In these COVID-19 times, we are all learners. Teachers, students, and families are learning new skills, pedagogies, and technologies. While new learning and professional growth is exciting, it is also exhausting. Be kind to yourself, your students, and their families. Not only are teachers looking for new lesson planning ideas, technology options, and creating a digital presence, your students are also learning new skills, course content, and working with family members new to schooling at home, who themselves may have lost their job or are also trying to work from home.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) has put us all in a world that we did not see coming. The rapid deployment of social distancing took many by surprise, and each state, school, and individual teacher will contend with their own unique challenges as they tackle this crisis. Yet, as educators, we must figure out how to continue the learning. In times like this, even our teachers will be learning – learning new skills and pedagogy.
With textbook prices constantly climbing, the need for affordable alternatives has become a high priority for both educators and learners. But how can you reduce or remove the need for a course textbook while still ensuring that learners have access to the materials they need?
Written by Laura Lawrence and Tracey DeLillo from the Alamo Colleges
Link Selector: an easier way to embed SoftChalk lessons in your LMS
SoftChalk has just announced a new tool that makes it easier to embed SoftChalk lessons into your LMS (learning management system) courses. This new tool, “SoftChalk Link Selector”, is now available for both Canvas and Brightspace LMS platforms. (Blackboard and Moodle, and other LMS versions are coming soon!) If you have a SoftChalk Cloud account, SoftChalk Link Selector is free for you to use!
SoftChalk Teaching Success Stories from the “Godfather” of Online Science—Part 2
The Skyrocketing Costs of Textbooks, OER and SoftChalk
In the past 15 years, I’ve noticed that the price of textbooks that I use in science and nursing has doubled. Many of my students have told me that they couldn’t get the required textbook for the course until the next paycheck or until their parents could send them more money.
SoftChalk Teaching Success Stories from the “Godfather” of Online Science—Part 1
Since the early 1990s, I have been developing and teaching online science classes, and my real name (James Brown) resulted in my nickname “The Godfather of Online Science”. I have also been referred to as a “Chalkie” since I was an early adopter of the extensive resources available through SoftChalk.
We are excited to share that SoftChalk has released new and improved navigation for SoftChalk’s LTI ScoreCenter. The functionality of the SoftChalk Cloud LTI ScoreCenter will not change. We’ve simply updated the design of the interface to make it easier to navigate, and to make the interface more device responsive (so it looks great on mobile and tablet interfaces as well as desktop monitors).
