Distance Learning Models by Anders Romanowski

Video Games for the win!

andersromanowski — 2024-09-01 21:13:21 UTC

Learning occurs through interacting and engaging with games of all sorts. Using game-based platforms in the distance learning environment will help keep students engaged and motivated to learn with their peers! It is more difficult to maintain focus and stay engaged while not in a classroom in-person, so it is even more important as educators to focus on engagement for students who are learning from the comfort of their own homes.

Game-Based Learning Resources to try...

andersromanowski — 2024-09-01 21:18:03 UTC

Kahoot is a great way to help students study and learn through playing games and interacting with each other. The teacher can select a few different game modes and students join the live session to answer questions and move up the leaderboard ahead of their peers! This is a great way to build community while online.

Blooket

andersromanowski — 2024-09-01 21:24:23 UTC

Blooket is another game-based learning platform that students love to play! The teacher can choose from a variety of games and students compete against each other to race, build up gold, hack passwords and earn crypto and much more...

Real world experience is a must!

andersromanowski — 2024-09-01 21:31:57 UTC

Students learn best when they make connections to the real-world and can experience their learning through lived experiences. By having student research local environmental issues or designing a business plan for a product they will be able to make connections that are more meaningful to themselves and the lesson they learn will be much more impactful. Personal connection and interest is key to learning in the classroom, and the at-home virtual classroom!

Real-world projects

andersromanowski — 2024-09-01 22:25:39 UTC

Have students research a local issue in their area that they are interested in, and make a presentation to share with the class. This will get them connecting their learning to the real world, and the connections made here will be much more impactful than a project without free choice.

Internships

andersromanowski — 2024-09-01 22:27:35 UTC

Find local job board listings and provide students with opportunities to apply for jobs they are interested in with resume support and practice interviews in class. This will help prepare them for entering the job market and gain valuable interviewing skills.

Learning is the result of stimulus-response associations

andersromanowski — 2024-09-01 22:32:55 UTC

By rewarding desired behaviors it will increase the frequency of them occurring. The focus need to be on noting the positive behaviors and not punishing the negative behaviors in the virtual classroom. Students in general are much more motivated by positive rewards than negative consequences.

Positive Reinforcement

andersromanowski — 2024-09-01 22:35:16 UTC

Positive feedback on behaviors, insights, and effort will motivate students to keep learning and engaging even if there is a chance that they will fail along the way. This builds resiliency and motivation which will serve students many dividends as students and adults in the future.

Timely Feedback

andersromanowski — 2024-09-01 22:36:57 UTC

Timely feedback on assignments and student performance will motivate them to keep growing as learners. When they are able to note what they need to work on, as well as what they are doing well, they can develop a plan of action and have goals in mind that they can work towards as students.

Learning happens through observation, imitation, and self-regulation

andersromanowski — 2024-09-03 03:21:41 UTC

Students learn by seeing each other do things, and copying them. It is important for teachers to model the desired behavior in the virtual classroom, and to model effective study habits and problem solving strategies as often as possible.

Youtube

andersromanowski — 2024-09-03 03:26:32 UTC

Use videos from Youtube to show students different things that they can imitate like appropriate ways to behave in an online classroom, and how to interact with each other in a positive manner while in Zoom meetings. Student learn mostly by watching videos at home, and if we can find a way to use those videos to help them learn in the classroom we will be much better off as educators and students.

Peer feedback and collaboration

andersromanowski — 2024-09-03 03:29:06 UTC

Create opportunities for students to learn from each other and give each other feedback. This can be done on a Google Doc where each student has access to the other's paper, and can add comments to it as they read/grade it. This can also be done in breakout rooms during a live Zoom meeting where students pair up to grade each others work.

Constructivism

andersromanowski — 2024-09-03 03:32:12 UTC

Students build their own knowledge based on their own prior experiences and interactions in the world. Asking student to come up with their own topic of inquiry and solution can help them build some resilience and autonomy while they develop their critical thinking skills by finding topics and crafting solutions on their own. This needs to be structured still, but students should have enough freedom to pick things that they are interested in to research.

Project-based learning

andersromanowski — 2024-09-03 03:36:33 UTC

Students will benefit from authentic tasks that require them to apply their knowledge and skills. While providing students with information can be useful, having them research causes, effects, and solutions will get them really using their critical thinking and problem solving skills. There may be pushback as this will be a struggle and they may want to give up, but positive encouragement and a few helpful hints in the right direction could be all they need to perservere.

Collaboration

andersromanowski — 2024-09-03 03:39:34 UTC

Provide and facilitate opportunities for students to work together and share thoughts and ideas with one another. Collaboration tools like Slack can keep students connected and help build essential communication skills while working together to complete projects and assignments.