The time to reimagine distance learning is now

If we want students to succeed, we have to teach them how to become successful distance learners. In this session, we’ll discuss how educators can become more intentional about developing competencies and reinforcing behaviors that will lead to distance learning success. Shawn Young, CEO of Classcraft, will present the company’s Student Standards for Distance Learning, the first behavior expectations ever designed for students learning in a remote environment. Chris Liang-Vergara of WorldClassEdu will discuss what remote learning competencies share with best practices for personalized learning.

Engagement is almost universally considered to be a critical component of successful teaching and learning, but how well do we really understand what it means to be engaged? Harvard’s Chris Dede presents the Five Dimensions of Engagement, examining engagement’s psychological underpinnings and discussing the implications for educators who are trying to reach students while they’re learning at home.

With students learning at home, educators have to compete for students’ attention like they’ve never had to before. Jean Guesdon, the Creative Director behind Assassin’s Creed, reveals the video game industry’s trade secrets for keeping young people engaged with the hope of giving educators a leg up in the attention economy. Guesdon explains why education has an unfair advantage in the fight and offers tips for making learning more engaging and culturally relevant.

What is our students’ current state of mental health? What role does mental health need to play in a district’s strategy for distance learning? In this session, Dr. Denise Zimmermann, Director of Mental Health for Spring ISD in Houston, explains why mental health is so critical right now, and why the shift to distance and hybrid learning models has made managing it more challenging. Dr. Zimmermann reveals what’s worked and what hasn’t in her district’s response plan, and why promoting positive mental health begins with understanding how it differs from social-emotional learning.

In this session, we will look at how teachers can help make learning more engaging by creating powerful blended lessons. This session will be full of student examples, showcasing the power of blended learning for critical thinking, collaboration and final student creative products meant to show their learning. Come be inspired with ideas on how to create a powerful blended learning classroom.

There’s distance learning, and there’s distance learning in a pandemic. How can educators support students through a time of emotional trauma during a time when they’re grappling with its impact themselves? How can they better prepare students for what might come next? Josh Bobrow and Brandon Frame of The Urban Assembly provide teachers with tips for meeting students’ emotional needs and building resiliency.

During the course of the pandemic, it’s been some of our most vulnerable students who’ve been impacted the most. Sean Arnold, special education and STEM coach for New York City’s District 75, will talk about the challenges of supporting students with special needs when in-person connections are fewer and farther between. Sean will also discuss how educators can harness games and play to engage all types of learners, and in particular those with special needs.

How can teachers use Fortnite to engage students? Steve Isaacs, teacher and game-based learning advocate, and Linda Sellheim of Epic Games discuss how educators can use Fortnite Creative to bring one of the world’s most popular video games into the classroom. Steve and Linda will discuss how to create an environment that supports co-learning and puts the responsibility for learning in the hands of students. They also introduce the Teaching with Fortnite Creative course, which provides teachers with a basic understanding of what Fortnite Creative is and why it’s a valuable teaching and learning tool.

When it comes to engaging students, administrators have a number of tools and approaches to choose from. How can you pick the right ones for you — and stack them in a way that makes a truly meaningful impact? We discuss how districts can utilize Google Classroom and G Suite to foster student engagement, and how they can tap into the Google for Education ecosystem to enhance and expand their approach.

Engaging students while they’re learning at home or in a hybrid environment is no easy task. Fortunately, educators can get a leg up by tapping into Google for Education’s ecosystem. Google partners Kahoot, Pear Deck, Screencastify, Explain Everything, Tynker, and Soundtrap will introduce you to their offerings and discuss how they partner with educators to boost student engagement.

How can teachers keep students engaged, no matter where they’re learning? In this session, Classcraft Learning Specialists Andrew “Hutch” Hutcheson and Kinshasa Msola will explore how educators can use Classcraft to prepare students to thrive in distance and hybrid learning models. Hutch and Kinshasa will unpack the pedagogy behind Classcraft’s approach, show how Classcraft fits into the classroom, and explore how Classcraft’s integration with Google helps educators make Google Classroom even more engaging. Google’s Ryan Clark will join the session to discuss how Google Classroom makes it easy for educators to combine the best tools available for boosting student engagement in any setting.