As most of you know by now, I live and work in a part of Alaska which is not on the road system. I am out near Nome, the end of the Iditarod race. Late Friday afternoon, I received a notice from my superintendent letting us know that school for students is cancelled till March 30th while teachers have to report on March 23rd to figure out how to deliver online versions of our classes. For me, it is not a hard thing because I keep up to date on technology and I still figure out how to use it should I need it. Well, now the time has arrived.
Many companies are waving fees to make their programs available during this time of crisis but it's hard to keep tract of everyone of these offers so Paul Solarz assembled as many of these as he could in one place. Paul is author of "Learn Like a Pirate" opened the Amazing Educational Resources page which assembles all that information and it will be evolving as more is added.
This lists companies in alphabetical order, a link, a short description of what is offered, and the free service offered. The list is by no means complete but I understand it is growing daily as people add to the list. I know that it has places I've never heard of so I'll have fun exploring the sites. In addition, this site has a facebook group of the same name so I joined that to keep up on top of things.
Furthermore, I'm keeping an eye on the Desmos people because they always have great things. I've asked to join their facebook group because it is focused right now on distance learning. They have several webinars (I missed the first one but caught the repeat) but the topics include Distance Learning with Desmos and several others that I plan to attend over the week.
Matt over at Ditch That Textbook is offering information and help on setting up elearning for your classes. The link leads directly to the 50 e-learning activities, templets, and tutorials. I guarantee this is one site I"ll be exploring in detail as I figure out ways to keep my students interested and engaged.
Shake up Learning has some great tips and suggestions for people who suddenly find themselves preparing for online classes in the middle of the semester. This is another site I'll be referring to as I prepare lessons for online.
Even ISTE has made 10 suggestions designed to help make going to online classes smoother including the idea that students should sign in a couple times a day rather than planning to spend the whole school day on line. In addition, they recognize that many families may only have one device at home that has to be shared by everyone.
One site, NewsELA recommends that all digital material should be cell phone friendly because that is the device many students will be using. In addition, they also recommend people create one to two weeks of printed material because not everyone has access to the internet and may normally use the library but if the library is closed, they may not have access at all.
I am researching this topic because I am one of the tech people at my school and I think I need to be prepared to help any teacher who has a question on using online resources via distance. I assume that many of you are in the same boat I am and need these resources. As I develop lessons and ideas, I will share them here.
I hope this helps. Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear. Have a great day.
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