based learning (PBL) into their curriculums, understanding its key objectives is a must. Project based learning objectives are achieved through an experiential learning environment. This environment cultivates qualities like self-directed research, communication, and teamwork.

Some standard objectives of a project based learning curriculum are:

Motivate better student engagement

Create intrinsic motivation

Allow students to practice 21st-century life skills

Result in deeper student understanding of content and its application

However, even the best designed PBL experience can be ineffectual if it lacks one essential element: Reflection.

What do I Mean by Reflection?

Reflection is any mental process by which an experience is recalled, evaluated, analyzed, and applied in later action. Referring to the acronym READ can help to clarify the hierarchy of reflective thinking:

1. Recall - "What did I do?"

2. Evaluate - "How well did I do it?"

3. Analyze - "Are there any patterns? What can I learn from this?"

4. Direct - "How will I apply this moving forward?"

Note that reflection is different from analysis. Analysis is directed towards something outward, such as a course or concept. Reflection is directed inward, towards a learner's reactions throughout an experience. It's the difference between "How did this film portray poverty?" and "How did my opinions about poverty change as I watched the film?" The first question initiates analysis. The second question motivates reflection.

We can categorize reflective thinking into four types: outward-looking, inward-looking, backward-looking, and forward-looking. This list of 40 reflective questions provides clear examples of each type. The basic premise is:

Backward-looking - what happened?

Forward-looking - what will I do in the future?

Inward-looking - how did I feel about this?

Outward-looking - how did the material, people, and I interact?

Lesson plans have traditionally used reflection sparingly, and often provide a one-way flow of information. Student feedback forms come to mind, which aim to tell teachers how a course is comprehended and processed. Within a PBL classroom, however, reflective exercises carry a new level of importance.

Why is Reflection Such a Powerful Learning Tool in a PBL Environment?

Since project based learning is experiential, the reflective process can be applied to skills outside of the core curriculum. The teamwork, communication, and project management that students must practice provide more opportunities to learn from reflective exercises.

Exit Tickets, sometimes called "Out the Door Tickets," are one of the most easily implemented tools an instructor can employ. Better still, Exit Tickets can create instant results! An Exit Ticket is a short, ungraded prompt that asks students to reflect on a recent learning experience. They come in many variations, from rigorous to quirky. Here are a few ideas I've seen implemented in classrooms:

Pick an emoji from the list that describes how you feel about your team's progress this week. Explain why you chose that emoji.

What, Why, and How: What part of the project was easiest for you? Why was it easier than other parts of the project? How will you take this knowledge and apply it to future work?

On a scale of 1 to 10, rate your own performance on today's task. How have you improved from last week? Submit your score through the Google Form.

As you can see, there are many different ways to approach the assessment. Yet the common objective should be the same. A good Exit Ticket will walk a student through the four steps of reflective thinking. The golden rule when implementing Exit Tickets is that they will yield results only as good as their design. You get what you put in. Superficial and vague questions will yield superficial and vague answers. An example of a superficial question would be:

"What did you learn?"

Remember that this is an ungraded assessment, and it is often the final barrier between a student and freedom from class. How much incentive does a student have to go deeper than regurgitating a few vocab words? Instead, you could ask, "What did you learn the easiest and what does that tell you about yourself as a learner?"

The above example directs students towards a deeper analysis of their experience. These types of structured questions are especially helpful in the beginning before students develop their introspective skills. After a while, you may find that a general question is enough to provoke insightful responses. Ultimately, enough repetitions of good reflective exercises will create a classroom culture of personal awareness and self-directed learning. Sounds like the dream, right?

So what tools are available for the 21st-century educator to optimize their lesson plans for reflection?

Albert has a suite of learning tools that can be instrumental in creating, organizing, and tracking the results of your Exit Tickets and other reflective exercises. These are some ideas for how to leverage Albert's technology to elevate the reflective culture of your classes.

Exit Ticket: Which explanation cleared up your biggest confusion? How will you use this type of reasoning to solve future problems?

Explore Individual Learning Styles

Albert utilizes a variety of interactive study methods. Highlighting text and multiple correct answers allow students to explore questions in different ways. Additionally, every right and wrong answer comes with thorough explanations.

Which questions does a student answer best? Which explanations are most effective in clearing up misconceptions?

These questions are important for students to understand how they can study more efficiently. Albert allows students to comment on why they think answers are right or wrong. They are also able to assess how useful the explanations are, what they learned, and what they still find confusing. This process introduces a reflective quality to every instance of studying that could have easily been mundane! Better still, all of this data is received by Alberts best-in-class support team and leveraged to adjust the platform to your classes needs. This takes the time-intensive preparation off of the instructor, allowing them to do more of what they do best - teach!

Exit Ticket: Which explanation cleared up your biggest confusion? How will you use this type of reasoning to solve future problems?

Easily Organize Students by Levels of Mastery and Strengths

For many instructors, learning about their students and assisting at the individual level is the best part of the job. It's hard to understate the sense of gratification when you are mid-explanation to a student and, suddenly, you see all of the lights turn on. We all strive to make a lesson plan where we can meet each student's individual needs and make those breakthrough discoveries together. But how many teachers actually have the time for this?

This is where I want to introduce one of my favorite tools within Albert's platform is Insights for student results tracking. Intuitive interfaces categorize students into different levels of mastery by subject. It also instantly compiles data like commonly missed questions and learning gaps.

Just like that, instructors have insight like they've never had before into each of their students' progress!

Less time grading and organizing results create newfound time in every day to engage with students and make those breakthroughs. In a project based learning classroom, these insights allow instructors to organize teams of students based on their level of mastery. You can bring students of similar levels together and assign different projects that challenge them. Alternatively, you can evenly distribute different levels within each team. This allows some students the opportunity to become mentors, and others the opportunity to be inspired and catch up.

Albert's Assignments feature allows instructors to, at any time, pull questions from the platform's programs and create quizzes or assignments. These can be graded or simply ungraded assessment tools. Use these tools frequently to keep a beat on the pulse of your classroom. The instant insights make it simple to adjust your courses on the fly.

Exit Ticket: What was your unique contribution to the team exercise today?

Move Straight to Higher Level Reflection

I've mentioned the intuitive data tools available on Albert. Another application of these insights is to cut straight to higher-order reflection. Instant assignment feedback means teachers can move right past the topical questions such as, "Where are you struggling most?" This information is at their fingertips, allowing them to move straight to the important "why" and "how" questions. This is what Albert Teacher Stephanie Stone has to say about it:

"I really love the overview where I could see how the students were doing, who was struggling, and passing. That was so nice to see in different areas, and I use that data when it came time to review. I try and do a month before, and it helped me help the students focus on their weaker areas, and they and I was able to pick about two to three topics where they were [struggling]."

That's higher level reflection for each student, in less time.

Exit Ticket: What contributed towards your biggest improvement between today's quiz and the one from two days ago?

High-Interest Topics let Students Discover new Passions

We know students are at their best when they are interested in a subject. So why do so many lesson plans stick to outdated topics that, rather than engage, send students straight to "the zone?" (That's the zone where their eyes have glazed over.)

The solution lies in high-interest topics. They all too important to keep students engaged. Albert crafts study tools around high-interest topics that are relevant to today's fast-changing cultures and industries. Students simultaneously study core curriculum and explore the background of digital currencies like Bitcoin. It gives them constant exposure to new and exciting ideas that they can dive further into as part of their PBL curriculum. They can see for themselves what topics inspire their learning, and run with it on their next project.

This self-directed, intrinsically motivated learning is exactly the type of experience that leads to early career interests and tapped hidden talents.

Exit Ticket: Which recent topic have you found most interesting? What about it do you want to learn more of?

New Motivation with Gamification and Collaboration

Every successful person needs to know how to get motivated. Because the truth is, motivation is not a guaranteed gift when we wake up every morning.

So what do we do every day to get ourselves ready to win?

Some people seek praise. Some people get an altruistic high from helping others. Others love the adrenaline rush of competition. Albert addresses this through gamification with leaderboards opportunities for student collaboration. With a little probing from their instructor, students can start thinking about which aspect of this learning environment gets them motivated. Do they want to be at the top of the leaderboards? Or do they feel better about helping their friend move up three ranks as a result of a single study session?

Exit Ticket: Of these options, which makes you feel the best? I helped a friend move up three places on the leaderboard - I moved up three places on the leaderboard - I finally understand something that I was confused about - Other

Faster Feedback, Fresher Reflection

Here's a big one. Have you ever tried reflecting on an experience that happened a week ago?

How about two weeks ago?

The details get hazier over time, so it's easy to understand why a reflective exercise is most effective soon after the experience. Yet, traditional test grading on top of other responsibilities can easily take one to two weeks. With Albert's instant feedback on assignments and tests, students can reflect immediately, while the information is still fresh.

If your school is encouraging PBL lesson plans, then you've likely found yourself in an exciting and challenging new kind of teaching position. This is great for your professional development and, more importantly, your students' education. Leveraging regular, well-designed reflective exercises can maximize the benefits of your PBL class. Eventually, a classroom culture where students feel the importance of introspection is created.

Exit Tickets are an easy-to-implement tool that can have immediate results within your class. A good Exit Ticket uses only a couple of very focused questions that lead a student through the reflective thinking process. These reflective thinking exercises are especially important in a PBL environment because there are many more interactive experiences to learn from. Exercises in communication, leadership, and different learning styles all require reflection. This is where Albert's versatile technology can help you create, organize, and track the results of your Exit Tickets and other reflective exercises.

Ready to change your classes learning experience? Request a free Albert demo today!

By: Jacob Clark

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Build Effective Exit Tickets to Promote Reflection with Albert

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As institutions increasingly adopt project based learning (PBL) into their curriculums, understanding its key objectives is a must. Project based learning objectives are achieved through an experiential learning environment. This environment cultivates qualities like self-directed research, communication, and teamwork.

# data[].attributes.headline
Using Warmer Questions to Increase Student Engagement Online

# data[].attributes.subject
Using Warmer Questions to Increase Student Engagement Online

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Using Warmer Questions to Increase Student Engagement Online

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Educator Steven Kolber discusses how warmer questions can be used to engage students when teaching live online classes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Educator Tara Walsh discusses how chunking or segmenting can be used in online learning environments to help cognition.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Factors to think about for online learners:
With today's busy schedules the way they are, breaking your content into smaller chunks allows the student to study a piece here and there, instead of feeling overwhelmed in one huge block of time. Most students taking online classes typically have other commitments that consume the majority of their time so trying to block out large chunks of time can be very difficult for them; because of this, chunking is another way to help make them be successful in their endeavors as a student. Since you will be including reinforcement activities with each chunk you allow the student to self-assess along the way, which further encourages their success. They can determine whether or not they are actually grasping what they need to be grasping and if they feel they are not they can decide to stay focused on a specific topic until they feel comfortable with the information. By allowing the student to take control of their learning environment you are promoting positive attitudes and motivation*.

According to Smith (2008), it is best to allow your students the opportunity to stop and resume each segment of content without having to start the segment over. If the student has control over their environment they are more likely to complete the different segments. For example, a student gets interrupted by an important phone call while in the middle of a video lecture, if they can pause the video to take the call they are more likely to pick back up in the lecture where they left off. Whereas, if they didn't have the ability to stop and start the lecture over, you run a higher risk of the student not finishing the lecture at all, which means they miss out on important information. As an instructional designer, chunking helps you to outline your course and assists you as you continue through the rest of the ADDIE models processes.

*I am a firm believer in motivation being a huge driving force behind whether or not students are successful, as stated in my philosophy of education on my website.

Bruning, R.H., Schraw, G.J., & Norby, M.M. (2011). Schunk, D.H. (2012). References
Cognitive Psychology and Instruction, (5th Ed.) Boston: Pearson.
Learning Theories An Educational Perspective (6th ed). Boston: Pearson.
Smith, R.M., (2008). Conquering the Content: A Step-by-Step Guide to Online Course Design. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Factors to think about for online learners: With today's busy schedules the way they are, breaking your content into smaller chunks allows the student to study a piece here and there, instead of feeling overwhelmed in one huge block of time.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Using retrieval practice to improve online teaching

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Educator Steven Kolber discusses how retrieval practice can be used in online and blended learning environments to help cognition.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Multimedia Cognitive Load Theory for Teachers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Educator Steven Kolber discusses how the multimedia cognitive load theory can be used in online learning environments to reduce cognitive load.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
New EEF rapid evidence assessment on remote professional development
The EEF has published a new rapid evidence assessment which shows that professional development for teachers can be effective when delivered remotely.
Delivering professional development for teachers remotely can lead to positive impacts on pupil outcomes when supportive conditions are in place, according to a new rapid evidence review published today by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF).

The review, produced in partnership with Durham University, examined existing research from 17 systematic reviews and meta-analyses of the effectiveness of remote professional development. The review was commissioned to support school leaders to decide how to approach professional development in the coming academic year.

The findings show that whilst social distancing remains necessary, school leaders could consider delivering professional development sessions remotely, rather than delaying until face-to-face training becomes possible again. Remote coaching and mentoring can improve the skills and knowledge of education professionals, with the added benefit that it is both cost-effective and time efficient.

The study highlights that it is how remote professional development is delivered and the support that goes with it that matters. School leaders can support staff to prioritise their professional development by creating protected time within the working day for staff to engage with sessions or learning materials. Setting clear objectives for professional development sessions and clarifying roles and expectations also help to maximise the benefits of remote professional development. Additionally, schools should ensure that staff members have access to the technology required for sessions.

The review also explains that a blended approach to professional development sessions can help to establish a sense of cohesion amongst staff members. Combining remote professional development sessions with coaching from colleagues can help to mitigate feelings of isolation that might result from limited social contact with other adults at school due to social distancing.

Other findings include:

Remote coaching, mentoring and expert support can be effective alone or as part of broader professional development programmes.

Making remote content interactive maximises its benefit in terms of teachers' knowledge and skill acquisition. Spaced approaches enable ongoing interaction with professional development content.

The use of video is identified as a particularly effective element of professional development that enables teaching staff to review their own and reflect on others' actions in the classroom, although it should be paired with other learning resources rather than being used in isolation.

Professor Becky Francis, CEO of the Education Endowment Foundation, said:

Professional development plays a critical role in maintaining high-quality teaching in schools. It provides opportunities for staff members to reflect on their practice and consider new approaches that could benefit their pupils.

This academic year, delivering effective training to staff members will require extra thought to ensure that it remains a meaningful use of teachers' time and complies with the social distancing guidelines that are in place to keep them safe.

As our review shows, remote professional development sessions are not only effective means of improving pupil outcomes, but they also ensure that a sense of community and support endures amongst staff members in these unprecedented times.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
New EEF rapid evidence assessment on remote professional development | News

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The EEF has published a new rapid evidence assessment which shows that professional development for teachers can be effective when delivered remotely. Delivering professional development for teachers remotely can lead to positive impacts on pupil outcomes when supportive conditions are in place, according to a new rapid evidence review published today by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF).

# data[].attributes.headline
Does remote professional development work?

# data[].attributes.subject
Does remote professional development work?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
New EEF rapid evidence assessment on remote professional development
The EEF has published a new rapid evidence assessment which shows that professional development for teachers can be effective when delivered remotely.
Delivering professional development for teachers remotely can lead to positive impacts on pupil outcomes when supportive conditions are in place, according to a new rapid evidence review published today by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF).

The review, produced in partnership with Durham University, examined existing research from 17 systematic reviews and meta-analyses of the effectiveness of remote professional development. The review was commissioned to support school leaders to decide how to approach professional development in the coming academic year.

The findings show that whilst social distancing remains necessary, school leaders could consider delivering professional development sessions remotely, rather than delaying until face-to-face training becomes possible again. Remote coaching and mentoring can improve the skills and knowledge of education professionals, with the added benefit that it is both cost-effective and time efficient.

The study highlights that it is how remote professional development is delivered and the support that goes with it that matters. School leaders can support staff to prioritise their professional development by creating protected time within the working day for staff to engage with sessions or learning materials. Setting clear objectives for professional development sessions and clarifying roles and expectations also help to maximise the benefits of remote professional development. Additionally, schools should ensure that staff members have access to the technology required for sessions.

The review also explains that a blended approach to professional development sessions can help to establish a sense of cohesion amongst staff members. Combining remote professional development sessions with coaching from colleagues can help to mitigate feelings of isolation that might result from limited social contact with other adults at school due to social distancing.

Other findings include:

Remote coaching, mentoring and expert support can be effective alone or as part of broader professional development programmes.

Making remote content interactive maximises its benefit in terms of teachers' knowledge and skill acquisition. Spaced approaches enable ongoing interaction with professional development content.

The use of video is identified as a particularly effective element of professional development that enables teaching staff to review their own and reflect on others' actions in the classroom, although it should be paired with other learning resources rather than being used in isolation.

Professor Becky Francis, CEO of the Education Endowment Foundation, said:

Professional development plays a critical role in maintaining high-quality teaching in schools. It provides opportunities for staff members to reflect on their practice and consider new approaches that could benefit their pupils.

This academic year, delivering effective training to staff members will require extra thought to ensure that it remains a meaningful use of teachers' time and complies with the social distancing guidelines that are in place to keep them safe.

As our review shows, remote professional development sessions are not only effective means of improving pupil outcomes, but they also ensure that a sense of community and support endures amongst staff members in these unprecedented times.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
New EEF rapid evidence assessment on remote professional development | News

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The EEF has published a new rapid evidence assessment which shows that professional development for teachers can be effective when delivered remotely. Delivering professional development for teachers remotely can lead to positive impacts on pupil outcomes when supportive conditions are in place, according to a new rapid evidence review published today by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF).