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SNDLC Short Takes
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National Park Sites Get Ready to Go Live: Several National Parks are ready to join SNDLC as educational partners
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Henry Doorly Zoo Visits Meridian Elementary: Do bats eat worms?
5th-graders at Meridian use distance learning to find out! Full Story...

Rolling Out the New Media Carts: Do you want to visit with Park Rangers or Zoo Keepers, but don’t have the time or the funds to take a field trip? Full Story...

Two-for-One Deal : The same technology agreement that brings you the new media cart is also your chance to get another IP phone!
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Dear Daisy... Questions & Practical Answers for Distance Learning Users
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Spotlight on an SNDLC Distance Learning Instructor: The first year of teaching via DL can be both challenging and exciting! Full Story...

Quips & Tips, Quotes
& Links: A Grab-Bag Collection of Distance Learning Goodies
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DEAR DAISY...
Questions and Practical Answers for Distance Learning Users

Dear Daisy, I am a Distance Learning instructor teaching to multiple sites. It's been a great year, but sometimes I still feel as though the students don't see themselves as "one" class. How can I create more of a cohesive classroom environment next year? Sincerely, Wanting to Tie Them All Together

Dear Wanting- to-Tie,

Many of us teach in schools where students have attended class together since the elementary grades. We're used to classes where the students know each other well, and where the class assumes its own cohesive identity almost automatically.

Teaching in a distance learning environment is different - you have students from different schools who probably don't know each other, and they are separated by a physical distance. The DL equipment will bridge the physical distance, but as authors Brook and McVey observe in their book Shifting Focus:

"What about the feeling of distance? Technology
will only bring your class together on an emotional/psychological level if you constantly
focus on creating a cohesive, interrelated group."

Here are some quick tips and strategies for you to consider as you plan for next year's DL class:

Don't skip introductions at the beginning of the year. It's important that students feel like they know each other and the teacher. Use the document camera and ask students to share photos and personal tokens with the rest of the class. Try to incorporate introductions with curricular material so you can spend plenty of time getting to know each other. Consider having all of your students fill out interest surveys (click here for an example).

Get all the students together so they can meet each other - and you - in person. Try to schedule this early in the school year, if possible. If your students can meet at a central location several times during the school year, all the better!

Interaction is key! Students from all sites should work together, talk together and learn together. Use interactive games, role-playing, debates, peer teaching ... anything that gets your students actively involved in the content. Don't become a talking head! Interaction can and should happen in the classroom, but it can happen outside the classroom as well. Encourage students to communicate with you and with each other via email. Consider creating an electronic bulletin board for your class, or a class blog. Check out Digital Bridges or The ITV Instructor's Handbook for more ideas on how to incorporate interaction into your teaching.

Communicate with all of your students personally. Send your students and their parents a "Welcome!" letter at the beginning of the school year. Write personal notes on papers that you return to students. Exchange emails with students. Ask students at remote sites about games, contests and special events at their schools.

Teach from each of the remote sites once or twice a year, if possible. A switch in teacher location gives students at all sites a new perspective!

Maintain eye-to-lens contact with your students at remote sites. It takes practice to remember to gaze into the camera and not at the images of your students on the screen.

Keep track of turns. Write each student's name on an index card, and color code the cards by site. Draw cards randomly to call on students during various activities, or use the cards to set up groups and teams. If you use the cards consistently, everyone gets a chance to participate equally.

Thanks for submitting your question about distance learning and how you can put it to work in your classroom!

And remember: if you would like additional training (or just a refresher) on Best Practices in Distance Learning, contact Duveen Penner at SNDLC.

Daisy