Getting Ready for Hybrid Learning

As Barrington 220 prepares to move to a hybrid learning model in October 2020, many teachers have started to wonder what their classroom might look like when trying to teach some students in person and other students at home. One name for this model is concurrent classroom, and using this model for the first time may be challenging for teachers and students. However, concurrent classrooms also offer some exciting opportunities. Primarily, there are two major difficulties to address when planning for concurrent instruction, attention and variety,

The Problem of Attention

It’s very difficult to give attention, support, and feedback to students in different locations. Having some students on a video conference and other students in person means that a number of students are not getting your full attention at any one time. Teachers may initially find it challenging to facilitate learning, monitor the room, and monitor Zoom all at the same time.

The Problem of Variety 

Experienced teachers understand that using a variety of modalities during a lesson is vital to engaging students. A concurrent classroom may present a unique set of challenges, as transitions may be difficult for a teacher using this model.

Barrington 220 teachers have made many breakthroughs during distance learning, and much of what we’ve learned about new ways to facilitate high-level learning will carry over to the hybrid model.

Recently, Barrington High School iDAL coach, Jeff Spella, and Assistant Principal, Ben Rodriguez, worked to identify the instructional modalities that might make the most sense when teaching students in person and at home. We have identified six modalities that worked effectively in a concurrent classroom setting using our technology devices and services. We borrowed a classroom at the high school (thanks Lauren Schoepp) and tested them out. Here is a brief description of the modalities we tried, followed by some thoughts on what we learned. 

Modality	Description	Platform	Audio setup	Video setup
Whole Group
Discussion	All students participate in a class discussion.	Zoom	In-class students join without audio. Teacher connects to a projection device.	Teacher shares screen and projects
Direct Instruction	The teacher introduces, demonstrates, or models a concept or skill.	Zoom	In-class students join without audio. Teacher connects to a projection device	Teacher shares screen and projects
Small Group
Location-specific conferencing	Groups of in-person students and at-home students meet separately.	Zoom and in-person	Remote students will join with audio. In-person students will mute.	Remote students join with video. In-person students will have cameras off.
Mixed-location conferencing	Groups of in-person and at-home students meet together.	Google Hangouts	Head-phones are recommended for in-person students.	Students manage video settings
Small Group - Digital Collaboration	Groups of in-person and at-home students collaborate without video conferencing.	Padlet, Google Docs, JamBoard, etc.	none	none
Asynchronous
Individual or Group	Self-directed learning.	Multiple	none	none

Here is what we learned from our experience.

Whole-Group Discussion

• At-home students could hear surprisingly well when only the teacher’s computer was set up for sound. The teacher’s mic and projector’s speaker were sufficient for sound. 
• When leading a group discussion, the teacher may have all in-person students on a Zoom conference or participating through the teacher’s device. The only drawback we could see to not having in-person students on the Zoom is that at-home students can’t see them. 
• If in-person students are on the Zoom, they should join without audio by selecting “cancel” when prompted to join with audio. The microphone and speakers on the teacher’s device will be the only one’s using audio in the room. 
• The teacher’s microphone should be enough to pick up everyone in the room, but enabling audio on a second or third student device may be needed depending on the size of the room. In this case, the few students who join with audio should mute during the session unless someone near to them is speaking. This will likely not be needed in most classrooms, but might be effective in a larger space such as a library or gym. 
• To hear at-home students, the teacher should project to the SMART Board or other large screen in the room. 

Whole-Group Direct Instruction

• Two teacher devices are recommended for this setup: one device for managing the Zoom, and one for delivering the lesson. After several trials, it seems to work best to have a MacBook Air laptop as the Zoom device, and an iPad as the teaching device.
• On the Zoom device, the teacher should follow the same setup as “whole group discussion”.
• The teacher should then join the conference on a second device as a co-host (iPad is recommended) and screen-share to teach from this device. By projecting from the MacBook Air laptop and screen sharing from iPad, you are essentially projecting from your teaching device, giving you more flexibility.
• If a teacher is doing a live demonstration, it is recommended that you use an digital whiteboard rather than the physical whiteboard in the room. Trials showed us that at-home students will see much better with a digital whiteboard such as Google’s Jamboard.

Small-Group Conferencing

• Location-specific conferencing seems to be the easiest to set up. In this modality, in-person students meet with other in-person students, and at-home students meet with other at-home students.
• The teacher can use Zoom to manage Breakout Rooms for at-home students while physically monitoring discussions in class. In-person students should temporarily leave the Zoom during these discussions.
• For mixed-location group conferencing, we recommend Google Hangouts. The audio logistics for a Zoom proved difficult to manage. If teachers want to have in-class students to meet with at-home students in small groups, they should leave the Zoom and initiate their own Google Hangouts. This makes it easier for students to connect and manage their conversations, but makes it harder for teachers to monitor at-home students. While teachers will see the reactions of the in-class students, they will not see or hear the at-home students.

New and Expanded Apps and Subscriptions

The Department of Technology and Innovation is always listening to our students and teachers with the goal of providing the best possible level of service when it comes to apps, subscriptions, and digital curriculum. For the 2020–21 school year, we have expanded some of our existing apps and purchased new subscriptions to better meet the ever-changing needs of our students and staff.

Here are some highlights of what you can expect in the 2020–21 school year:

The middle school and high school teacher librarians are proud to introduce RB Digital for middle school and high school. RB Digital is a magazine and newspaper service that offers popular titles from around the world in a Netflix-style interface. Titles are available in multiple languages and provide our staff and students the opportunity to quickly and easily get a variety of global perspectives on the topics of the day. In addition, the move to RB Digital will replace a variety of subscription services and consolidate them into one, easy-to-use platform.

IXL allows students to practice essential skills in math and language arts in a self-paced and personalized format. Students choose to work on skills based on their current level of mastery and understanding and receive real-time feedback on their progress. IXL has been a popular option for Barrington 220 students in recent years with heavy traffic on the platform. For 2020–21, we have expanded our IXL subscription to include Kindergarten bringing our use of this service K–8. This expansion will serve as an additional choice for our Kindergarten students and will not replace any of our current options for digital skills practice.

The free version of Padlet has grown in popularity in our district over the past several years. Padlet allows students and teachers to create an online “wall” to post work, ideas, videos, links, and other information in a format that allows users to collaborate and communicate in a dynamic open forum. For 2020–21, we have purchased the Padlet Backpack version which allows teachers to create an unlimited number of Padlet walls and increases privacy and security for students. With Padlet Backpack, teachers will have better options for managing the flow of information and be able to upload large files in a more controlled and safer environment.

Explain Everything is an easy-to-use design, screencasting, and interactive whiteboard tool that lets students demonstrate their thinking, communicate, share ideas, and brainstorm in a dynamic and collaborative environment. Students can write, record, import, and create in a variety of ways on this platform. Our district has had Explain Everything for our K–-8 iPad users for several years. Starting in the 2020–21 school year, we have shifted our Explain Everything subscription from K–8 to 3–12. This move is a response to the shift to iPad at the high school and responds to the low usage we noticed among our K–3 students.

As always, if you have an idea for an app or subscription that you would like to see used with our students, please complete the Subscription and App Request Form by clicking bit.ly/220SARF.

Guidelines for Cleaning Barrington 220 Devices

Over the last few months we've received some questions about how to clean our Barrington 220 devices. Cleaning them often is not only a good idea to keep yourself safe from potential illness, but it also keeps our devices looking new and performing well. Below are guidelines for cleaning our devices, adapted from Apple.

Is it OK to use a disinfectant on my Apple product? 

Using a 70 percent isopropyl alcohol wipe or Clorox Disinfecting Wipes, you may gently wipe the hard, nonporous surfaces of your Apple product, such as the display, keyboard, or other exterior surfaces. 

iPad and iPhone

• Unplug all cables and turn off iPad/iPhone (press and hold the Sleep/Wake button, and then slide the onscreen slider).
• Use a soft, slightly damp, lint-free cloth. Avoid getting moisture in openings.
• Don't use window cleaners, household cleaners, compressed air, aerosol sprays, solvents, ammonia, abrasives, or cleaners containing hydrogen peroxide to clean iPad/iPhone.
• iPad/iPhone has an oleophobic coating on the screen (a coating that resists oil). Wipe the iPad/iPhone screen with a soft, lint-free cloth to remove oil left by your hands.

The ability of this coating to repel oil will diminish over time with normal usage, and rubbing the screen with an abrasive material will further diminish its effect and might scratch your screen.

Apple Pencil and Logitech Crayon

• To clean your Apple Pencil/Logitech Crayon, use a soft, slightly damp, lint-free cloth.
• With the damp cloth, wipe yourApple Pencil/Logitech Crayon from the tip end—but not the tip itself—toward the other end of your Apple Pencil/Logitech Crayon.
• Don’t allow moisture to get inside the seam between the tip and the body of yourApple Pencil/Logitech Crayon.

MacBook Laptops

• To clean the screen on your MacBook, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air, first shut down the computer and unplug the power adapter.
• Dampen a soft, lint-free cloth with water only, then use it to clean the computer's screen.
• When cleaning the outside of your laptop, first shut down your computer and unplug the power adapter.
• Then use a damp, soft, lint-free cloth to clean the computer's exterior.
• Avoid getting moisture in any openings. Do not spray liquid directly on the computer.
• Don't use aerosol sprays, solvents, abrasives, or cleaners containing hydrogen peroxide that might damage the finish.

If liquid makes its way inside your Apple product, get help from Barrington 220 Tech Support 224-655-1500, or dial x.1500 inside the district.

You can also find this article in the Barrington 220 Knowledge Base. 

Email Security Awareness: Think Before You Click!

Throughout this pandemic, cybersecurity threat actors have been ramping up their game, and email phishing messages are on the rise. Please be careful with all email messages and think before you click.

Security awareness provider Knowbe4, defines Phishing as follows: "Phishing is the process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity using bulk email which tries to evade spam filters."

For example, you receive a message from your principal and he or she asks, “Do you have a minute?” Did this message really come from your principal? Did you check, or did you take the bait and respond?

Think before you click on that next email message! Is it a legitimate message? Were you expecting it? Is the message truly from who you think it is? Does it convey a sense of urgency? Was it sent to a group of people, including some that you do not know? Was it sent at an odd time of day? Does it make you uneasy?

If you do run into a message that is truly a phishing message, please submit this message to Google. Click the three vertical dots (the "snowman" as it is called in some of our schools) in the upper-right corner of your Gmail browser window:

There are plenty of threat actors around the globe who would gladly take advantage of others. Do not be a victim of email fraud. Think about that next click as you hurry through email messages.

Seesaw & Schoology in Barrington 220

The recent extended distance learning experience has revealed opportunities to improve our District’s user experience when it comes to accessing digital learning materials. Currently, families with multiple students at different grade levels access a wide variety of platforms in order to gather materials, submit evidence of learning, and communicate with teachers. 

Feedback from recent parent and student surveys suggested that this contributed to student and parent frustration, occasional breakdowns in communication, and in some cases, assignments being missed or forgotten. A more universal approach to digital learning management improves these areas for our families.

In 2016, Schoology was adopted as the primary Learning Management System for K–12 teachers in the district. Starting in the 2020–21 school year, PK–Grade 3 teachers will use Seesaw and Grade 4–12 teachers will use Schoology as their primary launching point for digital learning management. This will create a single access point for digital learning materials at each grade level for all students and parents throughout the district. This move does not preclude teachers from continuing to use a variety of digital learning tools, this merely creates a clear and predictable starting point for students at a given grade level.

	Seesaw	Schoology
Grade Level	Grades Pre K–3	Grades 4–12
Purpose	Seesaw is a digital portfolio tool intended to give students a place to create, submit, and share their learning. The simplicity of SeeSaw provides an easy introduction into digital learning for our youngest students.	Schoology is a robust learning management system intended to serve as a digital classroom. Students can access resources, submit assignments, and receive grades and feedback.
Communication	Communication is among the teacher, student, and parent.	Communication is between the teacher and student.
Parent Interaction	After setting up an account, parents can view and comment on their students' work. They can receive notifications and announcements that pertain to their students.	After setting up an account, parents can “shadow” their student, seeing only what their student sees. They can receive notifications and reminders just like their student does. They cannot interact with the platform.
Gradebook	Seesaw allows the teacher to provide comments and feedback but is not a platform for grading student work.	Schoology has a fully functional gradebook that integrates with Infinite Campus.

A vast collection of training materials for both Schoology and Seesaw already exist that have been created by the product support teams for each platform and by our own Library Technology Assistants (LTAs) and District Technology Assistant. The Instructional Technology team provides ongoing training on these systems.

Seesaw Training and PD

Schoology Training and PD

Learning NOW One-Minute Spotlights Are Back!

With the school year well underway in distance learning mode and hybrid learning on the horizon, we are proud to announce the 2020 reboot of our Learning NOW in Barrington 220 One-Minute Spotlight series. Learning NOW One-Minute Spotlights highlight some of the many ways Barrington 220 students are learning across the district in episodes that are just one minute long. 

These two episodes to restart our series have something in common—they both use examples of concurrent learning, that is, some students are in-person and some are participating from home via Zoom at the same time. Like any other mode of learning, a concurrent classroom isn't an ideal situation all the time for all learners in all situations. However, the teachers featured here have used the format well for these examples.

One-Minute Spotlight - Barrington HS - Mr. Pemberton - Choir

Barrington High School Director of Choirs Brandon Pemberton conducts a choir rehearsal with some students live on the BHS outdoor stage—and some students attending the rehearsal on Zoom in a concurrent classroom mode.

One-Minute Spotlight - Barrington MS-Prairie - Ms. Canace & Ms. Aliperta

Students in Ms. Canace's and Ms. Aliperta's classes at Barrington Middle School–Prairie Campus learn in a concurrent classroom environment—where some students are in-person in a socially distanced classroom and some students are learning from home on Zoom.

My sincerest thanks to Brandon Pemberton at BHS, and Molly Canace and Peggie Aliperta at BMS–Prairie for allowing me to visit their classrooms!

App Spotlight: Classkick Is Addressing Platform Problems

Classkick Pro is a new subscription service for elementary students at Barrington 220 this year. While it features an interactive "live" view of student work and the ability for teachers to provide instantaneous feedback, it has offered a significant layer of frustration as well. Classkick is several years old, but in light of the current educational environment across the country and around the world, the company has found itself underprepared for higher usage, volume, and demand.

Students and staff across our district have experienced multifaceted problems with login, content availability, and slow or stalled assignment loading times. In a recent meeting with the Classkick Director of Operations, I was assured that the Classkick Engineers are working hard to resolve the existing issues and improve all aspects of the current platform.

The best advice they can give until the improvements and fixes are released is to be patient when items are loading slowly. All individual problems that have been reported to me or the LTA team have been shared with Classkick support, and will be addressed this week. If you have questions or problems please feel free to reach out to your building LTA or me directly.

Key's Quick Tips: Live Closed Captioning Now in Zoom!

Key's Quick Tips are provided by Kelly Key, Assistive Technology Coordinator for Barrington 220. Each month, Kelly Key features a tool to support our students.

Hot off the Press...

Zoom now has Live Transcript Closed Captioning!

Last week, Zoom launched its live transcript closed captioning. This feature is not only good for staff and students with hearing impairments, but also for ELL students, or really anyone!

Research shows that Closed Captioning helps most students with comprehension, accuracy, engagement, and retention.

Please take a minute to turn this feature on for students to access.

Directions for Adding Captions to Zoom

Once you set it up in your Zoom settings, students can then choose to turn this feature on or off.