15 Strategies for Online Learning When School is Closed
We very much believe in the power of physical schools as places of learning and connection. We also believe that through well-designed learning experiences, those same values—inquiry, collaboration, connection—can transcend the physical space to connect people even when we’re not together physically. For physical schools that need to close for whatever reason, we at GOA can offer strategies for continuing learning that are aligned to a school’s pedagogical philosophies and mission.
For online learning opportunities to be successful, teachers and leaders of schools must be aware of the pedagogy and tools that necessitate great learning for students. Does learning have to cease because students and teachers aren’t gathered in person? What does great learning look like in online spaces? And, how can teachers and leaders harness the power of the internet to create great learning experiences when the school is closed?
We have outlined 15 strategies to help guide your thinking in creating online learning environments for students when the physical school building is closed.
1. Know your students’ technological capabilities and what support is available to them.
If your students can’t come to school, then they cannot rely on using the school resources we might take for granted: reliable internet connection; use of school-owned technology; access to VPN’s or other tools that ensure privacy as well as, in some countries, access to certain tools; and other issues of digital equity. It’s important to know what kind of online learning work is possible for students to do while away from school, and to develop fair and reasonable accommodations for those students who may not be able to complete all work online.
2. Designate an online learning hub.
Just as students know they can find you in your classroom or your office, they should know where to find you and your coursework online. You might have your own space in your school’s Learning Management System (LMS), your own website or blog, or even something as simple as a hyperdoc. This hub should have links to essential content, the best way(s) to reach you, and a calendar or pacing guide for coursework. What’s important is that students don’t have to struggle to find what they need to know and be able to do. A great test: Can you tell your students where to go online by sending them a single link?
3. Communicate often, clearly, and consistently.
Consider how you typically communicate with students and, if possible, use the same space and vehicle that you would have used when school was open. This is what students will be expecting. Did you email your students? Send announcements via your LMS? Leverage social media? Do the same now. Communicate daily. Keep your communications focused, clear, and simple with actionable tasks and items students need to know.
4. If possible, gather students for synchronous meetings.
When it comes to student engagement and learning, relationships online matter as much as, if not more than, in person. During times when school is closed, students might be able to gather for synchronous learning times via video chat tools like Zoom. If a school is closed due to inclement weather, for example, and students are all on the same time zone, it’s reasonable to suggest meeting in an online space such as Zoom at a set time. However, if students are across multiple time zones, you may want to connect students asynchronously (see #5). You can also offer Office Hours for students to connect with you via Zoom individually. Post your availability prominently in your learning hub (see #2).
How to Set Up Zoom
5. Create opportunities for asynchronous connection.
When school is closed and students are spread across multiple time zones, it’s still possible to connect students to one another asynchronously. At GOA, we often have a course with 20 students spread across multiple time zones. Teachers use LMS discussion forums or tools like Flipgrid and Padlet to allow for student responses and dialogue during a set time period, knowing that students might not all be online at the same exact time. Post a prompt based on a reading or playlist previously assigned, and give students a set timeframe to post and respond to each other. For group projects, students can leverage tools like Google Drive to collaborate asynchronously. For extended closures of weeks or months, consider more robust chat tools like Slack (for students 16 or over) or Twist.
6. When it comes to content, be a curator, not a dumper.
Jennifer Gonzalez asks teachers to consider how much content they deliver by considering how they organize and present it. She offers guidelines, strategies, and tools to assist with curation of content. She writes, “When we dump a lot of information on a person at once, we are working against their brain. Cognitive load theory suggests that the brain can only take in so much at once. When we’re presented with a whole bunch of information, our brains have to ignore some in order to process the rest. Eventually, if too much keeps coming at us, we reach the point of cognitive overload, where we get more than we can handle.” At GOA, we leverage screencasting tools like Loom to help create simple, short tutorials that show students how to navigate online spaces, how to use a certain tool, or how to digest online content.