China People - What Does Online Learning Look Like for You Right Now?

Helen Back
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Joined: Fri Dec 28, 2012 4:16 pm

China People - What Does Online Learning Look Like for You Right Now?

Post by Helen Back »

Interested to know what teachers are actually doing. Are you teaching regular hours, posting assignments in the morning, conference calls, FlipGrid, etc? How are you keeping your class going? What is the expectation?

Thanks in advance.
PsyGuy
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Inquiry

Post by PsyGuy »

Further, for those ITs in SLL subjects how are you addressing upcoming exams?
mysharona
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Joined: Thu Jan 13, 2011 1:25 am

Re: China People - What Does Online Learning Look Like for You Right Now?

Post by mysharona »

My life right now, 14 hours behind Shanghai time, revolves around trying to produce interesting online lessons for my kids. I spend a couple of hours in the morning answering questions that my students had while I was asleep. Probably 20% of those questions are tech in nature and the rest are around instructions and other types of questions. I then spend a couple of hours in the afternoon working on lessons, its been a challenge for me to develop variety into them, and then I spend 2-3 hours in the evening answering more questions and assessing work that has been submitted.

Our online learning is centered on Schoology, love it or hate it. I have recently incorporated MS365 into my lessons but the core is still Schoology where students will find the lesson objectives, agenda etc.

My internal calendar is slightly messed up as my work brain is 1 day ahead of the rest of my body. My weekends begin Friday morning and end Sunday afternoon now.

Student participation rates have improved since we started DL, but for individual students they are up and down as their situation changes. Many of my students are still in Shanghai but overall they are spread out around the globe. We have had students enroll in local schools wherever they have landed and while still on my lists they don't participate anymore.

I find the unknown date of return one of the hardest things to deal with. We have been told we will get a 3 week notice before school starts that incorporates a 14 day quarantine in our apartment, I am dreading that isolation. Now that the incubation period is under some question and apparently there are reports of a 26 day incubation period, an equal length quarantine might put me over the edge.

My school has been very supportive, educationally and financially, so that makes it easier.

I do enjoy doing school in whatever I have on at the moment and doing it wherever I want.
monkeycat
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Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2018 9:52 pm

Re: China People - What Does Online Learning Look Like for You Right Now?

Post by monkeycat »

Every day I have class, I upload my Daily Lesson Plan for the students, which consists of a numbered list that walks them through the tasks they should be working on for that day. We're supposed to assign 60 minute's worth of work per lesson, but the feedback we've received is that the students are all a bit overwhelmed by the workload for distance learning. I think a lot of my colleagues have gone overboard in trying to be creative with their lessons, resulting in students have to familiarize themselves with a whole bunch of different platforms and web sites all at once. My goal has been to keep it as simple as possible. My students are all in different time zones right now, so webinars or online discussions aren't really a viable option. I've been conducting online discussions via Teams, and the participation rates have been reasonable.

We are encouraged to assign tasks that take the students away from the computer, but since literature usually consists of reading, writing, and discussion, there's not a lot I can do at the moment that doesn't involve screen time, especially since we've been told we can't assume students have access to a printer.

I worry about the students have ILPs or tend to struggle in general. They are rapidly falling behind.
PsyGuy
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Location: Northern Europe

Discussion

Post by PsyGuy »

Recently read that HK may see a permenant loss of ISs as a result of Wuhan .. Anyone experiencing that in HK?
turtleturtle
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Joined: Fri Dec 27, 2019 11:56 pm

Re: China People - What Does Online Learning Look Like for You Right Now?

Post by turtleturtle »

How is it working for the little kids? My current school is discussing online learning as school closure seems to become inevitable. How are schools handling it for the lower elementary and kindies?
fine dude
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Location: SE Asia

Re: China People - What Does Online Learning Look Like for You Right Now?

Post by fine dude »

From Monday, we'll be offering remote learning. How do y'all maintain academic honesty when you assess online?
mysharona
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Joined: Thu Jan 13, 2011 1:25 am

Re: China People - What Does Online Learning Look Like for You Right Now?

Post by mysharona »

We have some moms that are doing really well in 4th grade.
Cailin
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Joined: Sat Apr 26, 2014 4:26 pm

Re: China People - What Does Online Learning Look Like for You Right Now?

Post by Cailin »

turtleturtle wrote:
> How is it working for the little kids? My current school is discussing
> online learning as school closure seems to become inevitable. How are
> schools handling it for the lower elementary and kindies?

When we did distance learning in the past we would send suggestions for practical activities to do at home - count and sort the cutlery, find squares and circles, use plasticine to make long and short snakes, could the X, Y Z etc
Also youtube links to stories with suggestions for follow up activities. Some craft suggestions
teach321
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Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2019 3:35 am

Re: China People - What Does Online Learning Look Like for You Right Now?

Post by teach321 »

My husband and I both teach secondary but have 2 elementary-aged kids. My 2nd grader's teachers are using Seesaw to post short video lessons and activities. That has been great because she can do a lot of it without our help, the instructions are clear, and we all know where to turn in assignments. Her teachers are also holding conference calls once a week for about 20 minutes for reading and math groups through Microsoft Teams. My 4th grader's teachers are using Teams to post video lessons along with assignments for students. Some subjects have been clearer about where to find resources, what to do, and where to turn stuff in than others. It is A LOT of work for all of us and there have been several frustrated breakdowns from both of our children in the 4 weeks we've been online. We have fallen behind and some days my kids get overwhelmed by all the tasks they are being asked to complete. From a parent's perspective, lessons should ideally be easy to access (not having to go to various folders, etc. to find resources) with clear directions about what needs to be accomplished by the student and how the assignment should be submitted. We don't have access to a printer so lessons that require printing have not been done. Live lessons are also hard because of differences in time zones.
Helen Back
Posts: 242
Joined: Fri Dec 28, 2012 4:16 pm

Re: China People - What Does Online Learning Look Like for You Right Now?

Post by Helen Back »

mysharona wrote:
> We have some moms that are doing really well in 4th grade.

LOL. There is only so much you can do. We are not yet closed, but most of us feel closure is looming larger by the day. I can conference call, make videos, set edPuzzle, Quizlet, and various other assignments, but at the end of the day there has to be parent honesty too. I have no control over their actions and responses. I can only do so much.
turtleturtle
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Joined: Fri Dec 27, 2019 11:56 pm

Re: China People - What Does Online Learning Look Like for You Right Now?

Post by turtleturtle »

Great answers, thanks. I suppose I'll see what the school asks us to do if we close. So far, they just had us prepare worksheets. Interesting to see what other schools are doing. It'd be interesting to get a chance to use one of those platforms.
PsyGuy
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Discussion

Post by PsyGuy »

Mostly you tube videos, reading and worksheets.
If you really have issues with academic integrity (and those 4th grade moms) move to summative assessments that involve presentations and oral examination.
Helen Back
Posts: 242
Joined: Fri Dec 28, 2012 4:16 pm

Re: China People - What Does Online Learning Look Like for You Right Now?

Post by Helen Back »

So, you work for one of those schools doing online learning, PsyGuy? No, thought not.
mysharona
Posts: 210
Joined: Thu Jan 13, 2011 1:25 am

Re: China People - What Does Online Learning Look Like for You Right Now?

Post by mysharona »

"So, you work for one of those schools doing online learning, PsyGuy? No, thought not."

Obviously not, or he would know you can't assign Youtube videos because of the Great China Firewall
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