Preparing for and offering adult basic skills online during the pandemic

Submitted by David Rosen on Mon, 03/09/2020 - 15:35
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Hello Colleagues,

In several parts of the world, including the U.S., because of COVID-19, the current novel coronavirus pandemic, universities and schools have shut their classroom doors and are providing instruction only online. Stanford University on the west coast, and Hofstra university on the east coast are two recent examples. Near Boston, where I live, elementary schools have had to close.  I am not aware of any adult basic skills programs that have closed their classroom doors yet, but there may be some. Are you aware of any?

It might be useful to discuss here how to prepare for providing classes only online. Blended and distance learning programs may already be prepared to do this, but might not be prepared for large numbers of adult learners who may want to get into their online classes or use their instructional apps. Traditional face-to-face classroom teachers and administrators may need immediate online training on how to "onboard" learners to apps and how to teach online classes -- remotely by telephone or through webinars that are accessible by smartphone and home computers.  There may be a great demand for professional developers who can help teachers quickly learn how to teach online. Some programs may turn to the 14-state IDEAL Consortium with state members that have  expertise in delivering distance education and online blended learning. Some schools and programs may need to invest in online curricula, but which curricula or courses will best meet their needs? In some states -- California, Illinois, Texas and Massachusetts come to mind -- there are state-or charitable foundation-sponsored technology professional development organizations and projects that may be able to help.  Perhaps this LINCS Community of Practice may be able to help with advice on some of these issues.

Should your program or school be preparing now? Are you already prepared? If you have some thoughts about how to prepare, please share them here. If you have only questions, share those too, and let us as a community try to offer solutions. For example, I have mentioned some potential challenges here, but no doubt there are many more challenges. What are they?

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating technology and Program management groups

 

Comments

Hello colleagues,

Music?

Yes!

Paul Rogers, a frequent LINCS poster here, in English Language Acquisition and in other LINCS Community groups, often describes how he uses songs in teaching ESL online. Read this example, or just type "song" in the LINCS search and you will see his many posts and comments about the importance of singing and reading songs for immigrants learning English, in-person and online.

Paul might add, that recordings or videos of ESL teachers singing songs, perhaps ones that are for children, like the ABCs, but also songs for adults, are not only a great way for students to learn, but if you sing them, it's a great way to make your teaching personal. Perhaps you play an instrument and sing. That would be great, too. If you don't feel musical, you can get videos or audios ("podcasts") of good recorded songs for teaching English. I think Paul has a list or by now perhaps lists of these. Paul, let us know!

During the pandemic, larger gatherings have been cancelled across the U.S. Innovative unemployed musicians have been offering online house concerts online. A fellow band member of mine tried a version of a chantey sing that in good times she does regularly on Sundays at the U.S. Constitution museum in Charlestown, Massachusetts. The cacaphonous online version was, in her own words, "hilarious."  It's an Internet Service Provider (ISP) lag time problem. When everyone has even a slightly different lag time between their router and ISP, their singing together isn't pretty. So here are some tips from that experience that might help you if would like your students to sing along with you in a real-time, online class: 1) Mute their mics and ask them to sing along with you un-muted at home, 2) If you have a small class, one- by-one un-mute each student and ask them to sing with the other students singing along un-muted, 3) a variation on 2 -- after you sing a song in one lesson tell the students that they all have to practice singing before the next lesson because you may call on them to sing. If you have a link to an online video or audio recording of the song, post that to them so they can sing along with you, or another singer.

If you try this, let us know how it works for you.

If you have other tips for using music in your online learning classes or tutorials, please share with us what you do.

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS Integrating Technology and Program Management groups

.

 

Hello colleagues,

Below is a description from a local online newspaper of what a rural, community-based adult basic skills program in western Massachusetts is doing. If you have questions about this, post them here and I will try to get them answered.

Please post a description of what your program has been doing to reach and serve adult  learners during this challenging time.

The Literacy Project

The Literacy Project, adult education program with locations in Northampton, and Amherst, has gone online with its classes. Students are working to get their high school equivalency degree and then go on to community college, job training programs and improved job prospects to better support themselves and their families.

Classrooms are now closed but The Literacy Project is operating online and providing remote learning to adult students. Students are attending classes on Zoom and doing math problems at home on google classroom. They are also doing reading and writing assignments.

In addition to teaching and learning, education and career advisers are calling students to provide a lifeline to link adults in need with services like food, navigating unemployment and accessing mental health counseling. Volunteers are contacting students, reaching out by phone and email to continue to tutor students.

The Literacy Project has secured funding to give out laptops as a “scholarship” to students who cannot afford them and who are working from home. Adults 18 and over who are interested in joining remote learning classes to work toward getting their high school equivalency diploma (HiSET) can email onlinelearning@literacyproject.org.

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology and Program Management groups

 

Colleagues,

You may have noticed that one of the services the Literacy Project provides is telephone tutoring. I am looking for examples of adult basic literacy telephone tutoring programs, and want to know specifically:

1) How they recruit, train, remotely supervise, and support volunteer literacy tutors

2) What hard copy or printable curriculum materials they use

3) Typically how often, and how long, phone tutoring sessions last, and a typical format of activities (e.g. check-in, review, reading and writing activities, wrap-up -- or something else?)

These kinds of adult basic skills services, in addition to moving classes and tutorials online, are essential now for adults who do not have access to the Internet, but do have U.S. Mail and a working telephone.  Would you agree?

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology and program management groups

 

Colleagues,

Do you use WhatsApp? Have you found good WhatsApp equivalent practices to what you have done in your in-person teaching? Would you like to share your ideas with others in a format like this?

=================================================================================================

In-person teaching practice                      Detailed examples of good practices using WhatsApp as an online equivalent

Model skills or learning strategies              Make videos directly on WhatsApp.

=================================================================================================

If so, email me for access to a Google Doc where you can contribute. When it's done, I will post a link where anyone who wishes can see the document. For now, I only want to hear from those who have WhatsApp equivalent teaching practices to add. Thanks.

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology and Program Management Groups

djrosen123@gmail.com

Hello Colleagues,

In this Ed Surge article the authors, researchers at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, report how over 5,000 teachers responded when asked what the three most frequent emotions they felt were each day; before you read the article, answer this question for yourself. Then, if you wish, let us know how your results compared to theirs.

The authors argue that emotions have bearing on: attention, memory and learning; decision-making; relationships; health and well-being; and performance, all of which are part of teaching and learning.

Rather than dwell on negative emotions, the authors suggest that schools (and programs) could develop an emotional intelligence charter to support educators' well-being. "Putting our emotional needs in writing has a way of making them real for everyone. It acts as a reminder for those times when we might feel anxious or frustrated or any other uncomfortable feeling. It also serves as a contract between ourselves and our colleagues (and even students and families) to help during moments when we are anything but calm and considerate." Read more about the process of building and using an emotional intelligence charter in the article, and then tell us whether or not this might be useful in your situation.

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology and Program Management groups

Hello Colleagues,

In this WBUR article, "Teaching Without a Classroom" four Boston school teachers talk about how they are feeling in the transition to online teaching from home. I wonder if anything they describe resonates with your experience newly teaching online.

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology and Program Management groups

Thank you, David, for sharing this article. I enjoyed reading about each of the teacher's experiences. I especially connected to the comment made by David Jones, a teacher in Boston:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            "I can kind of sense within the first few moments of an interaction whether a student will warm up to the idea of academics or if they just kind of need a human that they've built a trusting relationship with to listen to how they're feeling. Some students may need to just have a cry. And that's part of what I see as my role during this time: is to be a human first and then teacher second."

This is the quote I was talking about in the last EdTech webinar and I wanted to link back to it here to mention where the idea came from.  His students sound like they are at the elementary level, but I appreciate the importance of emotional connection at any age while teaching at a distance especially right now during the pandemic. Emotional intelligence is an important aspect of any education. 

Jennifer Kluempen

ESL Instructor

 

Hello colleagues,

Are you teaching English online? Are you using WhatsApp, or thinking of using it? Do your students already use it on their smartphones to communicate with family and friends? I have created a table in which in-person teaching practices are compared with good "equivalent" examples using WhatsApp, and have invited several of our ESL/ESOL teaching colleagues here to add in their WhatsApp practices. 

Many thinks to Nan Frydland, Glenda Rose, Paul Rogers, Jennie Mollica and Heide Spruck Wrigley for providing most of the content in this table. Take a look at it HERE. If you have questions for our contributors, post them as replies here. If you would like to add other WhatsApp practices to this table, email me at djrosen123@gmail.com for editing access to the document from which this was created, where you can contribute. Additional contributions may be edited and added to this table. If so, I will add you as a contributor.

The contributors and I would love to hear what you think of this table, and how you might -- or already do -- use WhatsApp in your own online teaching. Feel free to share the link to the table with your adult ESL/ESOL teaching colleagues.

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology and Program Management groups

Hello all!

We just put together a blog post about what our adult education program in New Orleans has learned since we launched a fully online program for adult learners (in 2014). I welcome any feedback on the post - is it useful? Relevant?

https://skillrise.org/article/digital-learning-mindset

And here's a video blog that includes digital literacy tips and stories from the field that we hope will be helpful for our teachers that are just getting started online!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVaexySnkIo

Thanks for any feedback and hope everyone is staying safe and healthy as we all continue the transition to distance ed!

Thanks Joey. I like your Skillrise blog article, and your video log. You provide some refreshing ways to look at remote/online/distance learning from a learner and coach perspective. I also liked learning about the professional development models in Kentucky,  and of course appreciate your letting colleagues know about the LINCS Community.

I encourage others to read Joey's blog, look at his video log, and to comment or ask him questions as a reply to his post.


David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS Community Integrating Technology and Program Management groups

 

Colleagues,

Do you use Zoom? Have you found good Zoom equivalent practices to what you have done in your in-person teaching? Would you like to share your ideas with others in a format like this?

=================================================================================================

In-person teaching practice                                Detailed examples of good practices using Zoom as an online equivalent

Ask students to raise hand to be called on         Ask students to use the Zoom "raise hand" icon

In a discussion, call on a student                           Call on students and un-mute their mics to respond

 

=================================================================================================

If so, email me for access to a Google Doc where you can contribute. When it's done, I will post a link where anyone who wishes can see the document. For now, I only want to hear from those who have Zoom equivalent teaching practices to add. Thanks.

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology and Program Management Groups

djrosen123@gmail.com

Hi David,

Thank you for introducing the topic. One can always differentiate in-person teaching and distance learning, but teachers can still find a balance between the two ways of learning.
My students and I meet on ZOOM twice a week. So far, below are a few close similarities.
================================================================================================
In-person teaching practice                                  Detailed examples of good practices using Zoom as an online equivalent
1. Upon arriving, students sign in their names           1. Upon joining the ZOOM meeting, students write their names
on the attendance sheet                                                   on the chat space                                   
2. In group discussions, students can be divided into small groups. 2. Students can be divided and assigned
(Teacher can assign the group members in advance)                             to breakout rooms 
                                                                                                                  (Breakout rooms can be assigned in advance as well)
3. Dictation activities: Students are provided with handouts          3. Dictations activities: Students can just use
                                                                                                                         the chat space to write their answers 
4. In a computer day class, students can write their answers        4. Students can write their answers to 
 to a specific grammar question on a  shared Google document      a specific grammar question on a  Google
  without leaving their computer desks.                                               document shared by the teacher. 
. (Students have access using their Gmail.)                                      (Students also have access using their Gmail.)
                                                                                                                                                      ================================================================================
Every class can be unpredictable due to connectivity, students presence,and other matters.
The main thing is that the teacher and the students can have a platform where they can see each other visually and
discuss the essential lessons for each day class and the independent work, a significant part of students learning.

Best,

Margaret Ibasco
ESL Instructor

 

 

 

Colleagues,

A colleague emailed me that she is teaching ESL online now using Google Classroom, has newly introduced her students to Readworks and Khan Academy (for numeracy), and would like to sync these with Google Classroom. Can anyone explain how to do that please?

Thanks,


David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology and Program Management groups

There are two ways to link your Google Classroom to Khan Academy and both methods accomplish something a little different. Both ways assume you have a Google Classroom set up already. 

In Khan Academy, when you go to make a class in Khan, it gives you the option of importing from Google Classroom. This will have you sign into your Google account and you will choose your classroom and then which class. All of your students from that class will now be brought over to Khan Academy. This allows you to make assignments in Khan Academy's classroom structure but many teachers get frustrated when they find that they make an assignment in Khan Academy and that does not translate over to Google Classroom right away. There is a fix for this but it is a bit clunky. 

While in Khan Academy, you will want to stay away from the Assignments option (which is a bit counter intuitive). Instead, click Courses and then choose the math content you want, for example let's say 8th grade math. From that list you will see a number of units listed with each skill having a title and an inviting "Get Started" blue button. Click on the title (not the button)  and you will get a list of skills, again with titles and all these pretty buttons inviting you to push them. Resist that temptation and click on the heading of that skill. Finally, you will be at the screen you need to be at to create a Google Classroom event from Khan. See example page here.

At the bottom of the skill page, you will notice the Google Classroom Link. Click on that and choose your classroom. It will then ask you to choose what action you wish. It should look like this...

The key is to find the specific skills in Khan you wish and to link those into Classroom as an Assignment, Question, Announcement or just as a Material post. Most of the time you will want Assignment or Question. 

Hope that helps. 

Thanks Ed for both your replies. That was quick! I have passed them on to my colleague who emailed me the question, and suggested she join the Integrating Technology group if she has further questions.

All the best,


David

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology and Program Management groups

 

 

 

Hello adult basic skills online teaching colleagues,

Many adult learners have children at home with them, pre-school-ers, elementary-, middle- and high school-aged children. What do you know, from the adult learners in your online classes or tutorials, about ways that they as parents, grandparents, or other caregivers, may be helping their children learn?  For example, do your adult learners:

  1. Read to their pre-school children. If so what books or other reading materials are they using, and what pre-school reading strategies do they use? Is this something they need help with? Have you provided that help? Do you need ideas about what resources to provide to your adult learners who are parents who may be interested in helping their pre-school children with reading readiness, including reading for pleasure?
  2. Help their elementary school-aged children with homework? If so, how are they doing this? Are they running into challenges?  What are the challenges? Do they need help with good strategies for being an effective homework helper? Do you and they need ideas or resources for how to help their children with homework?
  3. Help their teenage children to become good homework helpers for their younger siblings? Although not every teenager is interested in this role, some are, could be. Do your adult learners need help to engage their teenage children as homework helpers or as "education caregivers" for their younger siblings? Could some of your adult learners be expert in this and have some good strategies to share with others?
  4. Play education board games or online games with their children? The LINCS Integrating Technology and English Language Acquisition groups have as members some experts in what board games and online games have been successful for families, including families from other cultures. At least one, Ed Latham, has helped families in his community in Downeast Maine to develop their strategic thinking applicable to a broad range of daily living tasks through these games. This may be a perfect time for your adult learners to learn and introduce online and board games to their families, and also to develop and help their children develop strategic thinking. Are some already doing this? What games do they and their children find both engaging and helpful in develop strategic thinking?

What other ways do your adult learners help their children learn? Have any already expressed the need to help their children to learn?

If you don't know, consider asking them. If you do, please share what you learn from them. If there is enough interest in this, I will look for experts -- in our LINCS community of practice groups; from K-12 teachers, schools and intermediary organizations; and from local family literacy programs and national family literacy organizations to help you to help your adult learners.

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology and Program Management groups

 

 


 

For many years now, I have been working to promote the hobby of modern tabletop board games in the communities I work in. My efforts have been to introduce how face to face board game play can help to improve so many ways of learning while increasing social interaction. This is a huge topic, so I am only going to outline a few thoughts here and if people have interest in exploring more, please let me know what areas interest you most and there can be so much more discussion. 

The types of games and variety available today is mind boggling. There is an international webpage in which people share their experiences, reviews, and even offer ways to change game experiences all on this incredible site. Here is a link to the Boardgamegeek's list of "top games" as continually voted on by the international gaming community. A word of caution though, just because a game shows up at the top, does not mean it is a great "first experience" to introduce. For example, the game Gloomhaven has been the number one game in the world for 3 years now and yet I rank it a 4 out of 5 in terms of complexity level when I work with people on learning games. I would never throw someone into a game of Gloomhaven without some positive experiences in other, less complex games. If you would rather watch videos on games to learn about them, I highly recommend two YouTube channels. Watch It Played is considered by many to be "the go to source" to learn how to play any given game out there. Rodney is an awesome host and he gives people a great feel for what a particular game is like. For those that like to watch celebrities learn and play games, Table Top is an enjoyable way to learn about games as well. 

Not only is the selection of games available wide, the actual mechanics and amount of social interaction varies a ton. You can have a theme of a game, lets say building train rails for example, and within that theme there are games that have players fighting for control of territory, ones that have the economics of building a rail empire being the focus, ones that build up resources to create a game machine that steamrolls over others and even some party type games that large groups of people might engage in betting on railroad companies and their development. For any given theme, there are so many options about how one could engage in game play. If you have a theme you want learners or families to explore, there are likely game mechanics out there that offer options for you to choose from. 

Although designed for face to face, there are ways to have fun and engage in tabletop games online...for free! One of my favorite ones is TableTopia. You sign up with your email, which is used simply to keep track of your games played and any "friends" you want to play games with. There are a few games that require you to have a subscription, but there are over 300 games that are free and many of them are highly rated on the Boardgamegeek list shared above. There are a few other online systems available, but I thought I would offer the one I value most for people just looking to explore first. I would personally work to help anyone learn any of these games. This brings me to the next point....

When playing games online together, it is a richer experience for everyone if people can use a voice chat program of some sort to communicate. There is a free program called Discord that people use for almost any group discussions, particularly on tabletop or digital gaming with others. My sons and I play games together almost nightly and we use Discord to talk while playing even thought we are full countries away from each other. Additionally, our discord channels are populated with many others that we have become digitally close to which has created new types of social experiences than we might gain locally. Discord channels are set up to be private and you invite others to your discord. It may be a great tool to use to connect with your learners or families. Of course there is also Google hangouts, Google Meet that are also free and at least for now Zoom and some other sources are free. With any of these other tools, people would likely want to turn off their video in order to handle the bandwidth necessary. 

Now we get to the 8,000 elephant in the room, bandwidth and connection. With so many people, the lack of "decent" Internet really makes doing much of any social interaction very limited. For that, I would advise a concentration on physically getting the games. Amazon and Miniature Market are the two places I go to get games that I want. You would be surprised at how many solo games exist today and how incredible those solo game play experiences can be! Here is one person's top solo games list and there are so many other opions on this out there. I personally own most of these games and can offer my personal take for anyone interested in any of these titles. In fact, my collection of games that can be played solo is almost at 100 now and seems to grow every month with our current situation. So, even if you don't have others to play with at home, you can still enjoy tabletop gaming completely by yourself. 

If you still would rather a digital experience and you only have a smartphone, you may want to check out this list of games. These are all tabletop standards and most are great introduction games I use to get people learning about types of games. Please note that some of these phone game versions require network connections while others you simply download and play just on your phone. A warning for those that love your phone battery, these games are often very engaging and it is very easy to loose many hours playing these games so just be aware that you may be charging your phone a bunch more if you are not used to using your phone for hours a day :) 

If any of the above sparks some interest, please know that there is this world of tabletop gaming that has so many reasons for you to start exploring. I did not even touch on the merits or "sales pitch" of why you should be exploring tabletop games. Rather, I focused on ways you might start poking your foot into a very deep pool. If you wish the reasons why, I can certainly offer my perspective and experiences and I am sure we have others in this forum that can share why they value this hobby as a social and mental learning experience unlike anything else educators can offer. I am always up for helping educators try to fit academic content into game play experiences and would encourage people to share things like, "I want my learners to have a better sense of US geography. What sorts of games might I look into?" 

I am trying to start up a webpage, specifically for educators and parents, that help navigate their way into tabletop gaming. I am including my leveling system in which a level 1 game is a great game to start people off with. A level 5 game is one I consider daunting even for experienced players. For each game I also include some academic tie-ins that are possible, and information about how much literacy skills is needed to experience the game. With information like how long the game takes to play, where to buy the game, and even videos that introduce how to play the game, I am hopeful that this website can be something parents could use. For educators, I am even including "challenges" for each game. These are academic explorations that teachers could use, within the game itself, to have learners explore, create and produce some evidence of learning while using the game and its mechanics. Think of it as a sort of learning lab option within each game. My hope is to have the public try some of these challenges and create some of their own challenges specific to other content ideas. I will have a form that people can submit ideas and those ideas get added to the public challenges list for that game. I could see this being useful, but I would welcome thoughts and ideas from others. Would you want to see what this might look like? Does it have any appeal in a practical sense? Are there ways you would want to learn more about tabletop games or gaming in general? Please share your thoughts and questions. 

 

Thanks, Ed. This is useful information. To help teachers and their students get started, I wonder if you could recommend one online game and one tabletop board game for families with children aged:

1) 5 - 8 years

2) 8 - 12 years, and

3) 12 years and up.

Thanks for any recommendations to help teachers help their adult learners get started with online games and tabletop board games with their children.

It would also be great to hear more about how these games might help adults learning English, and adults developing  strategic thinking that might apply to their lives as learners, parents, workers, community members and Internet users.

David J. Rosen. Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology and Program Management groups

The following games would work with all the ages you suggested. With each game, after the players learn the basics of the game, you could add challenges that would be most appropriate . 

Ticket to Ride: If Candyland became a train game, it would be Ticket to Ride. Players take turns either collecting colors, turning in a set of colors to buy a length of train that connects two cities, or they may take their turn selecting new Tickets that will reward connections with points at the end of the game. The trick is that there are only so many connections on the board and people are often trying to get to similar locations. Competition for grabbing tracks gets more and more intense and players struggle with, "I need to get that track before anyone takes it but I don't have enough colors yet to get it ... arrrrggggg!" All players are learning North American geography as they play the base game, but there are many other regions available now. They are also learning pattern sequencing as they juggle between buying track as soon as possible vs building up huge stacks of resources to start buying track every turn for a number of turns. Older players can get into analysis of the Ticket (requests to connect two cities) rewards compared to the cost to build up tracks to those two cities. This data could be graphed and analyzed in a number of different math levels. Players also start learning how other players think and act during this game and that becomes a next level of  play when players not only play within the game mechanics, they start playing within the social framework of who they are playing with. Players start trying to make choices that mask their intent or maybe push others to panic and make rash choices. 

Splendor: This is another game that could be played with all the ages mentioned. On a player's turn, a player chooses between gathering different colored poker chips or turning those chips in to buy cards that act as permanent colored resources. Effectively, players are each building an industrial engine of color production in order to grab resource cards that have victory points on them. First one to accumulate 15 victory points wins. There are so many challenges that can be given to experienced players. For younger players, you could focus on how long the game takes and how many turns each player ends up getting. You could then ask how many victory points do players end up with in a game (older players could figure out averages or even statistical standard deviations). The middle to older kids could graph how many of each color are available on every turn for a player. Is the data for one player similar at all to other players? Are there patterns that all players generally follow? Do specific choices in which color(s) someone concentrates on change the outcome of the game in any way? All of these challenges have to be supported with evidence from the game play. 

Azul: Players take turns collecting colored tiles in order to make patterns on their game board. As they collect enough tiles of different types they collect points. Additionally, the order they collect colors in can vastly change their scoring. When all the game boards are full of tiles, the game ends and the player with the most points wins. All ages from 5 up can play this game. For younger kids, the pattern recognition as well as the point scoring will help both their spacial and conceptual pattern skills. Middle and older players really dig into how much the order in which colors are taken matters as well as how much the choices of others really impacts the flow of the game. Data can be collected and graphed to discuss how the randomness of the color pool impacts the game play or how the number of players changes strategies. This game, more than the others, really depends on choices others make and reacting to those. All players learn some non verbal communication skills as one can often figure out the plans of others based on their reactions to the choices people make. 

There are dozens of other great starter games, but I picked these three because I have always found success in players enjoying their experience and wanting to play these games again. Also, all of these games have no textual content so people who can't even speak the same languages can play these games together and have a blast with each other (the rules are available in so many languages). Some of the other starter games out there have simple language or vocabulary skills that help people learn English (or other languages if one buys a version of the game in another language). What is great about the starter games I shared above, is that people learning English  can enjoy the game at first without worrying about the language challenges. Then, as the players get comfortable with each other, they start interacting with each other verbally and non verbally in reaction to choices players make. For instance, if I buy that train line you were saving up for, you often have some interesting comments to share with me about how you feel about my decision . Maybe you see a pattern of where another player is trying to get to in a game and you want to communicate that with others. It may start with hand gestures and body language, but I have seen communication quickly morph into words, phrases, and with some playing time together solid communication around past and present game play. Playing a game called Settlers of Catan, I learned the Spanish names for Brick, Sheep, Wood, Ore, Grain which are all resources players can auction or trade with other players. In another game, players take quite a bit of time to make decisions, so I was able to learn language around encouraging people to hurry up, or to let others know I am anxious for their turn to be over so I can get to my turn. I am horrible with other languages, which is why I appreciate how quickly people learning English dive into communication with me during these game play sessions!

As to how strategic thinking is developed playing these types of games, there are many aspects. As you may have noted in my write up, patterns exist in each of these games. Algebra, and all those rules and funky symbols is really the study of how we describe some patterns in life. The more exposure our brains get to different patterns, the easier it is for our brain to make a connection to a new pattern that is brought before us. Additionally, all of these games greatly influence a persons ability to adapt thinking based on unstable situations. A player may plan on doing option X, but because another player made that choice impossible with their actions, that plan has to shift to other options. Even the development of what other options exist is a mental exercise that helps people respond to sudden changes in real life. This ability to adapt or find other options also reduces how much stress and anxiety one experiences when changes are thrust upon us. I would bet that experienced gamers have experienced so much less stress or anxiety with all the pandemic changes that have gone on in the last month. These games help people learn to find options, change plans constantly, and adapt to the ever changing environments around them that often include changes beyond their control. 

So many other game options out there, but I hope these three help expose a few layers of this wonderful family, community and educational hobby. 

Thanks Ed. From your description of them these appear to be board games. Correct? If so, do you have any suggestions about how adult learners could obtain them, ideally at a low cost? Also, do you have suggestions for free or inexpensive online games that would be good starter games for families with children?

Anyone else have questions for Ed, or suggestions for family board games or online games that support strategic thinking, and quick adaptation of strategy when the situation changes? Anyone care to comment on Ed's observation that game playing builds adaptability useful in real life challenges that we all are experiencing in various ways now during the Pandemic?

David J. Rosen. Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology and Program Management groups

In general, many of the board games I mentioned as well as others in the Boardgamegeek list I shared, are not considered "cheap" by many families. I would expect that most games have a starting base cheap price of $20 with most games falling in the $40-$60 range and some even over $100+ !!!!! No matter what the price, people should think about a board game cost in terms of how many players will be playing, and how many hours they will be playing that game. When one thinks of the investment this way, purchasing board games is one of the cheapest forms of entertainment available today that families can engage in and learn from at the same time. Sharing board games can also be a cheap way to access wonderful games as long as families can be trusted to be respectful of the game parts and how expensive they are. In my community gaming group, I don't let others borrow my games often and even then it is to members that have attended over 100 hours of game play with us because by that time I am very confident they will respect the tools they are borrowing. I used to be less discriminatory, but after replacing over $200 worth of games due to neglect or abuse, I decided I need to give people more time to learn about the games they were playing with. 

When looking for the best price, shopping around is certainly the way to go. Amazon.com and Miniature Market are two I frequently end up ordering from after searching around. That being said, I tend to be too busy/lazy to really dig for the best deals some times. Sites like Board Game Prices or a simple Google search for a game using the "shopping" filter can get people many purchasing options to look at to get the best prices. 

As of this writing at the end of April, here are some decent prices for the games I mentioned in the last post:

Ticket to Ride: For the latest version, the 15th anniversary of the game, the cheapest is at Game Nerdz and it is $40. That being said, there is a deal at Walmart where you buy the base game and Ticket to Ride the London version for a combined $50. 

Splendor: Both Walmart and Amazon have this game at $31.39

Azul: The base game is surprisingly sold out in most places because of it's popularity and because there are a number of games that were made by the same company after Azul that people like as much or better. I bought my version a year or so ago for $30 but now copies of the original game run for $60 or more! Families interested in this type of game do have many other Azul type games like:

Azul Sagrata - most like the original game - cheapest without free shipping (unless you buy $99 of games in one order which is then free shipping) is at Miniature market for $28.38. Cheapest with free shipping is Amazon at $37.94

The question about online game options is much trickier and hard to answer. Every piece of hardware has different games available an it is even to the point that a game available for free on one type of device costs money on other devices (yes iOS devices I am looking at you) . There are very few games that are available on all devices and even those have different game feels on a phone vs playing on a large living room TV from a console like xbox or ps4 or even a computer. 

Likewise there are some games available if you sign up and download their free game interface. One of the most popular examples of this in the world  is STEAM. One just needs to click the green install button at the top of their website (after making a free account) and Steam is installed on their computer (only windows, mac or linux machines, not phones). The Steam program is basically a marketplace and a digital games toolbox wrapped up in one. There are hundreds of free games available and often (about 3 times a year) they have incredible sales where games that normally run $60 or more are available for $10 - $20. Still, if a family gets Steam installed I could recommend a ton of free games for them to explore together providing so much exploration and fun! If people have any interest, I could do up a guide of "Best free games that have educational value on Steam". Of course, this would be so hard for me to not include some low cost awesome games as well, but that could even be another post. Again, it is dependent on interest. I know many of you out there like to read and process, but rarely like to post things. If you want either the Steam free guide or the Steam low cost guide done up I can do it, I just need hear from you that it is worth doing 

Some companies, like Electronic Arts (EA) require you to sign up for a free account in order to access their online store where they often offer deals on their games. For example, EA has been offering their very popular game, Sims 4, for $5 which is an incredible bargain for a game that started out at $40 Their hope is that people love the base game and end up buying some of the dozens of expansions they have for the game with each expansion running from $15-30. Sims 4 allows players to create a virtual family, design and build their own house, have careers, establish life habits of their sims (artificial people) and even manage the many needs each sim has during the day. 

Perhaps your children have played Fortnight at some point? The company that makes this popular shooting game, Epic Games,  also offers many other games, sometimes free.  Right now, there is a great game on the Epic Store called For The King. This role playing game has players playing a sort of puzzle combat game that is very challenging and feels rewarding as you build and build. Even after a failed game, you get resources that help you expand your game play experience after every run. If parents are playing along with kids, this game is awesome in terms of building up logic, figuring out multiple strategies and in teaching people how to learn from their mistakes or failures. There are hundreds of permutations that can be tried and even if your family team of three players "wins" a run through the game, there are two other more challenging modes to play in as well as 5 expansions of the game available.

I have had some young adults playing this game with me lately and after a 3 hour run (yes games can run 3 hours of intense fun) I looked back at my notes from our discussions during the game. We had to work on teamwork, timing, sequencing, how to share resources available after every battle, how to coordinate our time individually and as a team. how to mitigate what is best for our player vs what is best for the team, how to budget and handle very limited funding, how to manage the supply/demand aspects of gear available throughout the game, and most of all how to adapt to new game elements as we were constantly surprised by some new ability that a bad guy would throw at us. We were all exhausted, but we wanted to play again the next day and some went off to play more on their own to learn more about options and share with us next time we met. 

Some may people question how appropriate any given game is for a particular age range. That is a super subjective subject and it is very important that parents be involved in the choosing, reviewing, and maybe even the downloading processes. Not all parents are comfortable with that responsibility though. Technology anxiety, general ignorance of digital gaming norms, as well as their child's lack of patience when a parent does try to figure out some of this stuff can all contribute to a parent just handing over a credit card and saying, "Go play but don't spend over $XX.XX" Perhaps our adult learners who have families might be interested in resources we create centered on "Understanding your child's entertainment world"? There is certainly enough content and I think many adults, educators and parents, could benefit from understanding the options, challenges, and benefits available in these digital worlds we often just have to let the kids go out into alone because we just don't know enough to conceptualize what these kids are talking about. 

I have almost unlimited energy to spend on helping others learn more about games, so please don't be shy in asking about any of the above content or any other questions about games, gaming, how learning fits into any of these, or any other ideas you have on the topic of families exploring learning through game play. If others have gaming experiences they wish to share, I love hearing from others about what they learned from game play both in physical table top board games and the digital game worlds available today. 

Hello Edward, I wonder if you have any thoughts about the idea of using or adapting games such as Telestrations or Taboo in the ESL classroom. These are some favorite board games in my own family that we've been playing more during the coronavirus lockdown.

I've been thinking about how I might be able to use a simplified version in my classes, once we can meet in person again. We were talking about family board games in a recent Zoom class and my students asked me what games I like to play with my family. I have older teens, and most of my students in this class have younger children. I think Taboo might be too difficult for an ESL class unless it was adapted into a simpler version. Telestrations, which somewhat resembles Pictionary, might also be fun to try.

Thanks, Jennifer

 

 

Thanks for sharing these thoughts, Jennifer. The games you mention fall into a category of gaming called Party Games. Their nature is to get a relatively large group of people participating in game play that is highly dependent on communication. The rules and mechanics are rarely very complex or deep as the focus is on the social interaction within the game set up. 

With that in mind, I think using these party games with ESL students would have more success if the players felt really comfortable with each other and the language required in the game. I have two main concerns with party games in this context:

  1. Many party games try to evoke laughter during the game play and if I am a person that feels insecure in any way, I could misinterpret group laughter at times in a critical light.
  2. Another thought that comes to mind is that different cultures have completely different expressions. In party games, communication within the group is often a vital component and it can be very frustrating to be trying to communicate something that is horribly obvious in my culture, but since the other players don't know my culture well, they don't have a clue and we loose. Now this could be a great positive aspect if the group all knows and trusts each other well and the miscommunication can be used by the group to learn more about the cultural differences within the group, but that can only happen as the group builds up that trust with each other. 

If you stay with party games, you might look for options that really focus on small groups of maybe 3 people, maybe they might even be in teams. It is often much safer to take social risks in smaller groups and with success on those smaller scales the experiences can be expanded to larger and larger group experiences. 

No matter what type of game category people pick from (and there are tons of categories available) I think it may be best to start with games that are not text dependence and may not require much communication as part of it's mechanic. In my informal community experiences, a simple game of mancala (Link for how to play) can be transformative in helping people connect non verbally. As that connection gets stronger, communication starts up. People start with phrases, words or exclamation all centered around a specific move or strategy a player just used. I have had some players  become so much more fluent verbally playing these games that are not communication centered. Almost all of my players then can easily transition over to games like Settlers of Catan in which players have to auction with each other. "I have two bricks. I can trad them for 3 sheep". If your learners are already comfortable with communicating at this level then maybe party games like Telestrations or Taboo could be very successful. 

To your question about adapting either of those games ....

Telestrations: Even when people have shared experiences, like all seeing the same movie, may not get references because art skills can vary so much in this game. While the miscommunication that results in the gameplay can be a blast, it may frustrate people feeling that others just don't understand them or they don't understand others? Perhaps a modification could be to have a relatively large list of vocabulary words players can use so there is a bit more control over the types of words that could be drawn? Having multiple vocab sheets available and even giving each player a different sheet during play could result in other interesting variations of the game. 

 Taboo: Vocabulary can be such a huge part of this game. I have had players frustrated that they did not know what the top word or even some of the forbidden words meant and they get so flustered they forget they can pass. Alternatively, some players end up passing through so many cards until they find a word or set of words they are comfortable with. I love this game in terms of stretching how we describe something to others without saying specific words. I dislike the time element and if I were to use this game I would try to modify it someway to get rid of that timer. In fact, there is a similar game called Conenames that you might enjoy looking into. You have two teams, like Taboo, but instead of just accumulating points, the teams are competing on the same 5 x 5 board of vocabulary words. If someone on a team guesses wrong, they could score points for the other team or they could even loose the game outright. This competitive, puzzle type format really discourages the random blurting out of thoughts or ideas, and teams often will pass simply so they can have whispered discussions with each other while the other team is doing their turn. Teams often take notes to logically put together what their clue giver is trying to get them to guess. Experienced players may even take notes on the other team to start figuring out which words to not guess at all. 

I know your family loves to play these games. Can you share what you hope your learners get form game play? Are you looking to help them feel more comfortable with others? Are you looking more towards building/testing vocabulary? Are you looking to get players collaborating more or competing more? So much of what game we choose, and how we modify games we would love to introduce depend on what we hope to accomplish from the game play. My thoughts above are from a more social comfort angle as I have found that to be one of the biggest challenges in getting people enjoying game play of any kind together. Perhaps you can share some of your outcomes you would be looking for and how you feel each of the games might help learners get there?

Does anyone else have perspective or ideas for Jennifer concerning Telestrations or Taboo games in the ESL classroom? 

Hello teaching colleagues,

Two days ago I wrote, "Many adult learners have children at home with them, pre-school-ers, elementary-, middle- and high school-aged children. What do you know, from the adult learners in your online classes or tutorials, about ways that they as parents, grandparents, or other caregivers, may be helping their children learn?"

I wonder if you have asked your students this question yet, if you plan to  -- or If you have asked, what they said.

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology and Program Management groups.

 

Hello Integrating Technology and Program Management colleagues,

I want to call your attention to another discussion thread in the LINCS Integrating Technology and Career Pathways groups, A Conversation with Tadd Wamester on Coronavirus, Continuous Learning, and Career Pathways, and invite you to join in. The whole discussion is rich and fascinating. For example, consider this issue raised by Tadd:

What do peer activities look like with social distancing measures in place? How do we model and share recommendations that our learners can bring to their own families, friends and neighbors? I think we are all going to be looking for guidance and leadership in this area. But I also would like to see adult educators share their favorite activities that they won't be leading when classrooms reopen, and alternative activities with similar learning outcomes that align with social distancing guidelines. How do we translate effective peer activities to adhere to social distancing guidelines and so that they minimize the risk of infection?

It may feel premature to think about a return to in-person learning that includes social distancing (and face masks?) and what might or might not be possible in this new in-person teaching and learning under these circumstances. However, I agree with Tadd that it isn't too soon to think about. Have you thought about this? Do you have some thoughts you would like to share?

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology and Program Management groups

Hi Everyone - As part of the ongoing ProLiteracy webinar series on distance learning, this Friday May1 from 2-3PM ET will feature a Zoom representative who will show how to use some of Zoom's features: breakout rooms, whiteboard, polling, and other features to enhance your distance learning lessons with students. Click here to register.

Hello colleagues,

On Thursday, April 30th, LINCS offered what turned out to be a very popular webinar (620 registrants and 386 attendees) with three adult basic skills teachers talking about and answering questions about their classes newly moved online. The three teachers were: Nan Frydland, Amy Elston and Amber Delliger. Following brief descriptions of them below I will separately post some questions for each that the one-hour webinar did not allow sufficient time to answer. I hope they will be able to answer some of these questions here. Many, many thanks to all three teachers/instructors and to those who joined in on Thursday with their questions. When the webinar has been approved we will post a link here. Meanwhile, you may be able to receive an emailed copy if you email Jessie Stadd <jstadd@manhattanstrategy.com> or Melissa Zervos <mzervos@manhattanstrategy.com> .

Nan Frydland

Nan has been teaching low-literacy adult immigrants for more than fifteen years, using culturally responsive pedagogy. She’s currently an ESL instructor at Stamford Adult Education in Connecticut. On March 16th, she shifted her classes online, using the app known as WhatsApp. Nan has published and presented on the Mutually Adaptive Learning Paradigm© (MALP) and transformative learning. She holds an MFA and M. Ed from Long Island University in TESOL -- (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). Nan is a member of the LINCS CoP Integrating Technology, English Language Acquisition, Diversity and Literacy, Professional development and Teaching and Learning groups.

Amy Elston

Amy has been an instructor of Adult Basic and Adult Secondary Education at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois for 14 years. She is also a Content Standards Trainer for the Central Illinois Adult Education Service Center. She provides reading and writing instruction for adult students, GE levels 2-8. On Friday, March 13th, she learned that her language arts classes wouldn’t be returning to the on-campus classroom. On Monday, March 16th, she transitioned to virtual classroom meetings using Blackboard Collaborate, a real-time videoconferencing tool. By the second class meeting she was able to have 70% of her class join the new format. Through a collaboration of Blackboard, Google, Kahoot, Readworks, and more, she’s continued to connect with students and meet their academic needs. She’s eager to share her successes and failures over the last four weeks in hopes to encourage and assist other instructors during this challenging time. Amy is a member of the LINCS CoP Integrating Technology group.

Amber Delliger

Amber has been an ABE teacher in Minnesota for the past 13 years. Her current teaching assignment involves co-teaching developmental algebra courses with faculty at Anoka-Ramsey Community College. She proudly serves as the Adult Numeracy Network Region 3 representative. She’s a member of several LINCS Community groups, including Math and Numeracy, AskANN, Professional Development and the Integrating Technology group, among others. Amber holds a Masters's degree in Educational Leadership. She loves attending and providing numeracy professional development, and she’s been recognized as a semifinalist for the 2020 Minnesota Teacher of the Year.

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating technology and Program Management groups

Nan, the following are questions that were posted in last Thursday's webinar that you may not have had time to (fully) answer. I hope that you might be able to address some or all of them here this week. First, however, I have a question that occurred to me as I read the questions below, and that many teachers may also have. Since I believe that you had not used WhatsApp before, at least for teaching, how did you manage to learn so much about teaching with WhatsApp in just these past few weeks?

Questions from participants in the webinar:

1) How did the microphone feature (presumably in WhatsApp) help your students engage?

2) When you mentioned discovering the microphone, is that with Powerpoint or WhatsApp?

3) What advice do you have for state policymakers who might want to support other adult education programs that are trying to develop approaches like yours?

4) (A comment, not a question) BRAVO!  You have met your students where they are!!  AND..because you are also new to online teaching, your students are meeting YOU where you are, too.  When we are REAL with our students, we all find meaning in learning together!  Thank you!!!!!

5) (I believe this was answered in the webinar, but would be helpful to repeat here.) How much time do you put into all this prep?  It seems very labor intensive?

6) Do you have step-by step instructions for transferring Powerpoint slides to WhatsApp?

7) (Several people asked this question.) Could you provide instructions for hiding phone numbers in WhatsApp?

8) How many students do you have in your What'sApp classes?

9) Do you use WhatsApp on your phone or on your computer?

10)  Is WhatsApp on your computer so that you link it to PowerPoint? I've only used in on my iPhone.

11)  Are you working with all the students at one time?

12) What percentage of your students are able to learn this way?

13) Do you mainly chat with students during the set time for class, or also outside of those hours?

14) Can you send documents in What'sApp?

15) Does everyone see the student texts, or does just the teacher see them?

16) Is it difficult to set up groups in What'sApp?

17) Do you think What'sApp is the easiest format for beginner level students vs. Zoom or Google Classroom?

18) Is there more about MALP that we can read online?

19) How much do you trust Whatsapp? I have heard that it's based in China.

-------

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology and Program Management groups

Thank you for asking how I came to use WhatsApp as a teaching platform when I knew so little about it before March 13.

The short answer is I learned by doing. I put pedagogy first and technology second.

I was looking to mimic the culturally responsive teaching practice I knew, which meant asking questions, transcribing students’ answers, and making illustrated Word documents that I copied and distributed, to be filed in loose-leaf binders called Our Book. In a class with a smarthboard, I had started using Flip Charts, and lacking a smartboard in the other, I wrote on swaths of white paper taped to a plain old whiteboard.

Fortunately, in my basic class, we had just conducted a Learning Experience Approach event, walking around town to identify buildings and taking photos. Having incorporated this project in Our Book, students had answered questions working collaboratively in class. Answering questions individually followed the scaffolding procedures described by Marshall & DeCapua (2011) in the Mutually Adaptive Learning Paradgim,© which I’ve used as my guiding light for instruction for eight years.

But the process I used was  challenging and tedious, taking a photo of a Word document in Our Book, clicking on Photos, clicking on send, clicking on WhatsApp, clicking on BasicClass, then clicking on send. My head was spinning and my thumbs numb at the conclusion of sending thirty documents, texting and responding, for two hours.  

I switched from Word to PowerPoint after thinking about conference slides with little text and large photos. I sent a PPT, but students couldn’t open it. Again, I took photos of the slides, and sent them from a Photo library. Tedious.

Finally, my husband noticed my frustration and suggested I copy and paste the slides one by one, bypassing the whole Photo and send process. Arranging WhatsApp on left and my slide deck on the right of my desktop screen, I could copy and paste a slide into the WhatsApp message box in one, easy move.  

Next, my husband pointed to the WhatsApp microphone. What a genius! Using voice message, I was closer to emulating my classroom activities. My students and I could talk to each other and I could transcribe what they were saying in real time, sending slides of the transcriptions for them to recognize and read. Exciting! That was even better than the classroom, and using a thumb drive or rolls of paper to transcribe and expand at night.  Now, the slides created in one class formed the basis of the following class, redone as clozes, expanded and developed according to a theme. 

One morning when my internet connection failed, my students and I used the video call feature of WhatsApp to continue our class for an hour and a half. I found it stressful, managing the delivery of content, holding up a textbook, and correcting answers. Although students talked back and forth to each other while I listened, I’ve gotten comfortable with our classroom activities just the way they are. This too, shall pass, I thought.


Eventually, my students and I got into a rhythm of exchanges, text, voice and documents. There were jokes and emojis.  Students contributed to Our Book with photos of themselves cooking at home, studying, playing with children. We were very connected. We studied protection procedures and laughed at our masks. We finished our entire Ventures textbooks and had time for a week of review, and an Introduction to Digital Learning, before classes ended last week.

So far, I’ve done what adult learners, survivors, refugees, marginalized, low SES and others do. We just figure it out, no PhD required, just survivor skills.  I've so much more to learn and I'm looking forward to it.

Nan Frydland

ESOL Instructor

 

Hi David,

Here are my responses to questions from participants from the webinar.

1) How did the microphone feature (presumably in WhatsApp) help your students engage?

 The microphone was essential to participants because they aren't familiar with written English, with the keyboard, or with texting. Participants were able to answer my questions, ask each other questions and answer them, allowing me to write up their speech and send it back formatted in a PowerPoint slide.

2) When you mentioned discovering the microphone, is that with PowerPoint or WhatsApp?

There’s a mic in PowerPoint? Yes, the microphone icon is located in the bottom right corner on WhatsApp. It operates differently on the computer and phone. On the computer, you tap to record and tap to send. On the phone, you tap and hold while recording and release to send.

3) What advice do you have for state policymakers who might want to support other adult education programs that are trying to develop approaches like yours?

I am not in a position to advise state policymakers.

4) (A comment, not a question) BRAVO!  You have met your students where they are!!  AND..because you are also new to online teaching, your students are meeting YOU where you are, too.  When we are REAL with our students, we all find meaning in learning together!  Thank you!!!!!

We’re all adult learners.

5) (I believe this was answered in the webinar, but would be helpful to repeat here.) How much time do you put into all this prep?  It seems very labor intensive?

I found preparing for WhatsApp classes to be easier than preparing for in-person classes.

I used to spend time transcribing flip charts of print created in class, reformatting it, and copying it for distribution in class. But reading pages of text I would normally distribute is challenging on a tiny phone screen, so I made images the focus of each page, with far less text. Using these pages is the mainstay of instruction, and it isn't time-consuming at all. I usually prepare 30 P:owerPoint slides for a two-hour class, including some 40-second videos.

Students had taken photos around town and they were invited to take photos of themselves at home, which they could do with the WhatsApp camera feature and post immediately. I made videos in and around my house that reflected common activities in 40 seconds or less. I urge teachers to follow the example of Canadian teachers who made photo books in a similar way, rather than using stock from YouTube. The more readily students can identify people and places in photos and videos the more likely they are to learn the new language associated with them. After you have created a bank of photos and videos they can be used multiple times for different purposes, grammar objectives, clozes and open-ended questions for students to respond to.

6) Do you have step-by step instructions for transferring PowerPoint slides to WhatsApp?

Hover the cursor on the slide, click copy. Hover on the cursor on message box, click paste.

7) (Several people asked this question.) Could you provide instructions for hiding phone numbers in WhatsApp?

It depends on what you mean by hiding. Phone numbers are hidden in the thread, but I think it is still possible to access phone numbers by tapping on the person’s name to view their contact information. So it might ave been misleading for me to say that the numbers are hidden. They are hidden during our class exchanges.

On the other hand, some students chose not to give their name, just their phone number, so that only the number was visible in the thread and no name was connected to it under contact information.

At any rate, this is how we created groups with only names displayed in the thread.

When you Create a New Group, don’t use Add Participants from Contacts. Instead Add New Participant and enter a person’s name, then their phone number.

8) How many students do you have in your What'sApp classes?

I’ve had 2-6 students in classes. Many students were not present to download the app, some did not understand that we were having class using WhatsApp, some students are working or looking for work, and others cannot use the app because they did not have time for appropriate instruction. I expect that many more will be able to use it when we practice in a live classroom in the future.

9) Do you use WhatsApp on your phone or on your computer?

I conduct the class using a computer but I the phone is connected too because it’s a speedier connection for listening to voice messages. Also, I can send photos from my phone library that aren’t on my computer, and vice versa. I can also have multiple PowerPoints on my screen to borrow slides from other slide decks.

10)  Is WhatsApp on your computer so that you link it to PowerPoint? I've only used in on my iPhone.

I haven’t linked: The programs run side by side on my desktop. The ease of use is transformed with a full keyboard and large screen. Students can also use their computers. Two of my students used their children’s computers and they were much more engaged than those on phones.

11)  Are you working with all the students at one time?

Yes. I often answer individually, unless several students answer at once and their answers are all acceptable, in which case I save time by sending a happy face or thumbs up emoji.

12) What percentage of your students are able to learn this way?

100% of those attending classes, but that is a small percentage of the original classes. I reiterate that it is easier to use WhatsApp on a computer than on a phone.

13) Do you mainly chat with students during the set time for class, or also outside of those hours?

I have chatted only during the set hours, although I have offered to answer questions at any time.

14) Can you send documents in What'sApp?

Yes, it is possible to send a Word or PowerPoint document, but the receiver needs to have the program. Since my students don’t have the programs, pasting pages in the message box works.

The WhatsApp attachment feature from the computer is slow, so I don’t use it.

The WhatsApp camera is good to take selfies and share in class.

15) Does everyone see the student texts, or does just the teacher see them?

I think that any text or voice message can be private using the Reply feature which has several options.

16) Is it difficult to set up groups in What'sApp?

No. It’s very easy. My students did it. Just tap New Group, add student names and numbers, name the group, add a photo.

17) Do you think What'sApp is the easiest format for beginner level students vs. Zoom or Google Classroom?

I haven’t used other formats for teaching, so I don’t know.

I think there is a question about the focus being on viewing participants or sharing materials.

Our small groups share 30 slides of material in two hours, but we don’t see each other.

18) Is there more about MALP that we can read online?

Yes, at https://www.academia.edu/ search: Mutually Adaptive Learning Paradigm.

Helaine Marshall and Andrea DeCapua developed this framework and I, among others, have written about implementing it.

19) How much do you trust Whatsapp? I have heard that it's based in China.

It’s encrypted. People have used it worldwide for years. I have never heard of a problem.

Nan Frydland

ESL Instructor

Amy, here are some questions from last Thursday's webinar that I believe were intended for you:

1)  We haven't used Blackboard before. What do you suggest?  What are "tips" for beginning and learning quickly like YOU did?  Thanks!

2) Is Blackboard easy to set up?

3)  What were the programs you used in conjunction with Blackboard?

4) Are your students using Chromebooks?

5) What do you do if students don't have a computer?

6) Can students use Kahoot when we are in a video conference and they only have use of their smartphone?

7) How do you use your text books in a digital platform?

8) Is there a cost for Readworks?

9) Does Readworks track time?

10) Did all 11 students engage immediately? If not, how did you reach them to engage them in distance learning?  I have tried calling, emailing, and text messages with no luck.

11) Any suggestions for teaching writing? Are students persisting w/longer writing/reading passages?

12)  I would love to know more about how you're using Google forms!

13) Newsela? I am not familiar with that program... What does it do? You have mentioned it twice and it sounds interesting.

14) (This might be a question not only for Amy, but also for Nan and Amber.) Are grading systems used more flexible now due Due to CV19 challenges? Has your grading changed as a result?

15) Do you use any ebooks?

--------

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS Integrating Technology and Program Management groups

1)  We haven't used Blackboard before. What do you suggest?  What are "tips" for beginning and learning quickly like YOU did?  Thanks!

Lots of online videos are available for learning. I suggest begin by posting assignments in the announcements section as this is easy for students to find. Later move to modules, etc. 

2) Is Blackboard easy to set up? I feel it is easy to set up after watching a few videos. Do not try to learn everything at once. I suggest do a little, learn a little.

3)  What were the programs you used in conjunction with Blackboard? I used readworks, google docs, NewsELA, and edpuzzles.

4) Are your students using Chromebooks? They are not using whatever they have access to. 

5) What do you do if students don't have a computer? Many without computers use phones and some also were able to borrow laptops from the college.

6) Can students use Kahoot when we are in a video conference and they only have use of their smartphone? The students switched between screens, but I also read the questions and color combinations. 

7) How do you use your text books in a digital platform? I scan and share page as a pdf on the screen. They have the text books also.

8) Is there a cost for Readworks? Readworks is FREE! It also has an audio component that reads for the students if you wish to enable that feature. Readworks also offers MANY webinars right now to assist in learning about their site.

9) Does Readworks track time? I do not see an option for that. I am inquiring myself on that.

10) Did all 11 students engage immediately? If not, how did you reach them to engage them in distance learning?  I have tried calling, emailing, and text messages with no luck.

I am so sorry. Most students engaged immediately some took a couple days. But all I can say is keep trying.

11) Any suggestions for teaching writing? Are students persisting w/longer writing/reading passages?  I have students write in Google Docs and Guide with live video discussions. Yes they have done a great job with longer reading pieces and writing. To keep them going with writing, having them share their Google Doc and editing it frequently helps to keep them engaged.

12)  I would love to know more about how you're using Google forms! I use the Google forms for quizzes and worksheets, usually independent homework. Sometimes I put the textbook questions in and have them submit their answers in the Google Form. This makes grading much easier.

13) Newsela? I am not familiar with that program... What does it do? You have mentioned it twice and it sounds interesting. NewsELA allows you to level reading passages for the students. It is everything from current events to history or science topics. You can take a NewsELA text and choose the Lexile you want. This allows all students to read and respond to the same text but at their level.  They provide four questions to each text, which are standard aligned, but there are only four. Many times I would add more questions through a Google Form.

14) (This might be a question not only for Amy, but also for Nan and Amber.) Are grading systems used more flexible now due Due to CV19 challenges? Has your grading changed as a result? Our students are not formally graded. The TABE test is their grading. That being said, I grade student work with a percentile the same as I always have.

15) Do you use any ebooks? I do not. I am sure that is a great option! I think it is important to streamline what we use with students so as not to overwhelm them with too many options. For that reason, I have not moved to other sources.

Amber, here are some questions for you:

1) How do you deal with privacy rules when uploading Zoom lectures on YouTube?

2)  (Amber, I think it was you who mentioned "phet" online manipulatives. Could you describe what these are and how you use them online?) I love the phet online manipulatives and demos.

3) When I try to use the Zoom white board, my lines come out very squiggly and I find it hard to write (right?)-control the mouse. I use the one built into my laptop. Any tips?

4) How many students do you tend to have in a Zoom class?

5) Are your classes free to the community? Non credit?

6) How do you record DL hours of attendance for assignments?

7) What platform did you use to make your Week at a Glance?

8) Does the register now link access (to?) registration?

9) You mentioned having two days to prepare students for online learning.  What are the numbers like now as compared to in-person? We didn't have a buffer for transition and we're struggling to engage students.  We have tried email, phone calls, and text messages with no luck.  Do you have any recommendations?

10) I would love to hear more about how you're able to see and respond to student work.

11) What is Edmentum?

------

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS Integrating Technology and Program Management groups

 

 

Hello Everyone!

It was great to be able to listen to such wonderful ideas from my colleagues from around the country during last week's webinar. I think surrounding ourselves with good teachers and good humans is incredibly important during this time.

I wanted to take a moment and reply to some of the questions, but as always, please feel free to reach out to me here or via email or Twitter any time!

1) How do you deal with privacy rules when uploading Zoom lectures on YouTube?

I don't require any students to use a picture or video during my lectures when recording. We always have time that isn't recorded at the beginning/end of class to allow them to speak freely if needed. We also encourage them to 'rename' themselves with their first name or initials. The biggest thing that we do is hide videos when recording so that we don't have to worry about that as much.

Our students also get notified that we are recording when we start. So they are aware.

Our YouTube channel isn't public so that is another way we are working around some privacy concerns. 

2)  Online Manipulatives

I draw a lot of pictures when I teach, but I also want my students to have hands-on experience with content whenever possible.

I use Desmos for a calculator and graphing. Geogebra has some great tools for working with shapes that I like to use. Math Learning Center has good ten frames, fractions, etc that I like to use (https://www.mathlearningcenter.org/resources/apps)  Didax also has some useful tools that I tap into when needed (https://www.didax.com/math/virtual-manipulatives.html)

3) When I try to use the Zoom white board, my lines come out very squiggly and I find it hard to write (right?)-control the mouse. I use the one built into my laptop. Any tips?

ME TOO! :) You're not alone. Luckily my students know that and they roll with it. I don't have a tablet that I can write on with a stylus and I am super jealous of people who do! 

Honestly, I feel like it's getting better and I'm figuring out different ways to write my numbers (6 is tricky for me for some reason) that help with the smoothness of the writing.

4) How many students do you tend to have in a Zoom class?

I average about 15 during live lecture times and then I have a number that pop in and out during open student support hours. It definitely isn't the numbers we had in person, but since we are posting recorded lectures and video supports (recorded modules that are NOT during Zoom Lectures) I know there are many ways to get the content. Students are completing assignments well, so I know they are getting it somewhere! :)

5) Are your classes free to the community? Non credit?

My classes are part of a collaboration between Metro North ABE (my ABE consortia) and Anoka-Ramsey Community College. I partner with college faculty to help provide support and additional instruction for students in developmental math courses. Our hope is to support students in getting through dev ed and into college credit earning courses in as few semesters as possible.

Students meet 5 days/week (MWF 90 mins, TTH 50 mins) but are only charged for a portion of those hours. Students essentially only pay for the MWF portion of the class, and receive the T/TH for free (We consider those extra 100 minutes ABE time). Because of this we are able to get through 2 courses of dev ed algebra in 1 semester. So we save them time and money -- and are able to really dig into their skill gaps or areas of interested with our dedicated ABE time.

I am responsible for about 100 minutes of targeted instruction each week with each class. We use those 100 minutes in lots of different ways depending on the group and their needs. I spend a lot of time building the soft skills based on the ACES set of standards and incorporate growth mindset and problem solving tasks as a regular part of our practice.

ABE also offers a number of additional free supports on campus for students to take advantage of such as ACCUPLACER bootcamps, math study groups, Pre-Fall Semester Refreshers, Summer Skill Building courses, TEAS test prep, etc. 

6) How do you record DL hours of attendance for assignments?

This is one of the trickiest parts we are dealing with right now. So, I am currently unable to collect contact hours for students who are accessing our recorded lectures or YouTube videos. I also am unable to collect hours for assignments I am asking them to complete and turn back in. I'm only getting contact hours for the time they are attending LIVE activities (lectures/study groups) or proxy time for the assignments completed in Edmentum or My Math Lab.

Minnesota recently announced they are working to approve courses run on different learning management systems that are able to track "active time on task". Since we use D2L at our site, I am working with the college to get me the reports for students 'active time' on D2L with the intention that I could submit those for clock hours. 

7) What platform did you use to make your Week at a Glance?

I make everything in Google Docs and/or One Note. The college uses One Note for everything and my consortia uses Google. So, I'm learning to be super flexible in both. I start by making a table and then make it fancy with coloring in cells and adding in links. Once you get the initial structure down, it's SUPER easy to maintain. 

8) Does the register now link access (to?) registration?

All of the links send students to resources that they may need. So I have links to sign up for individual tutoring time with me or the campus tutors. I have links that also go to Tutor.com (which is provided through the campus). Any links about registering for Summer Skills options or other registrations go to a Google Form that allow students to give us their contact into and their areas of interest and then my ABE program reaches out to each student to help them find the ABE offering in our consortia that best meets their needs.

9) You mentioned having two days to prepare students for online learning.  What are the numbers like now as compared to in-person? We didn't have a buffer for transition and we're struggling to engage students.  We have tried email, phone calls, and text messages with no luck.  Do you have any recommendations?

There was a honeymoon period where we had lots of engagement right away. It was new and exciting and they were in the habit of doing school, so I think those first few days were the most attended. Since we had 2 days to show them how to access Zoom and the tools we thought we might use, we were fortunate to get some of those kinks out before they left.

Now the participation is incredibly different. Since we have so many different ways to access content, it's hard to gauge how active students are. Which is great for providing equitable access but trickier for formative assessment :)

It definitely has been hard to track students down. And I'm finding that to be one of the hardest parts of this entire process. I have found texting to be the best way to reach most students. But I'm also calling and emailing too. I don't have any great recommendations. I have sent videos and pictures to try to humanize the experience and instead of focusing on why they aren't in school, my messages are about how I am thinking of them and hope they are well and offering my support as needed during this time. I find that reaching out as human to human seems to at least get some response and then I leave the door open for them to return when things calm down a bit and usually say "Hey, I'm going to touch base with you next month to see how you're doing and see if you're ready to start back up. Call or email me earlier if you'd like."

10) I would love to hear more about how you're able to see and respond to student work.

I have my students use the Cam Scanner app or Google Drive on their phone to make their work into PDFs (It's REALLY easy once they get the hang of it and it's an important skill for college anyway!) and then I add text boxes and/or highlights/ notes to their work and send it back to them. I try to not overwhelm it and find some important pieces to focus on in each assignment. I can also write a note encouraging them to visit me in student support hours for help or pushes if I see the need. Students actually follow up with it!  I'm surprised! 

Also, I will note when the 'work' looks just like what is spit out of a math app and ask them to "explain your thinking" or "How did you know this was a good first step?" "What was your plan when starting this problem? Did it stay the same the entire time? How did it change?" Just asking some deeper prompts, not as a "gotcha" but as a way to re-engage with the materials.

11) What is Edmentum?

Edmentum is a program with lots of lessons in multiple subject areas. You can search by standard or topic and find the right pieces you need to create an individualized lesson with instruction and practice. You can also add pre and post tests to look at mastery of a skill. It is supported by the state of Minnesota so we are able to offer it to our students for free and it is approved for DL proxy hours. https://www.edmentum.com/

Thanks for having me and I'd be happy to answer more questions any time! :)

Amber

Below are a few questions that might be for any/all of last Thursday's webinar presenters.

First however, a comment for all of our presenters from one of the participants: "Your stories match our experience so closely.  Good to hear others' struggles and great stories."

1) What reasons have students given for not continuing with the remote learning?

2) How are you dealing with bandwidth issues if there are many people in a household using devices at the same time?

3) Any comments about phone hacking prevention?

4) What is the online white board you are using?

 

Anyone, if I have missed a question, or if you would like to follow up with more questions for Nan, Amy and Amber, you can post them here.

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology and Program Management groups

Hello colleagues,

Are you looking for free professional development for managing online courses? If so, consider this new Distance Learning Series by Essential Education. It includes six free downloadable courses, starting with the basics and moving to more advanced topics. These include: Technology for the Virtual Classroom, Records Management and Communication, A Teacher's View of Distance Learning, Soft Skills for Distance Learning Teaching, Utilizing Reports to Maximize Learning Outcomes, and a Teacher's View of Data-driven Distance Learning Instruction. For more information: https://www.essentialed.com/educators/distance-learning-series

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology and Program Management groups

Hello colleagues,

Several articles recently, this one for example, have pointed out that many students cannot access the Internet from home. In some cases, if students have cars they may drive, or they walk or bicycle to hotspots that have been set up in school parking lots or other public places. Some public libraries have left on their wifi access even though their doors are locked, and students and others may sit on the library steps or on the grass or benches to do their homework. Some Internet Service Providers have public lists of free hotspots, although some of these hotspots may be in restaurants that are temporarily closed except for takeout. Have you asked your students how they access the Internet now? From home? from a public hotspot? From a smartphone (when they have data minutes left)? In other ways? If you haven't asked, consider doing so. If you have asked, or when you do, please share here the ways your students access the Internet. They may have found strategies that other teachers' students might use. Thanks.

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating technology group

 

Hi there,

As you may know, recommendations are coming out regarding testing. For CASAS Life and Work, they are stating that proctoring will be a 1:1 ratio of proctor to student. For TABE they are saying that it will be a 1:5 ratio of proctor to students. We have traditionally tested anywhere between 10 – 100 students at a time.

For a program that serves over 8,000 student annually, that is devastating to enrollment numbers. Wondering how other very large programs are thinking about this moving into the Fall semester?

 

 

Thanks!

 

Dena

Hello Integrating Technology Colleagues,

I am posting below a message from Amanda Bergson-Shilcock <amandabs@nationalskillscoalition.org> sent to members of the National Coalition for Literacy that as a member I received today. It provides useful information for adult basic skills education providers on resources to address digital inclusion issues, that is, how to help adult learners (and perhaps some teachers and tutors) who lack broadband access, digital devices, and/or who need better digital literacy skills to fully participate in online/remote/distance education instruction.

Feel free to share this post -- or information from the linked National Skills Coalition blog -- with your colleagues and students.

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology and Program Management groups

===================

Hello NCL colleagues,

Since the pandemic began, National Skills Coalition has heard from hundreds of adult education providers about the digital inclusion issues that their learners and staff are encountering. I'm sure it comes as no surprise to any of you that broadband access, lack of digital devices, and digital literacy skill gaps have all surfaced as major issues.

Today, we published a blog post with information on new federal guidance that can help these providers use funding from several different sources to pay for digital inclusion. While our post discusses TANF, SNAP E&T, and WIOA, perhaps the most notable piece is about how states and localities can use their federal CARES Act (Covid relief legislation passed back in March).

Please share with your networks as appropriate. Thank you in advance!

-Amanda

Amanda Bergson-Shilcock, Senior Fellow
National Skills Coalition

www.nationalskillscoalition.org

In an informal July 28th LINCS Reading and Writing and Teaching and Learning Coffee Break discussion, summarized by Moderator Steve Schmidt on August 5, 2020 in the LINCS CoP Reading and Writing group, were these resources recommended by adult basic skills practitioners that may be of interest to others teaching reading and writing online:

  • ereadingworksheets.com – This site has a number of reading worksheets organized by skill set and grade level.
  • helpteaching.com – This website, designed for K-12 instruction, contains a number of printable and online tests, activities, and lessons. 
  • CommonLit – In a discussion last fall, Ashly Winkle said: “CommonLit is by far one of my favorite reading websites and it keeps getting better and better. Not only do they have the best library (especially for adult ed), but they offer so many wonderful tools for the students. Students have [both] translate and read aloud options along with the new features of annotating and highlighting text. I also love that you can print it or use it online.  Plus, it plays nicely with Google Classroom.” 
  • Several participants mentioned familiar reading instruction favorites ReadWorks and Newsela. 
  • Minnesota professional developer Marn Frank mentioned a series of 38 Tier 2 vocabulary lessons designed for ABE students that are now housed on Google Docs.  Instructors can use them in Google Classroom or download lessons as Word documents or pdfs.  QR codes embedded in the lessons can launch interactive Quizlet decks on mobile devices. 

 David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology group