Tag Archives: online tools for teachers

How to Teach a Successful MOOC

How to Teach a Successful MOOC

How to Teach a Successful MOOC
Source: morgueFile

There are many proverbs and cliches readily available to help a new teacher get through their first classroom experience. However, with the advent of the technological education revolution, there are numerous new challenges facing modern teachers for the first time in history.

A deeply disconcerting issue is that, as opposed to the age-old dilemma of struggling to find competent students, for the first time ever teachers are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of interest when teaching a MOOC.

Massive Open Online Courses are the next stage in the progression of global educational standards. However, as the form of instruction emerges into society’s infrastructure, many teachers are finding their traditional methods of teaching to be a bit outdated. It is difficult, even impossible, to have a personal connection with every student when class sizes range in the hundreds-of-thousand of participants, spread across the planet in a dozen different regions speaking a plethora of languages, but all equally intent on learning.

Successful MOOC teachers have found that utilizing effective multimedia demonstrations that encourage group discussion are among the best approaches to this new classroom dynamic. Offering material that impresses, captivates, and inspires students in lieu of purely lecturing them on facts and figures creates an environment of enjoyable learning. What’s more, teaching a MOOC is less about providing plain “information,” for the Internet is full of information, but more about providing students with an opportunity to discuss the ideas with like-minded individuals all over the Earth.

If you’re interested in furthering this conversation, please contact Labyrinth Learning today!

Lesson Plan spiral notebook

Education Week Reports on Online Tools for Lesson Planning

Lesson Plan spiral notebookCreating lesson plans is a practice in diligence for any teacher. The best lesson plans in the world still need to be modified from year to year and class to class in order to meet students’ needs. Then there are the backup plans, which should be at the ready in case a substitute teacher is needed. This Education Week article mentions several online tools for lesson planning and we chose a few to highlight here.

Three Online Lesson Planning Tools for Teachers

  1. Google. While Google Drive is helpful in multiple ways, i.e. allowing you to upload/store/share virtually any document or folder, it’s especially beneficial when it comes to substitute teaching plans. You can create lesson plans anywhere and share them with the substitute teacher instantly.
  • Evernote. Whenever you come across anything worthy of remembering, Evernote allows you to mark it, note it, save it, organize, it, and access it from anywhere. You can create endless notebooks to organize your ideas. Then sync Evernote across your computers and mobile devices. Even when you aren’t online, you can still peruse your notebooks.
  • Quizlet. Need some inspiration? Want to share your own? Quizlet allows you to do both. Search  thousands of study sets prepared by teachers around the world. Or, you can post your own to help other teachers just like you.

Online lesson planning tools allow you the freedom to work from virtually anywhere to share, tweak, or add to your lesson plans with a few simple clicks. Lesson planning has never been easier. To find more educator resources, visit us online. Just head to Labyrinth Learning and register to view our catalog, instructor support, and more.

 

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