All Blog Posts
Three Best-Practices for School Administrators Managing Online Learning
Katie Dell’Oso brings a wealth of experience to the table when it comes to Educational Leadership. Not only is she currently enrolled in Furman Educational Specialist (Ed.S) Degree Program, she also served as an instructional coach at Gateway Elementary before taking on the role of Academic Specialist with Greenville County Schools. Below is a transcript of an interview where she discusses research she is doing on strategies to improve online instruction.
I’m working currently on some research with the impact of the virtual programs and online instructional strategies. I’ve been looking at the whole-child approach of maintaining a culture and community within an online classroom.
#1 Best Practices with Students
Taking the time each morning to get a feel for where your kids are really helps with understanding that your students are all in different spots right now. A lot of them are dealing with their family being sick. Some of them have COVID, some people have lost jobs, and some people are staying home to take care of their younger siblings. We’ve done a ton of different little strategies (such as) the four corners strategy, using Google Jamboard, where (students) can insert how they’re feeling that morning and share.
#2 Best Practices with Teachers
As a district leader, I also have to do a pulse check on where our teachers are at. A lot of them are struggling, as well with maintaining positive mindsets and taking care of themselves with so much going on. This past week we also did a virtual cube-draw with positive quotes, so everybody from the district who wanted to participate could insert a positive quote for the week that could inspire others. That’s just one of the things helping teachers with their social and emotional health.
#3 Best Practices with Assessments
From a research standpoint, I do a lot with the instructional strategies. We’ve been looking at using more rubrics and authentic assessments instead of as many multiple choice assessments. Rubrics usually lead to less bias with students and it’s more authentic. We’re finding that we’re getting better growth and more inquiry and higher-order thinking skills with our rubrics and projects and our more authentic assessments.
That’s where my current research right now has been on instructional assessments and informing our instruction with a virtual program.
Want to learn more about the Ed.S. program?