Photo credit: Ellen Kinsel | Northern Exposure Welcome to the March CANeLearn News.Who’s ready for Spring? We know our colleagues in the prairie provinces certainly are! March is closing like a lamb in some provinces, not so much in others where it remains a lion. April typically brings a strong sense of renewal and optimism, this year again tempered by the fatigue and challenges of the pandemic. We have several upcoming events to lift spirits and practice, and this newsletter is packed with ideas and resources to check out, reflect on, and share with others as you continue to improve online practice. April 22-23 Digital Learning SymposiumCANeLearn, in partnership with the BC Partners in Online Learning, is offering an engaging online program this year for the 18th Annual DL Symposium featuring: Join for a day or both days; registration information here, the program found here. FOCUS ON ACCESSIBILITYBoth software developers and educators must strive for true inclusivity for online learning. Education platforms must be accessible to all users – teachers and students alike. The educational content that educators create must also be designed for users with a broad range of abilities, so that they’re able to perceive, understand, navigate and interact with it. Presentation by Gavin Henrick and Karen Holland, Brickfield Education Labs, on Accessibility for Tips for Teachers
Teachers are specialists in their respective disciplines and not necessarily web or accessibility experts. This presentation looks at the content we create and advise on how best to make it accessible. Blog post Tips to Make Your LMS Content Accessible
While focused on Moodle, the information contained in this post can be applied to any LMS. Designing for Accessibility (PDF posters)
Includes tips for designing content for accessibility for special needs such as autism, dyslexia, users of screen readers, low vision, physical or motor disabilities, deaf or hard of hearing, and anxiety,
Webinars ______________________________________ 18th Annual Digital Learning Symposium!Leading flexible learning models, environments, and online instructional approaches ______________________________________ Mark the dates: Upcoming Online Conferences Weekend reading5 Tips for Creating a More Engaging Online Course for Adult LearnersAs online learning opportunities continue to grow, the challenge for educators is to stay abreast of shifts and use new strategies to provide the best education possible. When teaching courses online, it is critical to apply evidence-based strategies to improve engagement, satisfaction, and comprehension for students of all ages. The following five tips have been developed from research geared toward shifting live onsite classes to online or blended learning courses. - Choose assignments that create a connection among students;
- Create different modes of learning for different learning styles;
- Allow for problem-based learning;
- Use blended learning to ensure maximal interaction and engagement; and
- Allow for autonomy and self-direction.
read the full article here Online Learning is an Opportunity to Meet the Needs of Struggling StudentsResearch conducted in South Africa showed that a total of 97% of educators never or seldom use a flexible curriculum and extra time to accommodate the diverse learning needs of students. The study was conducted among a group of student teachers to see whether a different approach to instruction could help them. This approach was differentiated instruction – that is when the instructor tailor-makes support for individual students. Content, assessment, and strategies were designed to meet their needs. The results suggested that this could improve students’ performance. Read the full article here At home for a year, office workers complain of aches, pains, and Zoom fatigueBack in March 2020, when many companies directed most of their staff to leave the office and telecommute in an effort to slow the spread of a scary new coronavirus, the experience of working from home felt novel, perhaps even exciting for some workers. At the very least, it was considered a blessing to have the option, particularly as workers in other sectors, such as health-care workers and grocery store staff, didn’t have the same choice, and many other workers were laid off because of the pandemic’s economic toll. But working from makeshift setups with non-ergonomic chairs and unorthodox workspaces has caused its share of physical strain, and collaborating with colleagues remotely for so long has only worsened a COVID 19-era ailment of another kind: Zoom fatigue. Read the full article here TIP: Check out the Well-Being workshop! Virtual Reality in K-12 and Higher Education: A Systematic Review of the Literature from 2000 to 2019This study is a systematic review of 20 years of research on the usage of virtual reality in K‐12 and higher education settings, which aims to consolidate, evaluate, and communicate evidence that can inform both the theory and practice of VR‐based instruction. The literature analysis emphasized four interrelated aspects of VR‐based instruction: instructional context, instructional design, technological affordances, and research findings. Read the full article here  Bridging the Digital Divide 1: from a Business PerspectiveTony Bates Review of a report in The Economist that “explores the impact of the new higher education paradigm spurred by covid-19 on teaching and learning experiences, engagement, performance, and value….the report explores how covid-19 hit the “fast-forward” button on the remote education revolution, and its resulting impacts on teaching and learning.” Read the full article here Bridging the Digital Divide 2: Technology Inequities and SolutionsThe second post in a series of three about reports on the digital divide and online learning. This report focuses on inequities among students and provides examples and suggestions about how to mitigate these inequities. Read the full article here Bridging the Digital Divide 3: The Fundamentals of InequalityThis report examines the pandemic’s impact on students, from their basic needs security to their well-being, as indicated by employment status, academic engagement, and mental health. Read the full article here NPR Poll: Nearly One-third of Parents May Stick with Remote LearningOne year after the coronavirus pandemic shuttered classrooms around the country and the world, U.S. parents are guardedly optimistic about the academic and social development of their children. Read the full article here Virtual Student Engagement Isn’t ImpossibleOne frustration that sticks out the most, makes us question our belief in our teaching abilities, and makes us feel as if we no longer have an impact: Not knowing how to engage our students anymore. In the shift to virtual learning, many of the strategies that we had previously used to draw our students’ attention have fallen by the wayside. Author Melissa Childs found it helpful to take a step back and remember what we already know about engaging learners. There are three types of student engagement: emotional, behavioral, and cognitive. When students are engaged in all three components, they can learn at their highest capability. Read the full article here Teaching Grade 9 Online: Learning During the PandemicKaren Kennedy-Allin had been using computers as a tool for teaching since 2010, recording lessons or saving the work so her students could access them for help and take notes during any time of the day. Now, from behind her computer, she teaches all three dozen Grade 9 Horizon School Division students who’ve opted for online learning. This article outlines a typical day in the life of online teaching and explores the challenges and benefits. Read the full article here Embrace the Strange: Advice from a Northern Teacher on Virtual LearningAlbee Eisbrenner has been teaching high school physical education and math through the Keewaytinook Internet High School while based in North Spirit Lake First Nation, Keewaywin First Nation, and Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug. Since he was evacuated due to COVID-19 he’s been teaching remotely from Winnipeg. Read about Albee’s experiences teaching online, how COVID-19 has changed things and the advice he has for northern teachers taking on virtual learning. Read the full article here Classroom ActivitiesOnline or Face-to-Face Challenge4Climate Action
Hosted by convergence.techClimate change threatens every part of the planet. It’s a global problem that requires global cooperation. The challenge aims to leverage the insights, creativity, and capabilities of the global student collective to address urgent threats to some of the planet’s most precious resources and ecosystems. CANeLearn was thrilled to be a part of this unique initiative as a Committee Member/Judge. Convergence.tech’s Student #Challenge4ClimateAction competing teams presented on March 27 – Archive recordings here… Pandemic ExperiencesCANeLearn is researching what K-12 school districts across Canada have offered in the way of programming and supports during the pandemic. We published our first report in August, the second in November, that detailed what the Ministries and Departments announced in the Spring and Fall of 2020 for remote learning. The third report, Stories from the Field: Voices of K-12 Stakeholders During Pandemic, brings the voices of stakeholders from across Canada describing what they experienced. The fourth is due out soon! Access the Research Report Publications and Presentations here Resources for the Digital ClassroomHow to Build a Strong Virtual Classroom CommunityThere is light at the end of our long tunnel of social isolation, but teachers still need to focus on students’ sense of connection to their peers and school community. It can be challenging to foster inclusive communities in the virtual environment. In addition to adapting trusted strategies for delivering instruction and learning some new ones, it’s important for teachers to make sure that their students feel safe and included. Even if a student is keeping up with their work, the pressures of learning how to navigate the virtual environment and social isolation can leave them feeling disconnected from their teachers and peers. While synchronous experiences, either online or in-person, can be more conducive to community building than asynchronous ones, there are plenty of strategies that teachers can use to cultivate relationships from afar that can occur in class or outside of it. Read the full article here From previous newsletters…Active Learning Online: Yes You CanBecause of their versatility, active learning activities can be designed and conducted in a variety of environments and formats. As we are getting more familiar with teaching and learning online, we discover various possibilities to actively engage students throughout the course. It does seem quite daunting, especially because it feels like these activities are more difficult to accomplish and monitor virtually. But leaving those fears aside, the author discusses what we need to be mindful of when using active learning in our online courses. Read the full article here An Important Distance Learning Resource for Teachers, Students, and ParentsWide Open School offers free learning activities for all grades. Students can browse activities related to various subjects including social studies, emotional wellbeing, reading and writing, math, arts, music, science, English language learning, digital citizenship, and more. Within each of these activities, you can search for materials by grade level or search label. You can for instance search for activities that include videos, worksheets, lessons, etc. Some of these activities offer free downloadable materials. You can also share them to Google Classroom. Principles for Remote Instruction: Notes from a #TLAC MasterclassParticipant notes from a workshop about excellent remote instruction, delivered via excellent remote instruction. Read more here Tools for Project-Based LearningProject-based learning, or PBL, challenges students to design and engage in more authentic, extended, and complex learning. But while PBL is a trusted strategy for increasing student engagement and learning, it’s not easy to orchestrate. There are tons of moving pieces, and if you’re doing it right, students will be engaging in a variety of interest-driven projects all with various needs and on different schedules. So how do you manage it all? Tech can be a huge help. This list gathers some useful productivity and organization tools that can help both teachers and students keep track of, finish, and assess projects. There are also a few tools designed specifically for PBL, as well as plug-and-play PBL experiences. Learn about these tools here Rough Guide for Spotting Bad ScienceBeing able to evaluate the evidence behind a scientific claim is important. Being able to recognize bad science reporting, or faults in scientific studies is equally important. Includes 12 points to help separate the science from the pseudoscience. Download the PDF here Supporting the Continuation of Teaching and Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Annotated Resources for Online LearningThis brief discusses the second module of a series that presents the results of a comparative analysis of emerging educational needs and responses as the pandemic unfolds across countries around the world. The overall goal of this series is to facilitate the rapid design process and implementation of adaptive responses to the emerging education challenges and to protect young people’s educational opportunities during and following the pandemic. Get the PDF here PeerLearning.netCooperative or peer learning is a thoroughly researched educational practice with consistently strong positive effects. PeerLearning.net provides a variety of benefits for teachers, students, and schools. Learn more here Virtual Manipulatives to Use in Your TeachingToy Theatre offers a collection of virtual manipulatives that help model abstract mathematical concepts for deeper student comprehension. The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives offers resources organized into five categories: Number and Operations, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, and Data Analysis and Probability. Check it out here ABC Learning Design Spreadsheet template to facilitate the collaborative design of learning scenarios. Check it out here Common Sense Education ResourcesUNESCO ResourcesQuality Matters Emergency Remote Teaching ChecklistCANeLearn’s Emergency Remote Teaching Resources, Tools, Ideas - CANeLearn has published a page with a collection of resources from other organizations, emerging tools, and ideas about pivoting to remote teaching
- Check it out here
eCampusOntario’s updated list of tools and resources Adventures in ArchivesFeatured Event- CANeLearn researched what K-12 school districts across Canada have offered in the way of programming and supports during the pandemic. Check out the research project website for reports, recordings, and slide decks.
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The Canadian eLearning Network (CANeLearn) is a Canadian registered not-for-profit society with a vision to be the leading voice in Canada for learner success in K-12 online and blended learning. CANeLearn provides members with networking, collaboration, and research opportunities. CANeLearn promotes effective practice in online and blended learning; fosters community and facilitates interaction among online and blended learning educators; and connects educators to online and blended learning organizations. |
