Online Learning Resources for Schools

Updated: May 19, 2020 - Have you got any resources to share? Let us know! 

First, here's our take: How Schools Can Adapt in the Age of COVID, published at HundrED.org.

Superintendents and district level leaders in Oregon are invited to an expert-facilitated session on May 26 or 27 with Construct to capture lessons and re-imagine a flexible model that seamlessly shifts between home, school, and a virtual context that meets the needs of all stakeholders.

Want to listen instead of read? Here are our favorite recorded webinars:

• Excellent discussion and notes from Zoom on 4/23 with school leaders from Wuhan, Milan, NYC and South Korea facilitated by Learnit. Recording here. 

Written templates, advice, freebies, and more: 

• The Learning Accelerator is offering free coaching to school leaders through Always Ready for Learning.
• Transcend Education offers this report on "Three Jobs That Matter for School Communities Navigating a COVID World," as well as tons of useful resources for school and district administrators.  
• Catalyst:ED and Leading Elephants offer this detailed roadmap for school operations planning with sample plans from schools across the US.
• The AVID Virtual Collaborative shares best practices and resources, broadcast through Facebook Live, to support educators implementing digital teaching and learning.
• Nearly 30 disability rights and education advocacy organizations have launched EducatingAllLearners.org, a resource hub and online network designed to answer questions and provide insight about remote learning for special education students during the coronavirus crisis.
  (Education Week)
• Justin Reich's team at MIT has published an open-source data set on State Education Authorities' (SEA) responses to Coronavirus. The data includes websites and recommendations as well as approaches for management, pedagogy, and more.
• Khan Academy offers full day pre-planned schedule options for K_12 online learning and recorded webinars for teachers. 
• The New Teacher Project offers simple, but excellent advice for schools, as well as many resources. 
• Heather Staker, who wrote the book on Blended Learning, advises us to #mindthegap and make sure we are meeting students physical, social and emotional needs before simply putting assignments online. Her network of trained educators also offers coaching for schools and parents. 
• Addressing the digital divide will require action by policy-makers, philanthropists and district leaders. To provide wifi and compatible devices to students who do not have access, most cable providers are providing free hot spots or wifi access to households right now. Call your local provider for instructions.
• Free computers are available to low income students from The On It Foundation and Computers with Causes.  
• Resources for undocumented immigrants here from Immigrants Rising. 
• For those of you wondering, "What Would Finland Do?" here are a few resources from Finland, Estonia (first on PISA last year) and other Nordic Countries. They seem to offer more links for K-2 than US lists. Here's a spreadsheet tracking what's happening with school systems in countries around the world.
• Teach Millions has created a common website for ed-tech companies from eight different countries. The network donates products and services for teaching and training remotely in 24 relevant languages.
• Finally, unrelated to education, this predictive tool estimates COVID-19's peak and predicts  hospital bed and ventilator shortfalls. John Hopkins' COVID-19 tracking maps are addictive.

For teachers or families looking for online resources and activities:

• AVID just launched Open Access, where all teachers can now have access to best practice strategies for digital teaching and STEM.
• Excellent how-to-manual from Google for teachers moving classes online.
• ASSET Education is providing free curriculum for stress reduction and resilience building lessons in English and Spanish through their At-Home Toolkit,  mindfulness sample lessons, and #Tools4ToughTimes initiative.
• The Harvard Graduate School of Education has launched an online toolbox for teachers and parents that includes adaptable activities and thinking routines.
• Khan Academy’s Breakthrough Junior Challenge asks students from all over submit simple, creative videos explaining difficult science and math concepts, this year with an additional COVID-19 category. 
• Students can complete creative projects for their communities and submit them to NuVuX global design challenges, featuring weekly themes. 
• Pure Edge provides strategies for students, educators, and school leaders to support social, emotional, and academic development through mindful movement and rest. Check out their Pure Community Webinar Series for free online sessions in English and Spanish.
• Great Minds is offering new Knowledge on the Go lessons daily in math for K-12, ELA for K-8 and science for grades 3-5. 
• Project Invent has many project-based learning ideas that students can do from home. 
• Education Reimagined has a long list of distance learning tools for teachers and parents. 
• PBL Works offers advice for taking project-based learning online and a list of their favorite tech tools to support different learning goals. 
• HundrED offers global resources to connect kids to learning. 
• Free online pre-school is being offered by Atlanta Speech Schoo.
• To keep us all sane, Ikaria has some inspired virtual gatherings for adults and students. 
• To let your little ones "hang out" online with their friends, try these apps: Airtime, Squad or glimpse. 
• The author of a popular children's book series provides ideas for fun and creative at-home activities for younger children and their parents.
• And, finally, this amazing new passion project, Women, War and the Battle for Peace on stories from women in war from our lead researcher, Amy Madsen.

Check out our blog for more ideas.

If you have resources or thoughts to share, please let us know at FSL@futureschoollab.com.