ONLINE PLATFORM FOR EDUCATION
This is a space for us to share with you more about how you can make use of existing affordable technology to implement online teaching and distance learning for your education business.
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You could be a teacher, or a business owner that organises courses. Regardless, recent events have created the necessity for you to explore teaching online, online learning, and to engage with your students online.
You would therefore need affordable tools to staying connected with students and communicate remotely with their with parents and caregivers. You would therefore need to create an online platform that will serve as a central hub for your learning community to be nurtured. This platform must have the features that enable you to foster an engaging educational environment with other teachers, students and their families.
To reinvent your classroom online, we can make use of the WIX platform to make your online teaching simple, interactive, and fun. Technology can help us to change the way we teach and learn, and at the core of these practices is the principle that revolutionary education requires embracing innovation. As learning gets reinvented and reimagined with each passing year, distance learning may well become a standard practice.
With that in mind, we have put together the following distance learning solution for you to consider.
CREATE THE PLATFORM FOR YOUR ONLINE CLASSROOM
A website that comes with distance learning capabilities.
Think of this website as the e-learning platform where you can post updates and assignments for students while keeping parents and caregivers in the loop. It serves as a hub for providing lesson resources, hosting online courses and webinars, and sharing your students’ work.
START WITH A LANDING PAGE
Your landing page can act as a virtual classroom - a single, centralized place on your site where your students can find all your online teaching materials and shared files. This will help you simplify your students’ workflow and make it easier for them to navigate the site. You can use a combination of different text, images, and buttons to keep it organized, as well as post your weekly activities directly to your landing page for easy access.
CREATE A FLIPPED CLASSROOM.
While live streaming is an invaluable tool for teaching online, real-time classroom sessions can be exhausting for teachers and students alike. Instead of back-to-back video meetings, opt for a hybrid or flipped classroom model. In this model, students can access lesson materials like videos and readings at their own pace, and then check in with you at designated times. Add videos or embed external sites like quizzes or puzzles to enrich your lessons. To encourage critical thinking, try writing reflection questions below the video for students to consider as they watch.
SCHEDULE TIME FOR CHECK-INS
A big part of being an educator is creating connections and providing the foundations for a lasting, supportive community. Keep students and parents in the loop by letting them know how and when they can reach out to you. Use our Bookings system to schedule office hours a few times a week for students or parents who need extra support. You can also share your Google Calendar on your site to tell students and parents about online teaching times, video conferences, and one-on-one meetings.
COMMUNICATE REGULARLY
In addition to holding meetings with students and their parents, make yourself available for regular and consistent communication online. Using Wix Groups, we can create individual discussion groups for each of your classrooms. This will allow you to post updates about homework, share valuable course materials, and hold meaningful discussions with students. In addition, it will encourage students to engage with one another throughout the day, giving them a platform to discuss their work, connect with their peers, and collaborate on group projects. As you create your Groups, keep in mind that you can make them private to protect student data.
MAKE YOUR WEBSITE INTERACTIVE
Powerful learning happens when we are engaged as creators, rather than consumers. Your website is more than just a container of information for your students; it’s also a way for your students to post their feedback and progress. To gather your students’ ideas, use Google Drive to embed forms and surveys on your site.
BUILD A SCHOOL COMMUNITY WEBSITE
If you work as a school administrator, you might consider creating an online platform that brings together your community and notifies people of school events.
Creating a website for your school will allow you to easily communicate school news, details about your mission and values for newcomers, and key information for parents. This is a helpful way to post urgent updates and share community resources with families.
You might also want to pursue promoting a specific initiative or virtual event. This includes upcoming graduation ceremonies, awards nights, parent-teacher conferences, and more. If your school participates in initiatives such as fundraisers and food drives, a nonprofit website will help you get the word out.
To manage these occasions, we can use Wix Events to schedule and collect RSVPs.
START AN EDUCATION BLOG
Teachers all over the globe are finding ways to reinvent their practices, and educators can learn valuable strategies from their colleagues and peers.
One way to communicate your thoughts with other educators is by creating a blog. Having a blog will make it possible for you to connect with like-minded professionals and share online learning activities and ideas with other teachers.
If you wish to save time on writing, you can get creative with your content - for example, by featuring podcasts using the Wix Podcast Player. You might also add a Wix Forum to your site to encourage discussions and create an online learning community.
CREATE A GRADUATION WEBSITE
A website is also useful for celebrating important school events, such as graduations. Whether your students are learning remotely or simply want to loop in friends and family members from afar, creating a graduation website is a thoughtful way to congratulate them on their special day.
In addition to featuring information about the students’ academic and extracurricular achievements, you can also include a message board that allows friends and family to leave notes of congratulations. This helps your students celebrate the occasion, even outside a physical school environment, and feel proud of their accomplishments.
KEEP YOUR WEBSITE SAFE
When building a site that might contain information about your students, it’s important to take the necessary security steps. Be sure to distinguish between personal and private information. Personal information covers things your students might like or have made (such as skateboarding or science experiments), whereas private information is anything that might help identify those individual students, such as their full name, demographics, and even images of their faces.
There are a few ways we can use settings to make sure your students’ information stays safe:
Create a strong password, as well as password-protected pages.
Refrain from posting images and videos that depict students.
Avoid sharing passwords on your site. When providing login instructions, communicate these details verbally or through dedicated apps.
KEEP YOUR WEBSITE ACCESSIBLE
Keep your site accessible and inclusive. to ensure you reach all your students equally.
If your community includes different language speakers, you might consider making your website multilingual so that people can access your content in the language they feel most comfortable with.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Blended and online learning offer a flexible and personalized educational experience, helping students stay engaged and involved.
By shifting toward digital instruction, educators can reimagine what learning looks like and tailor it to the ways people learn best. At the same time, students can connect with peers and teachers in innovative ways and become active participants in their own learning.
The future of education is deeply tied to technology and innovation. Now more than ever, we need modern learning environments that foster the 21st century skills of creativity, collaboration, and communication.
*Note: All the above are suggestions and ideas, and by no means a close list of ideas that would provide security and/or legal compliance. When setting up online services like this, it is always good to stay in-tune with local guidance of the supervising body (Ministry of Education, etc.) and for legal and compliance issues you should consult a local legal counsel.