You have been working at this online teaching gig for a few weeks now, and whether you’re sinking, sailing, or soaring, you understand the need for quality digital learning content, and you understand more with each passing day that you simply can’t create it all on your own. Maybe your school system provides standardized learning material from a textbook publisher, or maybe it falls to you to upload that content. Either way, you are probably beginning to realize this canned material is not enough to engage your students in meaningful ways.

So, you’ve been thrust into the world of online learning. Are you sinking or swimming?

Motivating students in an online environment is challenging to say the least. You no longer have the ability to walk by a student’s desk and look over their shoulder to see if John can regroup a 2-digit addition problem, or if Shelia can find the circumference of a circle, or if Nick is even paying attention. Students may ask a question in a discussion forum hours before you see it, and the opportunity for meaningful, just-in-time learning has passed, and, let’s face it, it’s frustrating.

As a 20-year veteran of the classroom, I have a lot of “teacher friends.” I think the one consistent message that I hear in our socially distant conversations is that they can’t create quality learning activities fast enough or even evaluate if students are learning at all. As a veteran in the online teaching space, my biggest piece of advice each time is this: When migrating your classroom online, you no longer are the sole creator of the learning material, you are now a curator of content. But, take heart, as a curator, you can select the best resources and provide these learning assets for you students to engage in the learning in new and meaningful ways.

You may be thinking, “Ok, but how do I find this content?” Here are a few tips to find meaningful, engaging, and quality resources to share with your students:

1.      Look through all the resources that your textbook publisher provides. I mean it. There are often great little nuggets to be found in the available material. There might be online games, new lesson ideas and resources, or additional content that will assist your students as they try to learn in new ways.

2.      Search for content on trusted websites. This seems obvious, but you would be surprised what passes for truth on the internet. Websites with .edu or .gov are a great place to start.

3.      Visit company websites for classroom products you love. Love Elmer’s glue? Check out the STEAM activity ideas that they have available. Can’t live without your SMART Board? They have thousands of lesson ideas and ready-made activities that you can use today.

4.      Work with your fellow teachers and find out what is working for them. When I was in the classroom, there were always a few colleagues who hoarded their ideas but would readily use other teachers’ ideas and inspiration in a hot minute. It’s time to lower our walls because we’re all in this together.

5.      Take three long breaths. Be patient- with yourself and your students- this is new territory for everyone.

It feels chaotic, this world of ours. It seems as though everything has been taken from us: our classrooms, our students, our favorite lessons and activities, our routines… and it’s hard. As we begin to see the dust settle around us, we can begin to find new meaning, new purpose, new routines, and a new normal by working together with our colleagues, parents, and students to learn in new ways that help us make meaning out of the chaos.

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Status is onlineDawn Brinker WhiteDigital Content Development | eLearning | Editing | SMARTPublished • 2mo3 articles hashtag#onlinelearninghashtag#digitallearninghashtag#edtechhashtag#smarttechnology