Continuity of Learning - Adding in Interactivity to Sustain Engagement

We are back from our Easter break and I was reminded that I had not blogged in over 3 days!

So much has happened...and the focus this half term is on refining our current teaching practices whilst also adding in the element of interactivity.

While we continue to use Seesaw and Showbie in the primary years, it is time to bring the children together. Through live assemblies and some subject teaching, it is intended that our students will be able to see each other and close the widening self/family isolating gap that we are all facing. Our focus this term is on student wellbeing, introducing ImpactEd research survey's and in creating live open spot light sessions encouraging student voice (and picture) for them to share their experiences. Students love to hear their teachers and watch their pre-recorded their video's but can you imagine their faces when they join them in real time and interact with their friends too!

With the older students, the use of Teams via Microsoft 0365 has been our live saver! While we are immersed in live lessons through means of scheduled or live meet now sessions, teachers are able to carry on teaching in both synchronous and asynchronous ways.

Lesson learned:
Conducting full synchronous learning is exciting, intense and mirrors traditional teaching in as much as it can. But, it is not sustainable. Teachers have found that it is best to deliver new material and/or connect with their students for their first 10-15 minutes while live in teaching and then offer a pre-recorded presentation or task. This allows for the teacher to be freed up and focus on those students who need more help or guidance.

Our teachers have received virtual training in adding automated marking, assessment and offering feedback through means of Assignment in Teams and/or Inking in Office applications as well as the use of Microsoft Stream. Stream is one of the most effective tools that I have come across (and still has much potential in development).

For those who don't know about Stream, it is another app available within Office 365 (although may need activation). It allows a user to slice up their video and add in interactivity (using Forms). Teachers can then share these video's with their students and monitor at what point they may have stopped watching the video. There is also a subtitle view to the video and it is possible to get it translated in 27 languages.

Continuity of Learning - Day 5

We made it to the end of the week! Its been intense, its been hard and its been super challenging. But we did it and our technical skills are at a whole other level now! As we progress into online teaching, how can we automate our marking? The use of Kahoots, Nearpods, Whiteboard, Forms and Stream could possibly be on the rise. Within the senior school, we are tweaking our timetable to make it more sustainable and looking to offer extended breaks within lessons to offer a chance to relax, unwind and walk away from the screen. These are interesting times but we have launched successfully and it will only get better.  

Blogs will re-launch after the Easter Holidays. 

Continuity of Learning - Day 3 - 4

We are now on day four of our Continuity of Learning at Ashford School and in the process of refining our current teaching and learning practices online. It's looking like we are going to be in this for longer than we expected....but with feedback as shown below, we are only more determined to make it better for all.

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"I find it impossible to put into words the gratitude owed to you, your team, and the teaching and support staff of Ashford School who are making it possible for our children to continue with their learning during these challenging times. With a child in the prep and senior school, I am able to witness first-hand how much it means to them to be able to hear their teachers and classmates (and sometimes see them!) during their lessons.

I watched earlier this week as one of daughters sat at her 'work space' ten minutes before her lesson, eagerly waiting for it to start. Well done and keep up the good work! "

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Primary Years

1) Fantastic video footage of teachers and audio feedback from teachers.

2) Real time marking in Showbie

3) Hands-on extended activities that go beyond the school day and keep students amused and entertained for periods of time. Lots of hands-on and brains-on activities and unplugged from the screen.

4) Great PE videos by our teachers along with Youtube clips

5) We are now ready to refine the timetable and add in cross curricular activities/events/competitions.


Secondary Years

1) Scanning App -Some teachers have asked for a scanning app for students and staff to upload documents. Built in within our Surface is Windows Microsoft Lens which you can also download on your phone. Great app to take photos and remove noise/shadows which then saves the photo into your photo gallery or one drive. 

2) There has been some concern that younger students are spamming the conversation area within Teams. Some wise words from teachers:

"I am finding that even with very clear instructions students are misunderstanding or missing things out. I am therefore spending 5 minutes at the start of most lessons just talking them through exactly what they have to do, then posting the instructions onto chat (it has also been set on assignments) and that is making a massive difference"

"Suspend chat groups and only restart when ready. You can take registration by teams participants list. Get the message through."

3) Our teachers are now sharing their desktops while teaching and find this very effective while conducting live teaching sessions in Teams. Some have decided to record their sessions and share them using Stream. 

Live video tutorials available.

Continuity of Learning - Day 2

DAY 2

Today was an easier day at the prep school. Some feedback from teachers, parents and students:

1) I think we have got the hang of it now

2) Students are pretty independent and are able to conduct their tasks

- although if teachers have not set tight chatting permissions, it can quickly get out of hand. This is to be expected this week while this is all new.

3) It is a good idea to have the lessons locked until it is time for release and ensure all links are working before release

4) My personal one - loved the audio feedback. I saw child X smile when he heard his teacher's voice.

5) PE was fun - got the whole family involved and got the parents to take a break too.

Some highlights/feedback from the secondary years (Office 365 Suite of Applications):

Firefly was down again - but we could lean on Office 365 to carry on teaching and establishing communication.  Frustrating for other schools though.

1)  A typical approach to teaching online can consists of the following (please adapt to what works best for you):

10-15 minutes teaching/sharing of information/discussion

15-20 minutes task

5 minutes wrap up

2) A really good tool is the whiteboard app in the Windows store within a live session. Great way to collaborate with your students in one place and its available to use within Teams.  

3) Live sessions work the best. Students feel connected with teachers.  How we managed to roll it out in one week is incredible. 

4) Lastly, we are all under pressure here and sometimes can forget to look after ourselves. When you can, please take a break. Take a moment to stand up, walk around and get away from your screen. 

Continuity of Learning at Ashford School - Day 1

"Well done to Ashford School! The teachers and staff, heads, support staff have clearly worked very hard to transition to this alien scenario. The day to day operation is also new and is well managed and operated - it must be very challenging and tiring for the teachers .... Thank you, much appreciated and well done !!"

"Today I felt privileged to be part of APS. The School have worked so hard to provide an exceptional online community and learning structure for my children during these unprecedented times. To see and hear teachers video messages made it feel very connected. Thank you so much."

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Today was the launch of our online school for Ashford Prep and Senior School. With all systems in place to go and teachers prepped from last week, I have to say it went exceptionally well. We have had some excellent feedback from parents, students and teachers. No doubt we faced some challenges but in all, did pretty well despite these unprecedented times and new approaches to teaching and learning for all. As we carry on teaching and learning in this manner, I will upload some major highlights/feedback, new actions to follow up and comments.  

Some highlights from the primary years (use of Seesaw and Showbie):

1)  Parent - "this is great" "the kids have got it" "at least my child is doing something" to "what are the codes" "I don't know how to work this"  "can someone help me please"

Its early days so not too worried. Will probably take a few days of intense IT fixes but we will get there by mid week. 

2) Really good idea to stop children spamming a conversation thread on Showbie. Great way to stop this by Pausing Student Post. 

3) Some parents really enjoyed collaborating and interacting with their children. They were able to work as professionals and were still able to keep an eye on their children. 

4) A shortened timetable up to 1pm with an optional online lunch for children overseen by a parent/guardian close by. This timing worked well for our younger ones with extended activities for the afternoon (if needed). 

5) Uploaded worksheets was really great and the students could annotate on top of them. I think a stylus of some sort would be helpful .... but it is late in the day to order one now. However, it is possible to create a homemade one - see below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-rPLMErdFU&feature=share

6) Visibility is key - more teachers are going to add in voice feedback and video (captured by camera) into lesson starters - one to action.

Student feedback - "it was easy and I was able to do all my work. I liked throwing the ball up in the air and having lunch with my friend online"

Teacher feedback - "I saw it as teacher and parent (prep and senior) and thought it was brilliant!"

Teacher feedback - "Child X really enjoyed his first day of online learning.  They said it went really well."

Some highlights/feedback from the secondary years (Office 365 Suite of Applications):

1) Definitely had some IT issues but pretty much sorted itself out as we carried on our day. We aim to sort it all out by midweek. 

2) Older students worked pretty much independently on their tasks and offered peer to peer support. 

3) Most students worked through either a PC/Laptop (of their own) and their mobile phone and connected into our school Office 365 environment. This was more challenging for younger students than the older ones - in terms of keeping up with the pace of technology and submitting tasks. 

4) Students expressed that they appreciated the pre-recorded lessons and catch up session with students. Helped sustain the connectedness and flow. Lessons where teachers were not available was difficult and not engaging. 

5) Timetable is relatively shorter. While lessons were still 40 minutes in length, the rest of the day was shortened to avoid an extended day of screen time. This is reflected in setting homework and marking time for teachers (although still need further refinement - something to action).

Student feedback - ..."the day was pretty good actually. I was able to do all my work and keep in touch with my friends and teachers"

Student feedback - ... "I am now back in home in China. Even though my hours are different to everyone else, I can still make it work"

Teacher feedback - "Interesting - I think it takes longer to plan lessons but am enjoying the fact that there is a lot less marking!!"