Digital Teaching, Connected Learning

What puzzles has this new digital world of teaching brought up for you? For me a big one is participation. There is a ton of content with seemingly every company, museum and school offering activities for children right now. How can I compete with that? Should I even try? I don't even think digital preschool is proper, but at the same time I'd like to stay connected to the children I know. What about for the older children I worked with? I would like to offer some really solid learning activities that bring play and wonder to children, but I don't want to intrude or cause stress for families with too much communication, either.

Another problem is how the teachers are now teaching with forms of software that create little classroom silos. I find myself unsure of how to get in there or what to do. I've been invited to drop in here and there, but I don't think that offers anything to the group other than one more digital voice in the cacophony.

More puzzles with connected learning online crop up as time goes by. I find myself at loose ends in responding to children in this connected learning world. In the classroom I have direct access to all of the forms of visual communication children use. I can see their work, snap a photo or make a scan. This allows me to look deeply and notice marks, forms or see the 'knotty problems' that allow me to ask questions. With online school I often see a photo of a child making something or a video of someone explaining a drawing or construction. I want to write and ask for photos or scans of just the drawings or buildings along with the children in action. I want this so I can get a good look and form a better response, but I'm so aware of the risk overwhelming families with email right now.

What are you thinking about?

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