Going Virtual with Student Centered Learning

Do you think student centered learning only works in a traditional classroom with four walls?

If so, think again.

This was a limiting belief that I had for probably 9 of my 11 years as a cyber school science teacher.  No one had ever suggested that I could be more than a talking head or provide more for students to work with than a set of guided notes.

Now, most of students share the same rich experiences as those in the best traditional brick and mortar science classrooms.

Still, I do have a small group of asynchronous students.  These students have earned the flexibility to not attend classes as scheduled and, if they so desire, to work entirely on their own. 

Knowing the rigor of the course had increased substantially and that these students would no longer be able to start up a video recording or read through an inadequate text to master the content each day, I set out to find a solution unique to their needs. 

It turns out the solution I built didn't only serve those asynchronous students but also provided support to my students who were attending daily live class meetings.  It also allowed me to assign new lesson content in my absence during in-service days or personal time off.  This coming school year when my meeting software changes and the rest of the teachers at my school are worrying about how to review student work in real-time during class, the solution I built will seamlessly become part of my new classroom management routine.

In this episode, you'll learn about the solution I created and, hopefully, consider why and how it might also work for you going forward into, potentially, another uncertain school year.

 

 

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SHOW NOTES:

• Get the guide, "5 Elements of Effective Interactive Science Lessons for Student Centered Learning", to learn how I prepare new technology-based science lessons that encourage scientific method mastery in my students each and every day.  The guide includes links to former podcast episodes where each of the elements was discussed in depth.
• Sign up for a 30-day free trial of BookWidgets, the cloud-based software tool I use to create digital interactive notebooks that mirror my interactive science lessons.
• Review this podcast in your player or share it on social!  Then, visit my website to share it and receive a promo code for any interactive science lesson of your choice from the Lab In Every Lesson store ... FREE!