Ask most parents or teachers and they’ll tell you the move to a hybrid learning setting has been a little rough. Many school districts have used a patchwork approach for remote classroom management that’s confusing students and impacting the educational process as teachers and students have to juggle between platforms and programs.
In the remote or hybrid learning environment, 3 platforms are being used:
- Classroom management
- Video conference
- Learning management
Teachers are less focused on teaching and more focused on managing technology and moving between these three platforms. VISO TeacherView consolidates all three into one easy-to-use platform. This lets teachers focus on teaching and students focus on learning.
Current Platforms Are Limiting
Students have often become reduced to a thumbnail in a box. Using video software such as Zoom, Team, or Meet provides only the most basic level of interaction. In a classroom, teachers can walk around, check students’ work, and see whether they’re engaged. With these video conferencing tools designed for business, you’re only seeing their face.
Missing is the ability for teachers to view remote students’ desktops to see how they’re working on assignments while still being able to see them to make sure they’re paying attention. Also missing is the ability to work one-on-one with students during class time without addressing the entire class. VISO TeacherView provides that functionality that’s so important in learning.
Switching between platforms makes it easy for things to get missed or lost in translation. Consider the communication process between teachers and classes or teachers and individual students. A survey by the EdWeek Research Center demonstrates how difficult it is to handle basic teacher-student communication. Here are all the different ways teachers have had to use to manage interactions:
- Posting messages
- Posting videos
- Text messages
- Phone calls
- Printing work to be picked up
- Social media
- Mailing assignments
20% of schools doing remote learning are still sending paper home for students to do their work.
Educators have gone to extraordinary steps to stay in touch with students but the situation’s messy at best. When everyone is juggling so many different communication channels and software platforms, is it any wonder that people are frustrated?
Many Schools Have Settled for a Less Than Optimal Experience for Remote Classroom Management
Nearly 93% of US households with school-age children are now engaged in some form of distance learning from home. It’s exacerbated problems for low-income or struggling students. Families trying to juggle work and manage a home learning environment are frustrated (and often angry) about the way their children are performing. Students are getting decreased learning time and attention and it’s showing in decreased test scores and benchmarking.
Most schools have done the best they can in making the rapid transition to remote learning. They’ve adopted practices and tools to try to help students and teachers and they’re trying to manage the problems that arise rather than fixing the problem. They believe the software platforms they are dealing with now are the best that they can get.
That’s simply not the case.
There’s a Better Way for Remote Classroom Management
VISO TeacherView is a new kind of cloud-based classroom management solution. It’s equipped with a built-in video conference system, enabling remote, local, or hybrid learning with the click of a button.
VISO TeacherView provides teachers with the tools they need to have a seamless experience that mirrors a traditional physical classroom virtually. This includes the ability to share the screen, camera, and whiteboard in lecturer mode or for group collaboration. It allows teachers to remotely monitor and assist students in real-time in a group setting or individually in a private mode to avoid embarrassing students in front of their peers.
It streamlines the learning experience. There’s no more juggling between platforms and programs. It allows teachers to teach while keeping tabs on the classroom pulse.
Teachers Are Doing Double Duty
When COVID forced students to move to online learning, there was inadequate time to design and develop the instruction tools they needed. As educators have had to deal with health and safety concerns, schools have had to make difficult decisions about opening, re-opening, or going back to virtual. Many parents don’t know week to week whether their students will be sitting in a physical classroom or virtual one. Switching back and forth has made the situation even more difficult.
When some students are able to attend in person and others are working virtually, it’s often meant double duty for teachers. They’ve had to adapt their lesson plans to accommodate both in-class and remote students. VISO TeacherView can reduce the workload on educators by allowing them to use one platform for every situation. Whether students are working remotely at home, locally at the school, or learning in hybrid classrooms, VISO TeacherView provides a single platform solution that can be used during routine instruction with the ability to move to distance learning with the click of a button.
Educators and Students Deserve a Better Remote Classroom Experience
During these unprecedented times, we’ve seen school leaders, administrators, and teachers step up in an amazing way. They’ve had to learn new ways to do things. They’ve had to make difficult decisions with little time to analyze or information to go on. For many, it seems just when they start to get traction, things change again.
Educators and students deserve better. We need to give them the tools to make it easier for everyone and provide the best foundation to facilitate learning. If everyone is struggling with the technology, platforms, and communication, the time devoted to educating students is shrinking. That won’t lead to the outcomes we all want.
VISO TeacherView gives teachers the best way to manage the classroom. It reduces frustration and friction and allows teachers to teach and not worry so much about the technology. It allows them to focus on one lesson plan for all their students regardless of how they are receiving instruction.
If you’d like to see a demo of how VISO TeacherView works and explore a better way to manage classrooms, please get in touch with us.