Welcome Back to Innovative Learning:
A "Hybrid" Model
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The return to normalcy has been both slow and overwhelming. With an abundance of new plans, rules, and regulations regarding classroom direction, many educators are understandably unsure of how to apply these ideas in practice. Ultimately, we are in a time of designing a universal education system that will support all students in all learning environments, as we navigate these unpredictable circumstances. It is essential to review how educators can best support students with innovative learning while considering potential obstacles, assistive technology tools, and appropriate resources to make the transition seamless. It’s easy to be anxious with all of the new technicalities, schedules, and regulations to adhere to. However, it’s important to take everything in one day at a time. Remember, we are given the privileged opportunity to build bright futures, one student at a time. Take a deep breath, because you’ve got this!
As psychologist Carol S. Dweck said, “Teaching is a wonderful way to learn.”
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Helpful Tips for Supporting Students
Virtually and In-Person
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Create a Positive Classroom Culture
Design a system that encourages each student to be their best through responsibility, kindness, active engagement, curiosity, and honesty. Positive classroom culture promotes connections between students and creates a comfortable learning environment. Improving this methodology may even boost students’ ability to retain information at a deeper level.
Sustaining Socialization
Sustaining socialization is essential for students in both learning environments. Examples of how to apply this: host a weekly “virtual lunch” for students learning remotely, and allow in-person students to participate in after-class discussions (while maintaining regulations such as 6 feet social distancing and wearing mandatory face coverings).
Promote Engaging Resources and Activities
Engaging resources and activities in the classroom may increase students’ retention levels, active learning abilities, and focus. Examples of these resources include weekly educational videos, interactive learning simulations, and growth mindset activities. It is also crucial to have clear expectations for each lesson beforehand, as well as an open line of communication and a chance for students to provide feedback.
Have a Weekly Check-In
Offer a time every week that allows students the platform to express any issues they may have with the material(s), in class, or virtually. You may want to discuss their concerns, anxieties, along with their continued progress in class. This is a great time to evaluate the student's wellbeing to ensure they thrive and feel comfortable in any learning environment.
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Mindfulness: Encourage Positivity |
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For all of us, the impact that COVID-19 has on our wellbeing will largely be determined by our attitudes towards the imposed restrictions and how we view the situation. So, I think this is an ideal time to encourage students to reflect on the mindsets they bring to their learning and to support them in developing more helpful and positive mindsets. This could well be a time where our students develop skills and dispositions that they may not have otherwise had the opportunity to acquire. |
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Due to COVID-19, technology has become a necessity inside and outside of the classroom. Technology plays a huge role in how students retain, reference, and access information. From laptops to learning apps that can be programmed to best suit an individual’s specific learning needs, the world has seen an influx of innovative technological advancements that have fundamentally enhanced the classroom, particularly by giving students the ability to take a more active role in their own learning process. These advancements have produced heightened student interactivity, digital literacy, as well as the introduction to updated learning materials for relevant, modernized knowledge.
Recently, equity, equality, and personal identification amongst students have become an increased focus within classrooms, as well. Many educators acknowledge and respect the importance of a student being seen and treated as an equal, but what about providing the tools they need to beneficially navigate academics (and thus, life)? This is where equity becomes essential by providing students access to the tools they need to thrive intellectually. Technology plays a prominent role in equity, especially in younger generations, as many classrooms are still adapting to the newer digital age; for example, some students are advantaged to have iPads in the classroom, while others currently remain analog-oriented. For many, assistive technology can be considered a modality for further classroom equity and the opportunity to grow as a student. Below you will find instructional websites and apps to support students through distance learning.
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Instructional Websites & Apps to Support Virtual Learning |
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Educreations is a unique interactive online whiteboard that is friendly to operate. Using this app, you can create appealing videos for the subject content and share them instantly with students. Moreover, it is easy to engage students with video content and help them master each of their subjects.
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Photomath is an award-winning online educational web app. The app has a dedicated team of mathematicians who examine effective math teaching methods, develop solutions for math problems, and more. With the support of this app, you can make students understand concepts in a better way.
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Scratch, is a popular e-learning web app. It builds a rich virtual classroom by allowing students to showcase their creative skills to the outside world. Students can combine music, graphics, and photos to create interactive games, animations, and slideshows. These activities make them engaged in learning as well as playing.
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With the support of the Storybird, a user-friendly e-learning web app, you can create digitally interactive and artistic books in the virtual classroom. You can assign projects to students, give constant feedback, and more. Additionally, this tool assists in expanding the writing and reading skills of students by giving them challenges to compose stories on their own.
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Cool Kits to Consider: Technology Connection |
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Inclusive ClassVR immerses students in 360º environments that enhance and complement their real-world exploration and play. Includes access to hundreds of curriculum-aligned, virtual, and augmented reality resources. Inclusive ClassVR has been specifically designed to educate, motivate, and raise engagement for students of all ages and abilities.
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The Flashcards AR Educational 4D Learning Cards turn at 360° to stimulate sensory and cognitive experiences. Each flashcard has colorful 3D images and pronunciation guides. This learning game promotes hand-eye coordination, memory, and imagination. It also allows children to discover storytelling, sounds, and vocabulary. Combat boredom and create independent play and gaming anywhere.
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PS/RtI Innovative Resource Guides |
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Leveraging UDL, MTSS and Technology to Create a Universal Education System. With the change to innovative classroom settings, the PS/RtI Project created resource documents to address Universal Education and MTSS within brick-and-mortar and innovative settings: The purpose of this resource is to help educational leaders think through how to maximize both brick and mortar and innovative learning through their Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS). However, prior to unpacking key questions and considerations focused on MTSS in these learning environments, leaders must consider a few big ideas regarding what universal education means, Universal Design for Learning as the foundation of universal education, and how MTSS builds upon that foundation. Access Resource Document Here!
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Focus on the one: Desired Results Standards |
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Focus on the One: Desired Results, Standards is a technical assistance support from Florida's PS-RtI Project's Student Support and Academic Achievement (SSAA) unit for districts' and schools' considerations when planning instructional elements within their multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) through backwards design planning. Backwards design planning integrates Universal Design for Learning principles within a tiered, standards-aligned, approach of instruction for all students to achieve positive educational outcomes.
Check out our Introduction podcast here.
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The return to school in the socially-distant, COVID-prevention era has presented some unique challenges for students who are deaf and hard of hearing. The low-incidence prevalence of this population makes it easy to overlook the highly-specialized communication and language needs of these learners in light of the precautionary measures required during face-to-face instruction. Below are some considerations for the reopening of schools specific to the needs of students who are deaf and hard of hearing:
- Face-masks may negatively impact access to spoken language. Additional accommodations may be necessary to alleviate barriers to instruction.
- Temperature screens may be unreliable if taken by ear for students who wear ear-level amplification. Alternatives may need to be considered for these students.
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Hearing assistive technology (HAT), especially pass-around microphones, may need to undergo more frequent sanitation and/or cleaning as a result of CDC guidelines for shared equipment.
- Students who are deaf or hard of hearing may need prioritized scheduling in order to coordinate services by itinerant teachers and/or educational interpreters in order to minimize exposure risks for all involved.
- Virtual platforms with both synchronous and asynchronous delivery may need accommodations not previously considered, especially with regard to assistive technology to ensure accessibility for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.
- Students at home may not have had access to assistive technology since school closures in March and as such may not have been able to fully access media in a time of health and social crisis. Proactive provision of and instruction in the use of available assistive technologies may be necessary for students who are deaf and hard of hearing to access current events as well as benefit from social-emotional learning activities or mental health services.
RMTC-D/HH has developed a guide to share with educational professionals, Accessibility Considerations for Students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing, found on our COVID-19 webpage, which outlines these points and provides resources for support.
For more information or to receive technical assistance on supporting students who are deaf and hard of hearing, reach out to us via email at info@rmtcdhh.org, visit our Virtual Education webpage, or join our online professional learning community, Virtual Learning D/HH Collaborative Basecamp where participants can upload/download resources, pose questions, and collaborate on solutions to obstacles to teaching and learning related to this population.
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FDLRS Announcements
The FDLRS Administration Project is pleased to invite district AT professionals to partner with their local FDLRS Technology Specialist to join us in these upcoming events. Don’t forget to contact your local FDLRS Technology Specialist for training and information on AT, UDL, or AIM/AEM. To locate your local FDLRS center Technology Specialist, visit our website www.fdlrs.org.
WATI Online Study Groups:
Join us for an Online Group Study of OCALI's ATIM Using the WATI AT Assessment Process. In these studies, we will review the steps of information gathering, decision-making, and trial use; become familiar with individual Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative (WATI) forms for each step, and read examples and case studies to help learn to use the WATI AT assessment process.
- Using the WATI Assessment Process: MATH
- Study Dates: August 19 – September 23
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Register: Contact Susan Saunders at saunderss@nefec.org 850.792.5826
- Using the WATI Assessment Process: Reading
- Study Dates: October 7 - December 2
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Register: bit.ly/WATIonlineStudyReading
- Using the WATI Assessment Process: Writing
- Study Dates: January 6 - March 24
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Register: bit.ly/WATIonlineStudyWriting
- Using the WATI Assessment Process: Organization
- Study Dates: April 7–June 16
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Register: bit.ly/WATIonlineStudyOrganization
Participate in the conversation only or earn in-service points. A certificate of completion will be given to those who complete group study activities and tasks, earning between 6 - 18 in-service points. Participants may use the certificate to apply for in-service credits through their local school district by following their district policies.For more information, contact Susan Saunders at saunderss@nefec.org 850.792.5826.
Technology for Student Success: Tools to Support Reading Comprehension Online Course
Dates: October 15, 2020 – November 19, 2020
Course Description: This course enables educators to develop, increase and demonstrate knowledge about a variety of technology tools that can be used by students to scaffold, support, and augment some of the cognitive processing that leads to reading comprehension. This course is not designed to provide guidance on how to teach reading skills. The PDA courses, developed by the Florida Department of Education Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services, are included in the Master Inservice Plan in all Florida school districts. Register at fl-pda.org.
Parent & Educator Webinars
Please visit the FDLRS.org website to view and share recorded webinars presented this past spring, developed specifically to assist parents and educators during quarantine and moving to learning remotely.
Topics for parents include:
Topics for educators include:
Free Parent Webinars Fridays with FDLRS
The FDLRS Administration Project and Associate Centers Network are proud to offer a series of parent webinars to take place virtually over the 2020-2021 school year. The 90-minute webinars are conducted during lunch hours, from 11:30AM – 1:00PM EST on a designated Friday. These webinars are free of charge and open to parents, families, and professionals who work with children with disabilities or those with unique needs.
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Virtual Learning: 33 ways to Build Relationships |
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This resource was funded through the Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services with IDEA Part B dollars. The information and resources are provided as a free awareness service to the educational community and do not reflect any specific endorsement by any parties involved. Please note that access to some resources may be blocked by individual school districts. |
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