Teaching & Learning Online

How to teach and learn vitually

The spread of the coronovirus (Covid-19) is resulting in an increasing number of schools having to temporarily close. Students around the world are relying on online learning through virtual classrooms to study.

This page provides an introduction to the key ingredients of online learning. It is written from a pedagogical stance to help teachers and school leaders understand what it is and how to make it successful.

Go to the reference section to find guidance on keeping people safe on line.

However, please note:

Inequities in online learning (access to infrastructure, availability of software, hardware and bandwidth etc) mean that many students and teachers cannot use online learning as their main tool for delivering distance learning.

What is online learning? How do I plan for it in my school?

Online learning in a virtual classroom is a way of delivering teaching content interactively over the internet.  Although students can manage the tasks and learning engagement in their own time it is not ‘self-paced’, in as much as the teacher establishes a timetable when tasks should be completed. Often, the student will be required to explore the same topics at the same time as the other students. Sometimes students will be involved in collaborative assignments to be submitted by the shared deadlines.

See my blog Covid-19: What happens if school is closed? where I have provided a summary and quick guide for school leaders | teachers | students | and parents.

This page provides a more detailed look at the pedagogy behind online learning in virtual classrooms - things that teachers need to bear in mind when designer the learning experience.

Other useful pages: Distance Learning Guide for Teachers  | Distance Learning Guide for Students & Parents | Distance Learning Solutions: systems, platforms, self-directed content | How to run staff meetings online 

Online learning should build on what we know about best practices in learning. See the following pages on this website, each of which can be used as summary sheets for staff: Which teaching strategies are effective? | What makes teaching and learning effective? | What does research tell us? | How do we think? All about the brain 

IB Community blog shares experience from two IB schools of going online.

Schools respond to COVID-19 outbreak by going virtual, IB Curriculum Manager Pilar Quezzaire, 17 March 2020. This article shares the experience of  Shanghai American School (SAS) and Western Academy of Beijing (WAB)

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