Now, more than ever, schools are finally understanding the
importance of ensuring the foundations are in place for digital education to be
conducted successfully. Schools that had the fundamentals in place in 2020 had
a much easier transition to online learning then those who were only beginning
to figure it out.
In some cases, every teacher was left to their own devices and
there was no consistency across a school. As educators and administrators
prepare for a new year, it’s time to become strategic and create a system which
educator Jeff Utech has coined as the “Core 4.” This includes the
following:
· A
learning management system
(LMS) such as Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, Schoology, or Brightspace.
· A
backbone to your LMS such as Google Drive,
Dropbox, or One Drive. This is where all the content that ends up in your
learning management system resides and is created.
· A
tool for synchronous teaching and learning such as Google Meets, Microsoft Teams Meeting, or Zoom.
· A
tool for asynchronous teaching and learning such as Screencastify, Screencast-O-Matic, or Microsoft Stream.
In a virtual presentation to educators and
administrators, Utech suggests schools lay this out with a simple graphic
consisting of a circle called “The Core 4.” The outside of the circle outlines
the tool and purpose of each as illustrated in the graphic below.