Virtual learning platform

Hello. I have yet to start my class (which is stressing me out). I have been told that I must teach all virtual. I greatly appreciate the options that Code.org has offered. This is only my 2nd year teaching AP CSP. I was wondering if someone could help me with what platform to use. I will not have a set class time (they told me) with my students. So they will just be working on their own. I feel overwhelmed and at a loss as to how to deliver the content. I think I will need to video myself and have them pause to work on the google slides and activities. Is anyone else doing this? If so, what platform are you using to video yourself? And then are you posting the video in a google classroom (I used google classroom last year-but never worked with having to video myself.)? Thank you in advance.

Loom is good for making videos to share. Zoom is good for conferencing, which is how you will do one on one.

Code.org teacher tools will help you track progress and grade.

One great idea from the webinar is to create a shared Google slide show. Let students add a slide with a question. You can then respond on that slide and everyone else will see it. If you need to, add a video right on the slide.

Create office hours where you will open Zoom, Teams, or whatever you use and just wait for students to connect and ask questions.

Create a schedule and update it based on current velocity. Velocity = lessons / week. This will help you set expectations correctly.

Depending on so many parameters beyond your control you may not get through the whole thing. Forgive yourself in advance for falling short.

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@hvissia One direct effect the pandemic has had on teachers of all levels is that it has made us rookies all over again. I totally understand your nervousness and anxiety. One of the things that I have done is to keep things simple. In doing so, I have set things up so that my students have one main place to find everything. Since you have experience using Google classroom I would use that as your main source of information and instruction for your students.

  1. Google Meet is a good meeting option (However, breakout rooms are not available)
  2. Zoom is the most popular because it offers lots of flexibility (breakout rooms, whiteboard, recorded lessons, and strong meeting controls)
    2.5 Loom offers free teacher accounts with a verified teacher email. I have used Screencast-o-matic. The free version gives you 15 minutes recording time.
  3. I use the Slide Deck provided with the curriculum and I modify them with the interactive Virtual Synchronous modifications that are available for each lesson.
  4. Since you’ll be using mostly an Asynchronous model, I’d look at those specific modifications for each lesson. Some of the lessons have recorded instruction that can be used as models or actual instruction (You can use those until you’re comfortable recording yourself).
  5. Use Google Calendar to post due dates.
  6. As you try things feel free to ask more questions.

Thank you so much for your help. I have heard of LOOM. I will look into that. They have told us we are not allowed to use Zoom. We also have to use google classroom, which works well with Code.org. I was wondering…would you mind giving me feedback on this idea…

I would teach the lesson (record myself) and tell them to stop the recording to go do the activity etc. Or do I not formally teach at all and just use the google slides with the code.org lessons (the bubbles etc).

Thoughts?

Heidi

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Very kind and helpful. Thank you for the information!

Heidi

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Some of your students will do just fine following code.org step by step. But my experience is the majority will need some explanation designed for them.

My students for example don’t get math at the level they should. So I know in advance that binary is going to require double to three times the instruction time.

Doing a video to cover each topic is a good idea. You could even record a voice over for the slide show that is given for most lessons.

I use Loom for a lot of my videos as well. You have the option to include a video of yourself in the corner in addition to sharing your screen which makes it feel a little more personable than simply talking over slides.
I’m teaching this year in a hybrid model where I teach every other lesson virtually. Depending on the lesson, I’ll create a video that they pause (like you mentioned) or I’ll embellish the worksheets to really turn them in to google-doc walk throughs.

When I want students to follow a set of steps (often logistics of how to get to a particular page online) I’ll often make little gifs of the process that can be embedded in the google docs using Licecap. Message me your email address and I can share some examples if you’re interested.

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Don,

This is exactly what I was wondering. Thank you for the tip on the voice over.

Blessings,

Heidi

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Thank you Madeline! My email is hvissia@ncresa.org.

Heidi

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