I spent the past few days helping my local school get ready for teaching online. As of yesterday, schools have gotten no official guidance at all on how to do this, they have been left to sort it out themselves. In this post, I will outline how it all works.
For schools, you will likely be using Google Classroom . This is free to schools and you will access this via your C2k email address. Login and create a class. You then need to send out all the pupil logins (your C2K manager will have these) and the pupils will also get an access code that lets them access the Google classroom.
Remember you can access Google Classroom from anywhere, you do not need to be on school premises you can use it from home.
For smartphones or tablets, you can download the Google Classroom app for Android and Apple.
Here is a quick video overview of how it works:
Video tips for teachers on how to use google classroom:
https://www.youtube.com/
Help guide:
https://support.google.com/
Live streaming classes
Some schools are considering live streaming some classes, eg for one hour a day. There is no live streaming option in Google Classroom but you can use Youtube Live or a system like Zoom. Zoom are lifting their limits on their free plan for teachers. I am not exactly clear what systems (if any) C2k has for live streaming so if you know please add a comment.
As a teacher, you may find live streaming not worth the hassle, in which case you can just record video clips on your phone and attach these to Google Classroom or send via SeeSaw.
Guide for parents
How to access Google Classroom
On a laptop or computer, you can access it via their website at: https://classroom.google.com
For smartphones or tablets, you can download the app for Android and Apple
To sign in to Google Classroom you will use your children school email, password and class ID, this information will be sent to you via the SeeSaw app or however your school normally communicates with you.
Other advice:
If your child is using a phone or tablet I recommend you get a Bluetooth keyboard to make it easier for them to type on. You can get a Bluetooth keyboard from as little as £15 on Amazon.
If you plan to get your child a laptop, Google Classroom is web-based so will work on any device. The best laptop for a child is a Chromebook and you can get these from £180 on Amazon. For extra savings look in the Amazon Warehouse section. I recommend going for one with a 13″ or 14″ inch screen but if your child has good eyesight the 11″ ones might do the job ok.
As you can imagine this will be all new to a lot of schools so please be patient. This is a learning experience for everyone.
Any questions or tips please feel free to ask in the comments.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio is licensed under CC0
I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism, I am not a member of any political party. Oddly for a member of the Slugger team, I am not that interested in daily politics, preferring to write about big ideas in society. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.
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