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Tag: Student Engagement

How to Effectively Deliver a Virtual Test or Assignment with Castle Learning

Written by HES Marketing on .

At Castle Learning, we are committed to improving education, including remote teaching. We provide an online tool that works anywhere with internet access, including homes or schools. While online tools help with in-person instruction, they are vital to the success of remote education. Please note that although this blog focuses on the ease of digital delivery, you can print, display, or digitally deliver any content you create.

For more information on creating tests and assignments for remote instruction, please refer to a previous blog – How Castle Helps Create Tests and Assignments when Teaching Virtually.

Integrations with Digital Platforms

Although you can use Castle Learning as a stand-alone application, many teachers prefer to integrate it with Google Classroom, Schoology, or Canvas. Integrations reduce the number of places students need to look to keep track of assignments and grades. On the platform, students see the assignment as a link. Clicking on the link takes students directly to the appropriate assignment in their student center.

Setting Up Your Classes

First, ensure that your students are entered into a class on your Castle teacher account. This process may happen via an automated district daily sync, or you can manually select students.

Next, consider making additional groups beyond official class rosters. These groupings will save you time and effort throughout the year because it increases the efficiency of differentiating instruction and making modifications. Creating each group only takes a few minutes, and editing them later is even quicker.

Then, you can modify the settings for specific students or groups. Setting changes are available from the class page and the assignment deployment stage. You might choose to enable features such as computer-generated translation and text-to-speech with highlighting. Changing student settings gives these students access to the appropriate accommodations for every test and assignment in every class. This feature makes complying with Individualized Learning Plans (IEPs) and best practices for English Language Learners (ELLs) easier.

With your classes set up, delivering the tests and assignments to the appropriate students takes only a few clicks.

Delivering Differentiated Versions to Various Groups

Students in various classes benefit from similar assignment modifications, such as a different pace or amount of questions. Creating separate “classes” for multiple groups has the added benefit of making assigning differentiated material quick. It takes mere seconds to assign “Ten Questions about Chapter 1” to Group A and assign “Twelve Questions about Chapter 1” to Group B.

Secondary school teachers appreciate how quickly they can create and deliver modified assignments to students in various class sections. Elementary school teachers often categorize students by level for each subject. Making suitable modifications follows best practices for assigning homework.

Practicing, Studying, Assessing and Reviewing

Any assignment can serve multiple purposes. When assigning content, decide if you want students to use it for practice, studying, assessing, or reviewing. Delivering it in “open” mode, “quiz” mode, or “review-only” mode changes how students see it.

Open mode is perfect for practice. It gives students two attempts for each question. It also offers students access to vocabulary, feedback, and reasoning after the first attempt. Click “Quiz mode” for assessments. It gives students only one chance to answer each question. They also do not have access to the other helpful resources of “open” mode. In either mode, additional features are available such as randomizing the questions.

“Review-only” mode is perfect for studying for a test or retake. Students see the questions, their responses, the correct answers, and the reasons for the correct answers, but it does not allow them to answer questions.

Providing Opportunity for Retakes

The retake option provides students multiple attempts to meet a set mastery level. You can choose to give that option automatically or manually. Most teachers prefer auto-retake because it reduces their task load. To select the automatic retake, simply set up the designated mastery level when you issue the original assignment. The data report from the retakes provides the teacher with progress monitoring and growth evaluation.

Adding Time Limits and Time Frames

It is important to note the flexibility differences between “quick assign” and “assign to students.” Generally, students should have limited access to assessments to promote academic integrity. Using “assign to students” gives you the ability to decide when students can start a test and the amount of time they can spend on a test. You may choose the window of time, the duration, and available accommodations. This feature is especially useful for asynchronous remote teaching.

“Quick assign” is easiest for non-assessments because you do not have to make as many decisions about time. The “quick assign” is also useful when the entire class or all classes take the same test with many of the same settings.

A Final Note

You can see that Castle Learning digital tools give you the power of flexibility and the ease of simplicity that are so important in virtual environments. Great teaching tools not only improve student learning outcomes, they also reduce teacher frustration and burnout. The next blog in this series will focus on how Castle Learning tools aid in grading tests and assignments and aggregating data to adjust instruction.

Ideas to Minimize the Pitfalls of Remote Teaching

Written by HES Marketing on .

Imagine … one Thursday, Little League announces that on the following Monday, cricket would replace baseball and softball; and that participation is mandatory. The players, fans, coaches, and suppliers would be scrambling to acquire different equipment and learn the rules, strategies, and skills. Even the vocabulary would be different. Expecting such a monumental task would cause an uproar! That scenario is similar to what happened when education switched from in-person teaching to remote teaching in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As you would expect, everyone in education is experiencing some pitfalls as they pivot their instruction. Teachers are proving their willingness to learn and flexibility to adapt to their new roles. At Castle Learning, we want to support you as you discover the best way to teach in this format. We spoke with several teachers to see what is helping them.

Pitfall: You Worry that Your Students are Not Getting Enough Guidance

Students and families participating in distance learning due to the virus outbreak did not choose remote learning as the best fit for their family. It was suddenly thrust upon them, which makes the situation completely different from selecting distance learning. Families who choose distance learning often do so because a parent has the skills, time, and patience to assist the children with their education. Many parents during the pandemic are working and cannot monitor their children’s schoolwork. Other parents do not know how to help their children. Many children resent the parents’ attempts to teach.

Ideas to Minimize the Impact:

If you teach young children, you might want to devote time to teaching parents how to help them practice reading. You can also direct families to free literacy resources to help.

It might relieve you that even though children are not getting the same academic rigor, they may still be learning essential skills. Children may learn practical skills such as cooking, sewing, and getting along with siblings. The abundance of unstructured time is allowing children to play, draw, sing, dance, and explore. These activities can be tremendously valuable for developing creativity and independence.

Pitfall: You Miss your Students, and They Miss You

The bond between students and teachers is powerful for engaging students and keeping them accountable for their learning. With only virtual contact, maintaining a relationship takes more effort. 

Ideas to Minimize the Impact:

Try interacting with a few students individually or in small groups each day. Without other students around, you will be able to listen with undivided attention, which may feel more meaningful than you could do in-person.

Some students will need extra attention because of their home life, personality, or academic needs. Ensure that these students and their families get a phone call regularly. Request co-workers that know the child to pitch in with making phone calls. Ask the child’s parents, or grandparents, for ideas. They often come up with creative solutions because they know the children in a different capacity.

Pitfall: You Feel Overwhelmed with Emails

You are probably getting an abundance of emails from stressed parents or students. Responding thoughtfully to each email takes time and patience.

 Ideas to Minimize the Impact:

Complex ideas and emotional topics can get lost in translation, creating more problems than they solve. In the article, Five Strategies that Will Inspire Your Students to Learn in a Virtual Classroom, Dr. Bruce A. Johnson suggests that you should have emotional or complicated conversations over the phone or in a virtual meeting, rather than by email.

Sometimes the sheer volume of emails makes it hard to respond individually. For non-private and non-urgent emails, combine your responses into a single email. Save all your emails on your computer so you can copy and paste the same words when appropriate.

Everyone makes mistakes when they write, especially when they are tired, stressed, or emotional. After writing an email, wait an hour or more before you send it, and then proofread the email for clarity, tone, and typos. Take advantage of wait features in the email settings that allow you to quickly “un-send” an email.

Pitfall: Finding the Right Lessons is Laborious

Many of your favorite lessons probably required physical materials. Now you must teach using mainly digital materials. Suddenly, not only are you choosing lessons, you are converting documents, evaluating educational apps, creating videos, and learning about software compatibility and copyright laws.  

Ideas to Minimize the Impact:

No single teacher can evaluate and create all the digital resources needed. Collaborate with teammates to share the load. Some staff may love creating instructional videos, while others might be great at finding the perfect lesson.

Consider trying our digital resources. You can choose from hundreds of pre-made lessons and assessments. Our software makes it easy to create original digital learning content. You can integrate everything with other platforms and learning management systems such as Google Classroom, Canvas, or Schoology. 

A Final Note on Distance Learning

Technology has advanced considerably since the Boston Gazette advertised one of the first correspondence courses in 1728. Lesson delivery and feedback shortened from weeks to almost instantaneous. The technology is immensely helpful, but be patient with yourself as you learn to use it effectively.

We hope you will return to in-person teaching in the fall. However, if schools remain closed, you will be more prepared and have more tools than before. Thank you for the work you continue to do to support student learning.