In this episode we share some ideas of how to build community with your students in remote learning and online learning environments using digital tools such as Google Meet, Gimkit, Hangouts Chat, G Suite, and more! 

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Show Notes

News and Updates

• Google Meet - Grid View aka Tile View
  • Recently updated to include a tile view; you can now see up to 16 participants on a screen
  • Access via 3 vertical dots (aka snowman or timbits) > Change Layout > Tiled
• Google Sites - New templates available
  • Access the template gallery at sites.google.com
  • Templates available for education include: class, club, and student portfolio
• Bitmoji Headers for Classroom
  • Create Bitmoji Headers for your Google Classroom
  • Design a Custom Google Classroom Header (Alice Keeler)
  • Bitmoji Banner Tutorial (Lisa Mazariego)

Featured Content
This week, we discussed various ways to build community in our online classrooms:

1. Social Time (Synchronous and Asynchronous)

• Use Google Meet (or Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc.) to provide a synchronous social hour; no expectations around course work here!
• Play a collaborative game such as Kahoot or Gimkit during meets.
• Use Hangouts Chat (or Hangouts if you are not a G Suite board) for asynchronous discussions (texting is better than traditional discussion boards!) - tips here to get started.
• Use Google Classroom stream to post discussion questions, i.e. what is your favourite...? or would you rather... or ... and why?

2. Create Roles or Groups For Students
An engagement strategy to use with students by assigning roles such as creating flashcards, short videos to explain a new concept, or even study groups. Some digital tools to use:

• Screencastify Submit: careful of sharing settings!
• Shared Docs or Slides: collaborative tools
• Flipgrid: Video discussion platform
• Padlet: Discussion board, word wall, etc. 
• Jamboard - Similar to Padlet
• Course Blogs: Make sure you protect student privacy here!

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