4.5 Common Digital Tools – Demo
Common Digital Tools
As a substitute you will need to have an understanding of the main digital tools utilized by Rhode Island schools and districts. These tools have a variety of purposes, including:
- Hubs for organizing assignments and announcements;
- General communication with students and their families;
- Methods for hosting virtual meetings;
- Collecting student responses in engaging ways beyond traditional paper and pencil assessments.
While this module is not an exhaustive list of what you may see as a substitute teacher, it will give you a good starting point, alongside access to tutorials that you can come back to again and again for reference.
Google Classroom
Google Classroom is a basic, free Learning Management System (LMS) teachers use to create, distribute, and grade learning tasks. Many teachers have used Google Classroom for years, and even more began utilizing the platform once distance and hybrid learning became more common due to COVID-19. As a substitute teacher, you may or may not be added to the course with “Teacher” access, so it is important to note that your role in the classroom may include designing and grading tasks, viewing the course, or simply supporting students as they navigate tasks on their own through the LMS. Be sure to explore the resources in the Strategy Backpack to practice using Google Classroom ahead of time. Being familiar with this LMS will allow you to feel more prepared for the variety of learning environments you will work in.
Watch this video to learn how to get started with google classroom.
Google Meet
Google Meet is a video conference tool from Google that many teachers use to host virtual classes and to provide small-group or 1-1 support to students. As a day to day substitute teacher, you may be given a link to join regularly scheduled classes. As a long-term substitute, you may need to create meetings and invite your students. Your district may give you a district email, but if they don’t, you’ll need to create a professional gmail address to use for all virtual activities. Be sure to explore the resources in the Strategy Backpack to get practice using Google Meet ahead of time. Being familiar with this LMS will allow you to feel more prepared to support students who are working in a variety of learning environments.
Zoom
Zoom is another common video conference tool that many teachers use to host virtual classes and to provide small-group or 1-1 support to students. As a day to day substitute teacher, you may be given a link to join regularly scheduled classes. As a long-term substitute, you may need to create meetings and invite your students. Your district may give you a district email, but if they don’t, you’ll need to create a professional gmail address to use for all virtual activities. Be sure to explore the resources in the Strategy Backpack to practice using Google Meet ahead of time. Being familiar with this LMS will allow you to feel more prepared to support students who are working in a variety of learning environments.
Additional Digital Resources
- Canvas is another common Learning Management System (LMS) through which teachers share assignments and resources, grade tasks, provide feedback, and communicate with students.
- Seesaw is a platform for student engagement that is sometimes used as a Learning Management System (LMS) for grades PreK-2. Students capture their learning in a portfolio using creative tools to take pictures, draw, record videos, and more. The portfolio allows viewers to see a student’s growth over time. It collects student work in one place for the teacher to view, and is also shareable with families; however, nothing is shared without teacher approval (Seesaw). In Rhode Island, Seesaw is most commonly used with young learners.
- Jamboard is a collaborative virtual whiteboard in the Google Suite of free tools. Students can add sticky notes, draw, add images, and type in text boxes, which allows students to make their thinking visible. Like a Google Document, Jamboard allows multiple users to make edits to the same artifact simultaneously. It is similar to Google Slides or PowerPoint presentations in many ways.
- Flipgrid is a free video recording, posting, and sharing platform. Teachers can create a topic/prompt, and students reply in their own words and voices with brief video responses that are viewable to all classmates. The teacher can enable settings that allow users to respond to one another’s videos with a video comment feature.
STRATEGY BACKPACK:
- Add the Digital Toolkit to your Drive to get tutorials and tips for using Google Classroom, Google Meet and Zoom.
- Review the additional resources in your Digital Toolkit to learn more about Canvas, Flipgrid, Jamboard, and Seesaw
YOUR TURN!
Activity #1
- Click on this Jamboard and respond to the prompt * You may need to scroll back and forth to see the prompt on slide 1 and to find a blank space for posting.
- Create your own Jamboard, upload a prompt, and share with a friend for practice!
Activity #2
- Click on this Flipgrid and click “Record a Response” to respond to the prompt. *You will need to sign in with a Google account, and you will need to use Google Chrome as the web browser. (If you don’t feel comfortable being on video, you can cover your camera and just record audio)
- Create your own Flipgrid prompt