Transitioning to Teaching Biology Online
Many teachers are now engaging in online instruction, below are some strategies and resources that will help you cope.
Tips for Transitioning to Online Teaching
First and foremost, you need to keep perspective. This is a unique time that has in many ways changed the way we are living. You need to keep the health (physical and mental) of you and your student the top priority.
Next, you need to understand that many of your students have taken on new roles in their household. The availability of resources and time ot do school work vary greatly between families.
Be sure you take these things into consideration prior to establishing your online learning expectations and determining what the workload will be. You know your students.
My thoughts on online assessments. Right now my school has put a moratorium on summative assessments. Although, it is possible to use them to get a feel for how students understand content it is not possible to ensure the assessments are completely valid.
How you treat assessments that are traditionally used in the classroom will definitely vary from teacher to teacher. It is important to keep in mind that they should no longer represent a large portion of their grade. Again, this will depend on your school’s newly adapted policies for assessment.
I am sure my students are celebrating this moratorium.
To assess students, I am grading more small items for accuracy after ensuring I have provided them with the necessary guidance. I am also relying heavily on the resources listed below to grade everything automatically! I have three kids too!
Need to give a make up test or are required to do an assessment? I have had a few students that needed to make up a test and I just couldn’t excuse them from it in fairness to the other students. Here is how I did it.
I am created an answer sheet for the students to fill in as I show the test using screen share via zoom. I slowly scrolled through the test and moved through it at their pace.
Is it perfect? No. But it still allows me the best opportunity to get the test to the students, maintain a fair and consistent grade book and protect my assessment. If you have a better way (without recreating an entire assessment to a digital version) let me know so I can share it.
Office Hours- I am making myself available to all of my students every Tuesday and Thursday via zoom for at least 30 minutes so they can come to the meeting and ask any questions they may have.
Deadlines
Many of you are probably struggling with this adjustment (I know I am) and so are your students. I am making sure that my students have an opportunity to work ahead so they can plan for anything they may have going on.
Considerations
As mentioned, many of your students have likely taken on new roles within the household. With that consideration, I have also reduced the work load for my students. This is a unique time and it requires compassion and understanding. When I polled my audience the weekly workload varied greatly by school. You will have to figure out what works best for you and your students.
Seven Online Teaching Resources You Must See
There are countless resources out there. If you are looking for something specific join our facebook group Biology Teachers and request a resource and our community will help you find what you need.
The list I am providing is intended to be more general website resources that provide more than just one activity. Feel free to add comments about your favorites.
1. USBiologyTeaching.Com -A Full Biology Curriculum with the following resources integrated and aligned!
Of course I have to start with the site that I think will save you the most time! Right here we offer a ton of free resources by search our blog or
2. HHMI- https://www.biointeractive.org/classroom-resources -High Quality
HHMI offers some really amazing resources for teaching Biology and includes supporting resources like videos and worksheets. Some people do complain that the answer keys are readily available but I am not worried about it. I can assess their understanding in a variety of ways.
Collaborate with More Than 3,400 Biology Teacher in Our Facebook Group: Biology Teachers
3. Edpuzzle.com- This site is Amazing!
This website allows teachers to use videos and integrate questions within the videos that students must answer to move on. The best part is that there are already tons of video done by other teachers with the question check points already integrated.
4. Quizizz.com-Quizzes in seconds!
Teachers can access pre-made quizzes or make their own using the question banks and their own questions. You can customize how many times students can take the quiz, how long it lasts and what types of feedback they get. We have linked quizzes that align with each unit.
5. Socrative- Immediate Feedback, Quick Checks
Socrative allow users to create quizzes, play a space race game or do quick exit quizzes/polls. You can create a free account and copy the quizzes that have already been made. In our Full Biology Curriculum you will have access to five to ten questions mini quizzes (checks for understanding) for each unit.
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6. Quizlet
Quizlet is one of my all time favorites. I like Quizlet because it offers flexibility with a variety of options for students to learn. Students can do flashcards, learn, write out answers, spell, test and play games like Gravity, Matching and one of my favorites, Quizlet Live. Though this platform is designed as a learning tool and not an assessment tool you can print quizzes and tests that use the content from the flash cards. Check out my post and video on how to do this: "Why I Love Quizlet"
7. GoFormative-Easily Convert Your Current Paper Tests to Digital Test with Retyping!
I was turned onto this website when I received email from one of my followers. I am so grateful. I heard of it before but did not explore it until now. I am so grateful. GoFormative can help you convert your .doc or .pdf file into an online test that automatically grades your student's responses. I am still learning this one but I am happy with it so far. The best part is not having to retype everything into yet another platform. Simply upload your documents and start clicking and checking off the correct answers.
Do you have one you love that isn't lsited? Drop it in the Comments!
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