The final months of the 2019-20 academic year challenged public education as never before. Overnight, the entire national education system was forced to convert all instruction from our familiar classrooms to distance modes of delivery. Schools and teachers responded heroically to the challenge, reinventing themselves in real time through everything from mobile hotspots deployed in school buses to manila envelopes passed to parents in school parking lots.
Now it is time to pause and reflect on what we have accomplished and where we want to go. What worked well? What could we do better?
While we all hope our K-12 buildings return to pre-COVID operations, we understand we may be called on again to deliver instruction through distance systems, and we have also learned something of the potential of effective distance learning strategies to enhance our schools even when the crisis has passed.
To help schools on this journey, Kansas State University’s College of Education is proud to announce an innovative online summer workshop, The Art of Online Learning and Remote Teaching (June 8-July 16). School leaders and teachers selected to participate will earn $3000 scholarships toward nine credit hours of coursework in online teaching in hands-on, practical applications of powerful technologies to meet the needs of all students. Our expert faculty will work alongside some of the most innovative and creative K-12 teachers and administrators to help participants synthesize what we have learned from spring 2020 so we are prepared for whatever is to come this fall and beyond.
The application process is simple, but we encourage you to act quickly as spaces are limited. This workshop is appropriate for both administrators and teachers, and the coursework this summer can be followed during the school year with a practicum experience leading to a certificate in online teaching. Mostly this workshop will prepare teachers and leaders to return to their schools and guide others. It’s time to move beyond packets of homework distributed in the parking lots. It’s time to unleash the full potential of distance learning.
For more information, check out the website; Online Teaching
We hope to see you online this summer!