The social isolation to contain the coronavirus has been circumvented by many schools with the adaptation of classes for teaching and distance learning. Check out tips to make teacher teaching, student learning, and family support even more meaningful and effective in this new context.

The use of technologies with pedagogical intention is already a reality in schools in Brazil, from Basic Education to Higher Education. For these educational institutions, the current context of social isolation – measured to contain the spread of coronavirus – was facilitated by the possibility of adapting the classes in person to the distance model.

General tips: adapting the routine and the environment

The adaptation of work and physical learning to the remote, from one hour to the next, can be complex for those who have never done homeoffice. In these hours, time and productivity are the biggest challenges, after all, at home there are some distractions and environments that may not help much in focus and discipline. So this is the time to take advantage of the experiences of companies and educational institutions that adopt remote work or learning so as not to get lost at home.

Keep the routine

The first essential tip is to maintain the routine, as if social isolation were not in force. Our brain is used to day-to-day activities: waking up, having breakfast, changing clothes, preparing school supplies and going out to school.

What changes in this new reality is only the “going out to school”, so it is important that everything else continues as it is. All this preparation to get to the classroom conditions our brain to assimilate different moments of our day. So, continue with the normal routine until you get to your work or study environment.

Create your work or study environment

It is common for students to have at home a table or desk dedicated to their studies. Many teachers also have that room or room set aside to do their readings and prepare the classes for the week. These environments are ideal for setting up your work or study place. In them, teachers and students can organize all the material they use in the day to day of the school: case, notebook, computer, water bottle (after all, it is important to keep yourself hydrated also at home).

If you don’t have a desk or office in your home, choose a corner of the dining table and make it your work or study environment. Almost everywhere can be adapted. The “almost” is just here for an alert: try not to mix personal and leisure environments with those of study and work. Studying on the sofa next to the video game or television, for example, may not be the best option, because there will always be something distracting you and calling you to that online game, a movie or any TV show.

Set clear deadlines for the motivation of the entire team

If at school, teachers and students have deadlines for grades and activities, why would it be different at home? It is important to keep and respect the dates of delivery and activities even at a distance.

For the student, deadlines are important to create the necessary study routine. Without knowing when to deliver the activity, procrastination can take over and, at the end of the week, the activities are all accumulated.

Teachers, coordination and management also need to adapt to this issue. For teachers, this means always making it clear when their students should send the exercise or work and, if possible, the necessary/recommended time of dedication for the accomplishment of each task. In addition, it is important to define the lesson preparation time so that it is not confused with personal and leisure time.

For management and coordination, deadlines may come in the form of periodic meetings with the teaching team. Scheduling weekly virtual meetings is a great way to check how the classes are progressing at a distance, exchange experiences, solve doubts and keep the whole team motivated.

On any school day, people in the school community already know the tasks they need to do, where they need to be and at what time, which are the leisure spaces and which are for study. For distance teaching and learning, however, it is necessary to create new references, forms of communication and study routines with the help of families and the school.

To help you guide teachers, students and families in the best way, we have selected here some important tips.

For teachers, there is more time dedicated to preparations, which involves selecting materials and programming the classes and activities that will be executed in synchronous and asynchronous moments. What in the face-to-face mode used to take more time with the students in class is replaced by a shorter period of online interaction. Thus, the remaining time must be dedicated to the production of the materials for the asynchronous moments.

The asynchronous moment is the one in which teachers and students are not interacting directly in the virtual classroom, but the learning continues happening within individual study. In order for this moment to be beneficial, it is important to choose the materials well and direct the actions that are expected from the students. These additional contents can be made available to students through the “Materials” tab, available within each chapter of Geekie One.

The synchronous moment, in turn, is when teachers and students are present in the virtual classroom and exchange questions, explain content and share experiences.

Daniel Aguirre
Thabigge@buy-researchpapers.net