How teachers can make distance learning effective

A lot of teachers now are teaching in front of a screen instead of a classroom due to school closures. For educators who are new to distance learning, it can be challenging to know where to start. So, here are five tips to make distance learning effective. 

1. Continue live teaching online

With schools closed, teachers are conducting distance lessons with Google Meet. Students, teachers, tutors, and coordinators are connected virtually, so learning isn’t disrupted. 

Teachers and students are also finding Google Classroom helpful to stay connected and engaged. Here are tips for using Classroom during periods of high demand. To avoid connectivity issues, consider pre-recording lessons and posting to Classroom or use the livestream feature in Google Meet. 

2. Create digital office hours 

Digital office hours are a great way to ensure remote students still get one-on-one support from their teachers. Teachers can use Google Calendar and Hangouts Meet to create digital office hours. The two tools together make it easy to organise learning hours and create a space for live interaction between the teacher and students in a distance learning situation.

3. Use offline features to support students with limited or no home internet access

Even if students have limited or no internet access at home, remote learning can be done using offline features for Chromebooks. Students can still access Drive offline and they can download video lectures from Google Classroom to watch later if they don’t have internet at home.

4. Build a digital learning hub

Using Google Sites, a simple website building tool, teachers can build a central hub for resources, important updates and reminders that can help students stay organised and keep parents and guardians in the loop, too. Students can also use Sites to create digital portfolios and share their work with teachers, guardians and peers. Each team has its own dedicated site with important information and reminders which helps learning stay on track.

5. Provide one-on-one guidance remotely

If a student is absent, has trouble accessing the internet or even just needs a refresher on how to do something, videos can be a huge help, especially when students can download and replay them. With the Screencastify extension, it’s easy to record your screen and share the video with students directly in Classroom. You can also use videos to explain new tools and approaches to help students get the hang of distance learning.