Changing our tactics in the digital classroom.
You’ve spent years working on your ability to engage your students in the classroom and have hit the point in your career that you can change tactics on a fly; then the classroom part went away. Distance learning is now the norm across much of the country and with this shift comes new challenges. We cannot simply teach the same way that we did in a physical classroom in a virtual one; we must make significant changes.
Our students are digital natives, and, even though we may be digital citizens, many of us are not natives (I am very much dating myself). This means that we are now entering the environment in which they may be the most comfortable; that could be a benefit or a deficit depending on how you use it. Great teachers use a student’s strength or interest to their advantage, how are you capitalizing on having a classroom on a digital platform with digital natives? Are you using the same form of lesson or are you allowing them to use the technology to enhance the instruction?
We are holding classes on the internet, other than that, what role is the internet playing in your instruction? Are you using Google suites and other collaborative tools to allow the students to work together? Are you dusting off the idea of web quests and allowing the student to gather information from across the internet to enhance their experience? Are you using virtual tours to enhance your lesson? The students are more than capable of using the computer and internet to make instruction more engaging than ever, it is up to us to ensure we are laying the groundwork for this experience.
One major obstacle to engagement is the physical setting where the instruction is taking place. Working from home can be a wonderful thing, but with it comes a world of distractions that we do not have at the workplace. Did the mail come, what should I eat for lunch, did I change the laundry? All of these questions and more can and do come up at home that never enter our minds at work; now consider our students. They have all of their earthly possessions next to them, the very same ones that they think about returning home to all day during class. Their toys, video games, magazines, books, art supplies, everything is right there while you are trying to get them to listen to a mini-lesson. Unless you translate it to the digital world you cannot win up against that temptation.
For years educators have talked about the power that technology can have to transform education. We are there right now. We must use this technology to keep our students engaged, on a platform where they spend their free time; otherwise we will lose them to the distractions of the home. Simply shifting your lesson online was a challenge and a great start, but the honeymoon of distance learning will only last so long and our students will begin to become disengaged with our instruction. We must use the power of the platform and technology to engage our students and ensure that they enjoy the learning process as much as they did in our classrooms.
Until next entry,
Chris
*If you have any best practices to share, send them to me to be featured through our Contact page.