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SIMPLE | EQUITABLE | ENGAGING:�an online teaching framework

MAY 5, 2020

Bonnie Stewart & Dave Cormier

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@davecormier

@bonstewart

welcome!

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�What do you do at UPEI?

Write on me

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- Ian Milligan, CAUT�COVID-19

Town Hall

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Key Messaging from CAUT’s COVID-19 Town Hall:

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A framework for online teaching:

KEEP THINGS...

SIMPLE
EQUITABLE
ENGAGING

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SIMPLE: communications

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SIMPLE: explanations

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SIMPLE: platforms

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EQUITABLE

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EQUITABLE: design

Check the mobile experience of whatever guidelines/platforms you expect students to engage on, lots are working on tablets and phones - don’t assume that it will work on all devices and platforms because most tools are not built that way

Consider that they may have access to one or few devices for many, if at all, and may be either iOS or Android, PC or Mac...these things are not equivalent.

Design for the simplest possible user experience

Imagine that your users have one device in the family
Imagine they only have access to a cheap phone
Imagine they are Android or Chromebook users who are using a cut down version of a browser

Many of the things you will find for free on the interwebs won’t work on most people’s devices - interactive tools written in Flash for example (Looking at you, TVO)

How will you know what works for your students?

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EQUITABLE: differentiated instruction / accommodations

be flexible.�trust students.

Equitable accommodation: talk to your institutional/board supports re accommodations (impact: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/06/remote-learning-shift-leaves-students-disabilities-behind)

We can’t tell you what those supports are, but we can tell you that you will need them!

Digital tools can sometimes help with accommodating, supporting and differentiating instruction. Other times, it can exacerbate the issues even more.

How do you manage IEPs in an online environment? Who is helping teachers, EAs etc. to parse this out? What does M (course modification) look like as opposed to the I (individualised)? Will this learning approach trigger the need for more IEPs (and certainly adjusting the ones that exist)?

Synch vs asynch in this context

Be very careful about signing students up/requiring them to sign up for educational technologies - many of the tools out there are not accessible or safe;

Equitable accommodation: talk to your institutional/board supports re accommodations (impact: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/06/remote-learning-shift-leaves-students-disabilities-behind)

We can’t tell you what those supports are, but we can tell you that you will need them!

Digital tools can sometimes help with accommodating, supporting and differentiating instruction. Other times, it can exacerbate the issues even more.

How do you manage IEPs in an online environment? Who is helping teachers, EAs etc. to parse this out? What does M (course modification) look like as opposed to the I (individualised)? Will this learning approach trigger the need for more IEPs (and certainly adjusting the ones that exist)?

Synch vs asynch in this context

Be very careful about signing students up/requiring them to sign up for educational technologies - many of the tools out there are not accessible or safe;

Many of the tools you will find being offered are not accessible or only partially accessible to users who are using keyboard commands, screen readers and so on, and many won’t meet the AODA standards required. Many will be developed internationally and store your data and your student data overseas, and will be subject to laws of their home country, not ours, so if something goes wrong, you will potentially have trouble.

lots of tools are free only for a short or limited time; lots of them will cause cognitive overload in the best of students so be mindful of that

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EQUITABLE: assessment

Equitable assessment: don’t make ANYTHING zero sum, be encouraging around dates and send reminders but recognize everything takes longer than you expect in a new environment: if you sat kids in a strange outdoor space to do math you wouldn’t anticipate they just knew how to navigate

Use the simplest tools available to communicate and receive assessment

Be tolerant of various formats, but also provide simple instructions for how you prefer to receive the assessment

Stick to one tool for assessment wherever you can - whether that is Edsby, D2L, Google Classroom etc.Don’t post some things as an assignment and others as an announcement, sometimes in the subject area and sometimes in the homeroom etc. Be consistent and predictable as much as possible.

Use the tools everyone has (theoretical) access to

How will you really evaluate or know what your students are able to do? As always, feedback is really important to your learners. In Ontario, use the time up until when final evaluations need to be done to practice with the tools you have available and plan what tools you will use for final evaluation.

Go back to the basics and focus on fundamentals

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ENGAGING

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ENGAGING: �supports

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ENGAGING: �visuals

BOLD TEXT

IMAGES

CLEAR�DIRECTIONS

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ENGAGING: presence

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Ultimately: CARE

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Online Teaching Tuesdays

Session #2: May 5

Bonnie Stewart, Maha Bali, Sherri Spelic

#OTT20

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SO. QUESTIONS!

(thank you)