The Distance Learning Playbook for Parents. Rosalind Wiseman
or dining rooms. We’ll take what we can get. These are the key messages:
➔ Identify a dedicated workspace for each child, ideally outside of their bedroom.
➔ Try to keep the space consistent so that habits form relative to that space.
➔ Keep the supplies needed for learning in that space.
➔ Develop plans for taking breaks, movement, and getting water or food.
➔ Establish ground rules for using the space, including how others in the home should act in that space.
➔ Ask them to leave that space to do other things, such as exercise, eat, and socialize.
Learn the Learning Management System
There are a number of systems that schools use to deliver instruction and learning tasks for students. These are generically known as learning management systems (LMS). Examples include Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom, Canvas, Blackboard, Edmodo, and so on. Each of them has unique features. To maximize your child’s learning, you’ll want to be familiar with the system that your school district has selected.
To start with, you’ll need to know your child’s login process. Some school systems have a single sign-in procedure whereas others have different processes. Just like you would with your bank information, make sure that your child’s passwords are secure. There has been more than one example of a student logging in as another and engaging in some questionable, and even significantly problematic, behaviors. You may want to consider something like 1password (1password.com), which is a system that securely stores and manages passwords.
Next, you’ll want to explore the ways in which the LMS works. How do learners navigate through the site? How it is organized? How do they submit work? It’s hard to help your child when they are stuck and frustrated if you are not sure about the system. Learning the system in a high-stress situation is a recipe for conflict and frustration.
Some systems allow for customization such as size of the fonts used or the activation of speech recognition software. If you are not sure about the customization features, feel free to ask the teacher. These systems are developing rapidly, and you don’t want to miss any features that could aid in your child’s learning.
The LMS will be one of the primary ways that your child will access content and tasks. It’s wise to have a general understanding about the way it works. These are the key messages:
➔ Find out how to log into the learning management system.
➔ Make sure that the passwords your child uses are secure.
➔ Learn the features of the learning management system so that you can help your child as needed.
➔ Find out the protocols for how your child submits assignments, asks the teacher a question about an assignment, or what to do if an assignment is “missing” when your child has turned it in. Again, don’t wait for your child to have these experiences!
Follow Zoom Etiquette
Not all school systems use the Zoom tool for video conferencing, but there is a growing trend to call it zoom etiquette irrespective of which platform is used. Your child may be in Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or another system. Regardless, there are certain behaviors that are expected when children are in a synchronous situation in which they are “in class” live with the teacher and other students. (Synchronous is distance learning that happens in real time during live sessions. Asynchronous learning is distance learning that happens apart from the class when students complete tasks at their own pace.)
Teachers have expectations for students in their classes, whether they are taught in person or online. Teachers should make those expectations explicit for your child at the beginning of the school year. During distance learning, teachers may need your help in getting students to practice these expectations. Of course, the expectations vary by grade and teacher, but there are some general guidelines that are always useful. For example, it’s important that your child has their materials ready before the meeting so they can join the session on time. In fact, they should be ready five minutes before class starts. As the saying goes, early is on time. It’s frustrating, time consuming, and visually awkward to have a child leave the session to go get something or to have them join late. Not to obsess on time, but you want to take advantage of as much time with the teacher as possible.
ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILD TO KEEP THE CAMERA ON. IT’S SO MUCH BETTER FOR THE TEACHER TO SEE FACES.
It’s useful for your child to stay in one spot during the meeting. If you were able to establish a consistent work area for your child, this will pay dividends when they are in live sessions with their class. Please don’t allow your child to walk around the house while in a video meeting. It’s really hard for the teacher to focus, and classmates will be distracted by watching various parts of your home. Remember, too, that the class can see into your home so checking out the visual field of the camera, based on where the computer is sitting, is important.
Some systems allow for virtual backgrounds. If backgrounds are allowed, they should be appropriate for school. We find them useful to drown out the distractions of seeing into the home. Other students are less likely to ask questions about what they see in the room if there is a background. Some schools even provide virtual backgrounds with school mascots or a photo of the classroom so that all of the backgrounds look the same.
Make sure your child knows when to mute. When there is background noise in the environment, students should know to mute their sound. They should also know how to unmute to answer questions and interact with peers. Please help your child by not vacuuming or engaging in other really noisy tasks, if at all possible. Encourage your child to keep the camera on. It’s so much better for the teacher to see faces. Not only does it help with the student–teacher relationship, visual cues let the teacher know if the child is understanding the lesson or not. It’s also important for building a sense of community in the class.
We recognize that some students do not like to keep looking at themselves on camera. They may be self-conscious or uncomfortable. After all, we’re not accustomed to looking at ourselves for hours on end, and most young people use filters and apps to adjust the photos that they post. We suggest that you teach your child how to turn off the self-view feature so that they aren’t forced to look at themselves all day. Others can still see them, but they don’t have to watch themselves. When they learn to do so, students report that they are much more likely to keep their cameras on.
TEACH YOUR CHILD HOW TO TURN OFF THE SELF-VIEW FEATURE SO THAT THEY AREN’T FORCED TO LOOK AT THEMSELVES ALL DAY. WHEN THEY LEARN TO DO SO, STUDENTS REPORT THAT THEY ARE MUCH MORE LIKELY TO KEEP THEIR CAMERAS ON.
There are also a number of tools that children need to learn to use. They can virtually raise their hands or use features that allow them to indicate that they want to join in conversation or ask questions. There are ways for them to join the conversation, such as the chat feature.
And, it should go without saying, these live sessions are class time and thus children and youth need to treat each other with respect. That includes chat. If your child tells you something that is problematic, say something. If it’s dangerous, you may need to interrupt the class. If not, you can let the teacher know following the session. Having said that, we do believe that young people deserve some privacy in their learning. Parents, please avoid hovering over every lesson. It will make your child anxious and you may inadvertently criticize something in front of your child. Your child needs to make mistakes, interact with others, and learn to attend, all of which may be thwarted if you are watching everything that they do.
Jessica and John Hannigan, developers of the PBIS Champion Model System, created the SOAR Virtual Learning Matrix to demonstrate expectations for live sessions (see the figure on the facing page). They emphasize the importance of students taking control of their own actions, staying organized, and showing respect during virtual