What to do when a Classroom isn't a Room

 As much as I enjoy reading inspiring books about great pedagogy, most likely they describe a learning environment much different from my own. All the blogs about building relationships, all the Pinterest boards with cute decor ideas, and all the podcasts about great, tech-filled lesson plans are geared toward the face-to-face environment. Rather than let this get me down, I try to ask myself the following questions:

1. Is there an aspect of this technique I could use in my virtual classroom?

2. If not, is there another way to create the same result using the tools I have at my disposal? 

    In the case of step one, I have created asynchronous Kahoot games that I emailed to my online students. I leave the quiz open for one week and then email “winners.” See my previous post on building rapport through rewards. 

    Step two can be a bit less straightforward. In order to give my students a choice within an online classroom that is largely prewritten, I will design a project with several options and then a “describe your own project” option in step one. Then, I will modify the instructions in subsequent steps to be broad enough to apply to whatever the student chose. Another class is designed as a “buffet” where 200 points is full credit, but about 240 points are offered. Students can choose which 20 activities they are most interested in to complete the course. In order to structure a course like this in the LMS, though, extra communication is necessary to avoid unmerited anxiety on the part of students who see remaining assignments marked as “incomplete.” Any time extra communication is needed in a course, remember to copy parents on the communication. 

    Researchers have long predicted virtual education will eclipse face-to-face education. While this hasn’t happened on a meaningful scale yet, virtual educators have many resources available. With an open mind, they can mine ideas even from areas that don’t appear to be geared towards their teaching environments. 

Another caveat to mention is that nontraditional teachers (and traditional teachers, for that matter) can look to nontraditional sources for inspiration. I find inspiration from books on entrepreneurship, homeschooling, and even computer science. Reading from out-of-the-box thinkers in any field can serve as inspiration to the out-of-the-box educator.