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The ePortfolio is a link for learning in the hybrid environment. Students can collaborate on their ePortfolios regardless of location and / or time.
The role of technology is important here, not as master, but rather as the servant to our students' pedagogical needs.
If we can get the infrastructure right, creativity and collaboration flow.
We use Teams to connect with students at home and equate the breakout rooms to the physical spaces in the classroom. This way students at home have a space in which to collaborate.
Showbie is our Learning Management System which is also largely teacher-driven. Students are able to annotate and share their work in each lesson which gives them a bit of autonomy to showcase deeper levels of thinking and provides opportunities for teachers to give feedback on individual or class posts and a space for peer feedback.
Quiz sites help students to reinforce their knowledge and / or analyse concepts taught. They're an integral part of learning during the pandemic as students at home are able to feel part of the classroom atmosphere and want to engage. Students particularly like Blooket for this reason. There is a good bank of questions to IB level in Blooket and teachers can also import them from Quizlet easily.
The ability to be able to create physical or digital artefacts move student learning to the top of Blooms. The benefit of using technology in a hybrid environment is that learning can continue uninterrupted. Students are able to continue documenting their learning in their STEAM teams refining and evaluating before sharing work to Padlet.
Students create their ePortfolios in a website and/or use Book Creator, with the latter suited to younger students as we do not have GSuite.
Note in particular how agency shifts from the teacher to the student as the structure frees itself - less scaffolding promotes autonomy.
Given that students need to learn the skills of curation and creation, authorship and problem-solving in order to think more deeply about the world, what better way is there other than looking back at one's own journey.
Students receive a copy of the workflow to help them see the big picture. Very few students are hampered by the technology; if anything it is the new students who are not used to active learning and showcasing their work that struggle at the beginning but they soon learn to use the technology as they would a pencil, canvas or paintbrush.