During this time of distance learning, many educators are already thinking to the fall. What will the school day look like after the coronavirus pandemic?
Many districts are preparing for the “new normal”. In speaking with our customers and participating in ERDI sessions, we have had the opportunity to hear from superintendents and teachers all across the United States. Blended learning solutions, where instructions take place partially in a classroom and partially using technology at home, were commonly discussed.
So, where does our computer science curriculum fit in? In a previous blog, we discussed how programming in remote learning environments must prioritize top learning outcomes, social emotional wellness for students, and minimizing the equity gap when they do return to the classroom. Read more about how you can use Codelicious curriculum to support those objectives using eLearning platforms.
In this post, we’re thinking about the future of blended learning, and how we can continue to serve you. We want to support you where you are, with the resources you already have, so you can teach students where they are. Here are some of the features we’re offering to enable blended learning – we hope you’re as excited about them as we are!
With blended learning comes the challenge of remote professional development and training for educators. Self-paced video training is already included with Codelicious curriculum. In addition, Codelicious offers professional development via webinar, so educators have the option of a fully remote onboarding. In webinars, we are happy to talk through incorporating Codelicious curriculum with the blended learning strategies specific to your school or district. We also have a list of general suggestions as they relate to eLearning platforms (Seesaw, ClassDojo, Schoology, and Canvas).
Codelicious is committed to providing holistic computer science lessons with coding platforms that are free for students. (ex. Scratch*, Brackets, Godot). In a blended learning environment, this means students can switch between their school and home devices seamlessly – there is no need for additional software licensing. An additional challenge with remote learning is not all students have equitable access to the internet. Luckily, you can still teach many of our projects with emailed or printed packets of handouts, or using the offline versions of coding platforms.
Every school has a different technology situation, whether it’s a computer lab, Chromebook cart, or even 1:1 devices. That technology situation most likely is not replicated at home – students might have to work from a different device or operating system. To meet students where they are during blended learning, Codelicious is working to provide device-agnostic lessons. That way, educators can engage their students with Codelicious curriculum, regardless if they have a Chromebook, iPad, or even a smartphone.
Finally, as always, Codelicious is constantly working to better support you as you teach computer science curriculum. Even in this new frontier of blended learning, we are dedicated to helping educators (aka real-life superheroes) do what they do best – inspire students to achieve their goals.
If you’re looking for lessons to teach from home and need some fresh ideas, check out the 6 free eLearning lessons on our Teacher Resources page!
Schedule a 30-minute call to explore our courses with one of our curriculum experts. You will preview curriculum features such as syllabi, lesson plans, and standards mapping.
* Scratch is a project of the Scratch Foundation, in collaboration with the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. It is available for free at https://scratch.mit.edu.
