Virtual Learning Roundup: Lessons Learned About Making the Best Use of Distance Learning Resources

The good news: Class, unlike other online learning technology platforms, was built to augment all of the existing benefits of Zoom that businesspeople have long enjoyed with additional features, tools and distance learning resources specifically for use in virtual classrooms.

The big difference: Class actually feels like a classroom. It seamlessly interacts with existing LMS and other tools, offering teachers, students, parents and others a distance learning experience that’s in high demand during the pandemic. Even after the pandemic subsides, we anticipate that much instruction will still take place online.

That’s why we built Class.

The transition has been abrupt for everyone involved in distance learning. Fortunately, there are a lot of best practices that have emerged to help teachers learn how to create a virtual classroom and how to keep students engaged in virtual classroom settings. Here we offer a virtual Zoom tutorial for teachers covering some of the highpoints of technology-enabled learning and distance learning resources.

Suddenly Synchronous: How to Create a Virtual Classroom

Students are learning in a wide range of environments these days—some entirely in the classroom, some occasionally in the classroom, most engaged to some degree with distance learning resources. While virtual learning has, of course, been taking place for some time, the sudden emergence of the coronavirus and the need for schools to shut down has raised everyone’s need to know how to create a virtual classroom.

Creating a virtual classroom requires a number of considerations—some technology-driven, others not. Teachers need to:

• Consider the look and feel of their online classroom and the student learning experience
• Enlist students in planning their own virtual learning to boost engagement
• Leverage online learning tools, like an online whiteboard for teaching, to keep students engaged
• Mix things up with a variety of virtual classroom activities and breakouts
• Look for opportunities to bring in guest speakers and experts to expose students to new and varied perspectives

Students also need to be equipped with the right tools, technology and other distance learning aids to help make the virtual classroom work most effectively.

Here we take a deeper dive into some distance learning resources and best practices teachers have been adopting during the pandemic at all levels of education. And, here, K-12 educators share their top tips.

Blended Distance Learning for Keeping Students Engaged

Many schools around the country have taken a blended approach to learning during the pandemic—while some remain fully remote, others are adopting a combination of synchronous, asynchronous and hybrid models depending on their locations, subjects being covered, and teacher preferences.

They got the basics in place quickly. But as the pandemic continues and classes are being held in very different ways, they’ve learned how to leverage technology like Class to improve the virtual learning experience. They’re also learning new ways to have fun with virtual learning.

Both Zoom and Class also are continuing to add new features and functionality that make interacting in the virtual environment increasingly easier and engaging. The ability to break out into small groups to engage, while the teacher can pop in and out to check on progress or just chat with students, is one example.