Around 3 million students are enrolled in distance learning.
Distant learning offers a lot of benefits for students, with flexibility being the most beneficial. Although distant learning may seem like a dream come true for some students, there are in fact a lot of struggles that students have to overcome.
Students from kindergarten to college can often struggle with managing their time. They can also struggle with maintaining their attention and completing work.
So, how do you improve the success of distance learning programs?
There are a variety of ways that can help students overcome the challenges of learning at home and not in the classroom. Here are some distance learning tools and strategies when it comes to remote learning.
One of the best ways to improve the success of distance learning is to improve the communication between students and teachers.
When it comes to students, they need to have the tools capable of communicating with their teachers. It starts with Wi-Fi, which is essential if any student is going to be doing online work away from the teacher.
Wi-Fi is essential because it's how your students will be able to see assignments, have live discussions, and submit timely work. One of the ways to enhance student Wi-Fi communication is with hotspots. Schools should enable students by giving them technology that offers hot spots.
For example, schools can invest in resources like tablets that offer students built-in Wi-Fi. This is essential for a student's success and if teachers want to communicate with students.
Another way to improve communication between students and teachers is to consistently provide feedback.
Students may not receive enough feedback with remote learning. It could be that the teacher is either distracted or doesn't put enough emphasis on it.
Feedback through live discussions can help give students the emotional and educational support they need, especially if they are struggling with assignments.
Another way to improve distance learning is to give students practical goals. You want to make sure that they have the resources they need to complete these goals.
That's why you don't want to overload students with information. This is true especially if the students don't have the support they need from their parents or teachers to do their homework.
Teachers need to realize that they can't cover everything in class when it's remote learning. Teachers need to ensure that students have a proper understanding before embarking on a new lesson. These teachers need to make sure that every student understands the lesson fully before moving on.
Another way to improve distance learning is consistently check-up with students. Teachers should be sending emails to students, checking up with them individually regarding their work.
Teachers shouldn't just be checking up on students who are doing poorly. Teachers should also check up on students who are doing well, ensuring that they continue to have the support they need.
Teachers should also ensure that they are checking up with parents. Sometimes parents have a better idea of what their child is struggling with in school. This is especially true if the student is not communicating very much with the teacher.
It's important that students and teachers have Wi-Fi and the technology needed to be successful.
Teachers and students need to ensure that they have a laptop. A hot spot for various areas of learning is also helpful. A router is also helpful if they are teaching or learning from home.
In addition, when you have the right internet router and Wi-Fi it can help with CIPA compliant content filtering. Other forms of technology include having smart devices that auto-update classroom policies.
When it comes to remote learning practices, it can be difficult to have a schedule either as a teacher or as a student.
With so much flexibility, it can easy for teachers to hand out assignments throughout the day and just let the students try and complete them by doing it independently.
However, teachers should avoid handing out random assignments to students. There needs to be some structure when it comes to distance learning.
The best way to have structure is to have a schedule with students. Teachers should have specially designed times to talk to students in the morning and afternoon. Teachers should have times they are going to lecture or give a presentation about a particular topic in the classroom.
Students also need consistency with a schedule. It gives students the time to receive feedback. Then teachers can ensure that their message or lesson is being communicated to students.
It can also help prepare students for a specific time of day in order to ask questions about assignments. Or students can get to know other students that are taking the class around the world or in their neighborhood.
Figuring out the best strategies to enhance distance learning for teachers and students can be a struggle. It can be difficult for teachers and students to learn when they don't have the resources or a consistent schedule.
That's why the tools mentioned in this article can help create structure in the classroom. It can help elevate a student's grade and give them the education they deserve.
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