Reducing Eye Strain During Increased Device Use

As we spend more time on our devices during remote and hybrid learning, it is important to take steps to ensure you are taking care of yourself. Anyone who has spent all day on Zoom meetings with students, graded digital essays on their lunch break, then went home to plan and post the lesson for the next day knows the dry eyes, headaches, and bleary eyed strain that staring at a screen all day might cause. 

Distance learning has made a reliance on technology devices a more regular part of our work day, but there are simple actions you can take to help minimize the negative health effects of device use.

20-20-20 Rule

This doctor recommended strategy is easy. When using a device, every twenty minutes you are in front of a screen, look at something twenty feet away for twenty seconds. 

Build “Unplugged” Habits

How many of you find yourself automatically picking up your phone to check email, Instagram, or Twitter the moment you’re off a Zoom? Often, we move from our big screen to our little screen without realizing it. These switches can happen because they’ve become a habit. 

Create moments in your day that allow you to step away from your device for short periods of time. It doesn’t have to be long, but short times away from a device can have positive impacts. Is it possible for you to start your prep period with a five-minute walk? Can you and a friend commit to a screen-less lunch? Have you set a time when you get home to put your devices away? 

Use the Device's Built-in Features

Your MacBook and your iPad have built-in features that can reduce eye strain as well. 

Display and Brightness features

Changing Display features allow you to create settings that can better suit your needs. Your Mac and iPad have options for Dark Mode, True Tone, Night Shift, and Brightness that improve your visual experience. True Tone makes the display automatically adapt to make colors appear consistent as lighting conditions change. Night Shift automatically shifts the colors of your display to the warmer end of the color spectrum when it gets dark.

• Change Display preferences on Mac
• Change Display preferences on iPad

Accessibility features

Anyone can also use Accessibility features to improve their experience. Accessibility features allow the user to customize their view by using features such as color filters, inverted colors, brightness, contrast, and more. 

• Change Display preferences for Accessibility on Mac
• Change Display preferences for Accessibility on iPad

Screen Time features

Screen Time isn’t just for kids! While we primarily think of this feature as a way to set limits and restrictions for kids, it can also serve as a feedback tool for you. When I enabled Screen Time on my phone, I was shocked at how much time I spent checking Twitter and email. Those stolen moments, only seconds at a time, were adding up to several hours a day. This information has helped me to reevaluate and change my habits.

• Screen Time for Mac
• Screen Time for iPad

Teacher Training Resources for Upcoming Campus Instruction Changes

Happy New Year! With a new year comes new changes on the Infinite Campus Teacher Portal. As hinted in last month's bsd220tech newsletter, Infinite Campus is about to release a new look and some new features for some of the Teacher's pages by the end of January 2021. In order to prepare you for these changes before they occur, Infinite Campus has provided access to some training resources that will help you become familiar with these changes.

First, a Quick-Reference video that shows a side-by-side comparison of how to access tools currently vs. once the update is installed.

Second, a Teacher Tools Guide that provides a side by side comparison of where to access tools related to student attendance and assignments currently, and how to access the same tools once the update is installed.

Third, a 20-minute detailed video that reviews cosmetic and functional changes within the teacher portal interface.

These changes will not occur until Barrington 220 completes the update later in January, but we wanted you to have a heads-up in advance so all of our teachers won't be surprised when it occurs. For more information about these upcoming changes, please click here to take you to the Infinite Campus Website for more details.

New One-Minute Spotlights Available

The Department of Technology & Innovation continues to produce our web series Learning NOW in Barrington 220 at www.youtube.com/learningnow220. Each episode highlights some of the ways Barrington 220 students are learning in one-minute stories about a particular lesson or activity. As a result, we hope to create a better understanding in the Barrington community about how students learn and how the classroom environment has changed with the addition of a technology device in the hands of every student, especially as we engage in distance learning. 

In our most recent episode, Sunny Hill Elementary School P.E. Teachers Tyler Cortez and Bryan King hold physical education classes on Zoom with their students. They created a “playlist” of various exercises on YouTube and meet with them live on Zoom using both prerecorded and live workouts. During a class, they communicate directly with students and exercise along with them, allowing students to make choices about what activity will happen next. Teachers offer encouragement and additional options throughout the class.

Where's my Big Sur?

One question we've been hearing in the Technology Department the last couple of months is, "Why can't I upgrade my Mac to macOS Big Sur?" "Big Sur" is the name Apple gave to the most recent version of the Mac operating system, macOS 11.

At this time, we are delaying our upgrade. We've also delayed previous macOS upgrades in the past, but only for a short time. However, this upgrade is a bit different.

This new operating system is the biggest change to the macOS in years. There are many cosmetic changes you'll notice right away. The overall design has been changed—windows now have more translucency and round corners, the Dock is more translucent, app icons have a uniform shape, and menu bars in apps have been redesigned to be less obtrusive and blend better with your content. Safari, Maps, Messages, and Notifications all look different and perform better as well.

But with all of the changes you see come some changes that are more invisible. System-level changes have greatly improved security and privacy, and some long-time subsystems have been greatly affected. All of this means that we have been extensively testing Barrington 220 software to make sure everything we do works on the new macOS before we release it here in the district.

As I type this, we have Tech Team and other staff members testing Big Sur to make sure it's ready and problem-free before we release it to you. So please be patient and be confident that we're taking all necessary steps to make sure the rollout of the newest macOS will be an easy transition for everyone in Barrington 220.

Updated Recommendations for Concurrent Instruction

Hybrid learning is an educational model in which some students attend class in person, while others attend online. A specific form of hybrid learning is concurrent instruction, where in-person and online learners participate in the same lesson simultaneously. When Barrington 220 begins implementing our Hybrid 2.0 plan on January 19, some students and teachers will use the concurrent model.

Preparing for Concurrent Instruction

Learn more about concurrent teaching in the hybrid model, including recommended instructional modalities by watching this Concurrent Classroom Overview video, and you can read more about it in this previous bsd220tech article. 

Barrington High School iDAL coach Chris Ebel created a great video to show an optimal technology set-up for concurrent instruction using our existing devices. This set-up will work for almost every instructional modality we recommend. It’s a great place to start as you begin concurrent instruction, and you can create variations as you become more comfortable with the model. 

Concurrent Classroom Set Up

Preparing for Concurrent Instruction Checklist

Notes, Recommendations, and New Ideas

We’ve learned a lot since we last used concurrent instruction in the Fall. We’ve reached out to neighboring districts, tested and retested a variety of additional equipment, and experimented with different instructional modalities. Based on what we’ve learned, here are the latest recommendations. 

Using two devices (MacBook and iPad) provides the greatest flexibility. With two devices, you have access to three cameras and two microphones. This allows you to:

1. Use the MacBook Air for video, and the iPad for audio.
2. Use the iPad as a document camera when needed.
3. Move around the room with the iPad microphone and speaker making it easier for students at home to hear students in the classroom.
4. Use your MacBook Air camera for a steady video of the entire class, providing a sense of “being there” for the at-home students.
5. Mixed-location small groups work best when there is only one in-person student in each group. This can be accomplished by directing students which group to join. (Zoom has a new feature that allows students to select their own breakout room.)
6. The biggest challenge remains helping kids at home feel connected to the class. Instructional strategies that don't require you to split your attention, such as flipped classroom or station rotation, tend to work best. 

Instructional Modalities for Concurrent Learning

Modality	Description	Platform	Audio setup	Video setup
Whole Group
Discussion	All students participate in a class discussion.	Zoom	In-class students join without audio or don’t join. Teacher uses iPad mic and speaker.	Teacher connects the MacBook to the projection device. Display Zoom students using  “Grid view.”
Direct Instruction	The teacher introduces, demonstrates, or models a concept or skill.	Zoom	In-class students join without audio or don’t join. Teacher uses iPad mic and speaker.	Teacher connects the MacBook to the projection device. Display Zoom students using  “Grid view.”
Small Group
Location-specific conferencing	Groups of in-person students and at-home students meet separately.	Zoom Breakout rooms and in-person.	Remote students will join with audio. In-person students will mute. Teacher will use headphones to monitor breakout rooms.	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 or Zoom Breakout Rooms.	Head-phones are recommended for in-person students. Teacher will use headphones to monitor breakout rooms.	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.	N.A.	N.A.
Blended
Individual or Group	Self-directed learning.	Multiple	N.A.	N.A.

Please also take a look at Ben Rodriguez's Instructional Playbook for Concurrent Instruction.

Concurrent Instruction Playbook

Barrington High School Assistant Principal Ben Rodriguez began at BHS as an Instructional Digital Age Learning (iDAL) Coach where he used Jim Knight's strategies. Over the last few years, the secondary iDAL Coaches, along with Kelly Hanson, Barrington 220's Director of Secondary Curriculum, developed an Instructional Playbook for coaching. The Acquire, Apply, and Assess structure seen below is a general framework created by Ty Gorman and Ben Rodriguez to help convey both how to facilitate learning and give examples of instructional tools.

Ben recently worked to adapt the Instructional Playbook for the Concurrent Learning model. Below you will find several tools that may be used as we teach concurrently.

In Ben's own words:

"The Concurrent Classroom Playbook was developed to support instructors' transition to the hybrid model. The goal is to support the refinement of instructional practices into a few powerful approaches that link research-based strategies with high-impact technologies the district has provided. Moving from left to right, teachers can select what they are asking students to do, decide how to facilitate that learning, and leverage tech tools to run those experiences for both students in the room and students at home. Teachers can also work with iDAL coaches as they work through the resources to see what approach will work best for their students and classes."

Sincere thanks to Ben Rodriguez for his work in concurrent learning that can be adapted for use at all grade levels!

What should  students be doing?	How can we facilitate learning?	What tools can we use?
Acquire Students learning new knowledge, skills, or procedures.	Flipped Learning The Concurrent Classroom: Using Blended Learning Models (#2 Flipped Learning Model)	EdPuzzle
	Mini-Lessons Optimizing Concurrent Classrooms  (1. Talk Less, Smile More)	Nearpod
Apply Students working with new knowledge, skills, or procedures.	Collaborative Learning Designing Breakout Rooms for Maximum Engagement	Zoom/Google Hangouts Schoology Padlet Jamboard
	Gradual Release of Responsibility Four Engaging Structures that Work in Hybrid A/B Classrooms  (1. The Steps Model)	Zoom/Google Hangouts Schoology
	Questioning & Discussions How to Teach When Everyone is Scattered  (6. Optimize Discussions)	Zoom/Google Hangouts Schoology Flipgrid
Assess Students using feedback to move forward in their learning.	Formative Assessment Five Models for Making the Most of Hybrid Learning	Schoology Nearpod EdPuzzle
	Feedback Flash Feedback	Zoom/Google Hangouts Schoology