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This is how my class is structured and the activities we do. https://www.modulo.app/manishamodule https://www.modulo.app/manishamodule Feel free to share with

This is how my class is structured and the activities we do. https://www.modulo.app/manishamodule https://www.modulo.app/manishamodule Feel free to share with other teachers if it could benefit them. I"d also be happy to talk to your teacher or anyone else's teacher if they need support on making zoom more engaging. Also, if other teachers have ideas of activities that worked well for them, I'd love to hear! I'll just add that one thing that's been helpful in my group is to try to focus the zoom on social-emotional learning and then do an "independent study" together period where kids work on mastery-based learning apps independently, but with their friends and a teacher there if they get stuck (Math tango is our favorite!). I find kids learn a lot better with the apps then when I teach them a lesson verbally and give them a worksheet. Zoom represents a really interesting challenge for teachers, but there is a lot of gold to be found if you look!

zelphirkalt 6y ago
Zoom does not belong in any classroom, regardless of virtual or physical. It is proprietary software, which has a back track record on privacy and security. It is not free software respecting children's and teachers' rights and freedom. I find the this reliance on proprietary shitty software annoying and absurd. Often teachers barely know manage to cobble together virtual classrooms. They lack information about alternatives and support for setting things up properly.
- actfrench 6y ago
  I tried a lot of different web conferencing apps and zoom was the only one that had good enough audio and visual to make it remotely possible to teach effectively. Google meet was a total disaster with a group of more than 5 kids. But, I was lucky to have parent in my group who were informed about options and could give me advice in getting going. I think it's great if teachers can take advantage of emerging and established technology if it helps them teach well.
  - dorchadas 6y ago
    Seriously. I'm a high school teacher and we had a Google Meet training today and it's just lacking so much compared to Zoom. It's frustrating as hell.
- ghaff 6y ago
  With respect to open source, there is Jitsi which I have seen exactly one person use for a small gathering. So shall we make things more difficult by requiring the use of open source (which I generally support)?
  - zelphirkalt 6y ago
    Jitsi is free software afaik, so a higher ethical standard than open source, although it classifies as open source because of this automatically. Aside from that, I think we should require free software and only switch to "merely open source", if there is no free software alternative. Of course we should not simply require such a thing, but we should instead try to help, by making tutorials for easy setup of tools, for example Jitsi. We should create a guide, which any computer class teacher should be able to follow. Not an easy to meet criteria though. Perhaps people could also offer support for teachers for setting things up. Whatever we do, we should support teachers as well, not only make a requirement and we should not tie this support to any costs for the teachers.
- xigency 6y ago
  I don't disagree, but that’s a failure of the other offerings to exceed the value proposition of Zoom.
- fithisux 6y ago
  Well said!

zelphirkalt 6y ago

Zoom does not belong in any classroom, regardless of virtual or physical. It is proprietary software, which has a back track record on privacy and security. It is not free software respecting children's and teachers' rights and freedom. I find the this reliance on proprietary shitty software annoying and absurd. Often teachers barely know manage to cobble together virtual classrooms. They lack information about alternatives and support for setting things up properly.

actfrench 6y ago
I tried a lot of different web conferencing apps and zoom was the only one that had good enough audio and visual to make it remotely possible to teach effectively. Google meet was a total disaster with a group of more than 5 kids. But, I was lucky to have parent in my group who were informed about options and could give me advice in getting going. I think it's great if teachers can take advantage of emerging and established technology if it helps them teach well.
- dorchadas 6y ago
  Seriously. I'm a high school teacher and we had a Google Meet training today and it's just lacking so much compared to Zoom. It's frustrating as hell.
ghaff 6y ago
With respect to open source, there is Jitsi which I have seen exactly one person use for a small gathering. So shall we make things more difficult by requiring the use of open source (which I generally support)?
- zelphirkalt 6y ago
  Jitsi is free software afaik, so a higher ethical standard than open source, although it classifies as open source because of this automatically. Aside from that, I think we should require free software and only switch to "merely open source", if there is no free software alternative. Of course we should not simply require such a thing, but we should instead try to help, by making tutorials for easy setup of tools, for example Jitsi. We should create a guide, which any computer class teacher should be able to follow. Not an easy to meet criteria though. Perhaps people could also offer support for teachers for setting things up. Whatever we do, we should support teachers as well, not only make a requirement and we should not tie this support to any costs for the teachers.
xigency 6y ago
I don't disagree, but that’s a failure of the other offerings to exceed the value proposition of Zoom.
fithisux 6y ago
Well said!