Online College Articles
How to establish rapport with online students
My experience with online education began 19 years ago after I took a break from teaching in the brick and mortar setting to give birth to my daughter. When I was ready to get back in the game, several of my colleagues recommended Florida Virtual School (FLVS), which at the time was in its infancy. […]
With family engagement, universal pre-K will be a success in 2022
The next few years could be a turning point for those of us involved in early education, and even for education in general. As part of the American Families Plan, President Biden is aiming to set aside $200 billion to make universal pre-K a reality for the first time in this country’s history. It’s a […]
Key steps to keep indoor air clean in classrooms
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented education with challenges and opportunities. On one hand, the massive move to digital learning and one-to-one programs has accelerated districts’ plans for edtech adoption. On the other, state and district leaders must ensure safe learning environments as schools strive to remain open—and paying attention to indoor air quality is critical. […]
9 social-emotional learning strategies to use in the new year
Following the 2020-2021 school year, educators can look back with pride–and exhaustion–on all we have learned. We have learned to teach in brand new modalities like remote and hybrid learning, foster more student independence, and adapt instruction to a huge variety of learning needs. But one of the most important lessons to come from this pandemic year […]
Are learning gaps stabilizing?
Although wide learning gaps still exist for students across the U.S., those gaps do show signs of somewhat stabilizing, according to new research illustrating the scale and disproportionate nature of the disruption to students’ learning from the COVID-19 pandemic. The report comes from NWEA, a nonprofit research and educational services provider serving K-12 students. The research, Learning […]
Prediction: The future of teacher evaluations is video
Over the last two years, educators have been forced into all kinds of unplanned experiments as we’ve searched for ways to keep students safe while continuing to advance their education amid a global pandemic. At the Metropolitan School District of Decatur Township, we’ve found that one of the pandemic-related changes we’ll be keeping around is […]
When it comes to learning loss, don’t reinvent the wheel
As we head towards the last half of our second school year in a pandemic, there is no doubt that the impact of learning loss has exceeded all predictions. As reported by McKinsey, students are behind an average of four months in reading and five months in math. Unfortunately, the pandemic widened preexisting opportunity and achievement […]
Making the most of your return to school
Even though schools are back to in-person learning, the pandemic taught us something about how automating processes can save time–and if educators need more of anything, it’s time. Students, parents, and staff can work smarter and more effectively with self-service forms, electronic signatures, pre-populated agreements, and automated approval processes. You can transform your agreement process […]
Creating classroom community in a digital space
One of my favorite parts of being an educator is the sense of community that is created with each new class of students. Fostering that feeling in person has its challenges of course, but is a bit easier to administer and coach when you’re face to face. When asked to build that same sense of […]
Moving from “the” school to “their” school
Connected students and families don’t attend and partner with “the” school–they do so with “their” school. They aren’t guests who meet, exceed, or fall short of someone else’s expectations, but rather, architects of environments that reflect what is important to them. When our students and their families consider the connections they have with their school, […]
