Online teaching - ideas

[Dana Perez]

Hi! So, just in case any of you are ESL teachers, teaching kids that speak Spanish, or you have kids that speak Spanish and want them to start learning some English, I have a YouTube Channel where we teach English vocabulary and life values through play and stories. It's mostly targeted to kids from 0 to 6 years old, but pretty much anyone can watch it. Here it is if you want to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ4...6B7HSdDK2H8DBQ

[speakwithateacher]

Hi,

I am new to teaching online and just getting things set up, what I notice is a trend towrads Zoom. Skype although still popular, just doesn't seem to cut it anymore.. Also Wechat is the number 1 app with Chinese students.

[Janedelacroix]

Hello everyone,

After trying to use Skype and Zoom for teaching I accidentally stumbled upon an educational platform called iDialogue and have been using it for several months. The platform lets you arrange class-to-class calls (it has inbuilt video conferencing tools) in order to foster collaborative learning and it also has tools for monitoring student performance. Moreover, what I like is that every Friday their ESL teachers organize virtual city tours and my students get to communicate with these wonderful experts and see various countries with their own eyes. Everything is free of charge. If you want to join them, find a FB group called iDialogue educators community and join it. I joined it 4 months ago and I do not regret it and always recommend it to my friends.

[emsr2d2]

Hello everyone,

After trying to use Skype and Zoom for teaching I accidentally stumbled upon an educational platform called iDialogue and have been using it for several months. The platform lets you arrange class-to-class calls (it has inbuilt video conferencing tools) in order to foster collaborative learning and it also has tools for monitoring student performance. Moreover, what I like is that every Friday their ESL teachers organize virtual city tours and my students get to communicate with these wonderful experts and see various countries with their own eyes. Everything is free of charge. If you want to join them, find a FB group called iDialogue educators community and join it. I joined it 4 months ago and I do not regret it and always recommend it to my friends.

Is it free?

[probus]

Is it free?

The Facebook group is free, of course. But it looks like iDialogue is not free and Jane's post is a promo. However I've not deleted it, pending concurrence from other mods.

[DanielTanner]

Hi,

Lots of school are currently being closed because of the coronavirus epidemic. As a result many teachers have been forced to start teaching online - myself included. Perhaps it would be a good idea to share information about resources and software which could help us cope with this unusual situation.

At the same time let me add that

I know teaching online can be a luxury. In some rural areas in my country people are still unable to access the Internet and some students cannot afford a good Internet connection or a computer/smartphone. I am sorry if this is something you experience.

All the best to everyone,

Ania

Hi!

I've been teaching online since feb now and apart from the internet issues you mentioned, one thing I miss about face to face classes is the ability to hand out material in the moment and have students be able to start working on material straight away without having to download or finding themselves trying to deal with ineditable PDFs etc.

So I wanted to share this webapp that I've developed with a friend. I've been using it for the last few months and it's really streamlined the way I share material. Basically you can share pdfs and pics via a url link via the chatbox on zoom etc and students can open it and start interacting with it (typing/drawing) instantly.

Hopefully I'm not breaking any rules here but if anyone feels like it might be useful, it's absolutely free and you can check it out at at www.thinkio.it :)

It's made by teachers for teachers!

Happy teaching

Dan

[Tdol]

Why do you favour one browser?

[DanielTanner]

Why do you favour one browser?

Hi Tdol. You can use any browser, but since we do most of our testing on chrome we're able to guarantee it.

We're actually about to release an update to allow teachers to view and mark students' work. I'd love to get some feedback from you if you fancy giving it a go It'll be available from tomorrow morning (9am GMT).

www.thinkio.it