Presenter: Diedra Murphy
One of the key components of cohort-building and collegiality in and outside the classroom on a college campus is found in informal communication. Whether inside the classroom or in the library, dining hall or study areas, there are many places for students to connect and form bonds in unstructured, casual ways. These bonds lead to the formation of study groups, supportive relationships, and an improved sense of belonging and intellectual identity for students. Between students and professors, the ability to drop into office hours or stay after class time in the classroom allows them on-demand learning and communication opportunities.In the context of COVID-19, many professors and support staff are eager to find other ways students can interact in less formalized ways. The communication platform Slack is an app you can access from your phone, tablet, or computer. It provides a “do it yourself” communication space that can be used in classes, for specific cohorts of students, or as a virtual “hangout” space for large groups. It interacts well with other online platforms and allows students to communicate with each other without providing their full names, phone numbers, or e-mail addresses (making it ideal for FERPA protections). This presentation will show examples of Slack being used in these three contexts (in a class, for a formalized cohort, and as a social meeting place) and help attendees troubleshoot the startup of their own Slack workspaces.

Presenters: Dawn Striker and Gary Ackerman
MyOpenMath is a site that provides faculty with “pre-built” content that is aligned with textbooks that are available as open education resources. In this presentation, a faculty member who uses MOM will discuss its use and demonstrate its integration into an LMS. The co-host in the session will describe the steps of LMS integration.

Presenters: Melissa Paciulli, Charles Bonar, Teddy McCormick, and Amy Toulson
As a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Holyoke Community College’s Biology department was faced with a unique challenge. Under normal circumstances its Anatomy and Physiology students are provided with tactile instructional material in the form of anatomical models to work with in the classroom. Given the often immense cost of such materials, their provision to students within the conditions of remote learning was simply not logistically feasible. In lieu of the ability to supply students with these models in the typical manner, the Biology department in conjunction with the STEM Starter Academy’s 3D printing capabilities devised a comparable solution; similar anatomical models were rendered with the STEM Starter Academy’s 3D printers and shipped to students so that they may enjoy a similar learning experience to that of a physical classroom. We are happy to share the files for other educators that we used to print vertebrae for each student in our A&P online classes. This inexpensive solution, integrated the STEM disciplines, offering a quick and flexible option for our students to also manage an engineering project, produce a solution to a problem and was a win-win for our STEM group and most importantly our students.

Presenter: Tim Dolan
This session will provide an overview of copyright topics relevant for distance education. We will cover the various ‘safe harbors’ that exist in US copyright law that allow broad educators to legally use a broad range of materials in the classroom, as well as the differences in the law between face-to-face and remote teaching situations. We will also briefly explore fair use analysis, content that’s in the public domain, and Creative Commons licenses.

Presenter: Andrew Bowersox
Launched in January 2020, LabXchange is a free science education platform created at Harvard University with support from the Amgen Foundation. The platform lets you browse vetted science content from sources around the world, remix the library content with your own private content, and share your ideas with a class or a broader community. The content library contains a rapidly growing compilation of learning assets including simulations, interactive “scrollables,” virtual labs, video, text, interviews with scientists, and more. LabXchange allows educators to create classes, post content and assignments, engage in discussion, design, iteration, problem-solving, and connect with mentors, all while supporting individual exploration and challenge. These tools can be used to differentiate and personalize the learning experience for students, and can also save time and provide opportunities for collaboration for educators at the department, school and district level. This interactive presentation will set up a sample LabXchange classroom. Participants will be invited into the classroom as learners (or educators) and we will explore together some of the LabXchange features. My hope is that participants will brainstorm novel uses for LabXchange, provide constructive feedback and how to use Labxchange more effectively in future iterations, and discuss ways to use the platform to differentiate instruction for a broad range of learners.

Presenter: Alyssa Arnell
Designing your class content based on open educational resources will make your course more accessible. This presentation will provide an overview of practical steps for creating rich class content that appeals to different learning styles and is an affordable alternative to the traditional textbook. 

Presenters: Liz Colantuonio and Joanna Flynn
Looking to learn how to provide inclusive instruction in a virtual setting? Join us to examine how teachers can work as a team to provide online lessons to meet the needs of all learners. We will look at the benefits/challenges and how to find a balance between synchronous/asynchronous lessons. As schools are facing the possibility of another year of remote learning, educators are looking to find new ways to improve their craft to include teaching and learning online. In this interactive workshop, participants will examine the difference between emergency remote teaching and online learning. More specifically, participants will take a deep dive into how general education and special education teachers can collaborate to provide instruction to all students in an inclusive setting. We will discuss the 7 Pillars of Inclusive Education and the 6 Models of Co-Teaching and examine how this might look in a virtual setting, identifying the benefits and challenges. We will compare synchronous vs. asynchronous lessons and how a flipped or blended model can help even our youngest learners succeed in a virtual environment with a focus on special education and ELL students who may need modified assignments or instruction. The session will wrap up with an overview of tools to support educators facing this new way of teaching and resources they can use to learn more through online webinars and professional learning communities.

Presenters: Jeanne Dodge and Gary Ackerman
This presentation will focus on two aspects of creating accessible online classrooms. First, a faculty member will describe and demonstrate how universal design for learning (UDL) can inform course design. Second, an instructional technologist will describe and demonstrate tools for creating files that comply with ADA requirements.

Presenter: Ana Emlinger
What are the key areas behind designing and teaching for cultural inclusion? How to create a more impactful and engaging online class for all learners? Successful teaching is successful learning. Cultural contexts influence online student behaviors and levels of engagement. Join me in this session to demystify all that you always thought about online teaching and was afraid to ask! You will leave this session more confident than ever that your first online class will rock! In this dynamic conversation you will get some practical tips and recommendations on basic tools, assignments, and other interaction to support all learners in your online class. Participatory elements: break out in small discussion groups early in the presentation (3 minutes) – report to the big audience (1 minute per group).

Presenter: Jaime Alvarez
I have worked as a Special Education Case Manager at GCVS, one the the two public schools of choice in Massachusetts, for the last two years. This year I was the team leader for the Special Ed PLC at GCVS. I helped to direct the special education team all year to come to a consensus on best practices for online special education. By the end of the year, the special ed department at GCVS developed a hyperdoc that related state data and goals to best online practices for special educators. I would like to present on the differences between online education and brick and mortar schools in relation to special education. Best practices in brick and mortar do not always translate to online education, however the special education team at GCVS has found that other innovative techniques can take their place. I would like to discuss: activators, hyperdocs, graphic organizers, co-teaching tools, edpro and other technology tools, as well as other techniques that help to make online special education successful. All items that would be discussed would be to related to brick and mortar best teaching practices and how these online practices can simulate what we have in brick and mortar schools.

Presenter: Christine Ashton
As a regular virtual high school teacher, I know that one of the biggest challenges in the virtual classroom is getting students to fully engage in live virtual lessons. In my three years in the virtual classroom, I have come to rely on a variety of tools and resources to encourage engagement and participation from all students, with the understanding that students will often choose different means of engaging depending on their comfort level, abilities, and at times, even their mood on a given day. In this presentation, I will be sharing the tools, tips, and resources that have worked for my classes. Attendees will leave this session with a better understanding of the different ways they can encourage students to participate in remote live lessons. In addition, they will learn about various tools (all of which have both free and paid subscription options) such as G Suite, Boomwriter, and Actively Learn, that they can use to engage students and monitor student engagement in real time. Ultimately, this presentation will aim to help attendees better understand the different engagement and participation opportunities that exist for students in virtual learning spaces. Beyond simply looking at the tools, attendees will also get to experience first-hand what some of these tools look like in action, by participating in a Peardeck presentation, working on a short activity in Actively Learn, and completing a Google Form exit ticket, in the hopes that they might feel more confident about bringing these tools into their digital classrooms this fall.

Presenter: Thea Durling
English Language Learners need additional language supports in order access the course content and explain their thinking. In this (interactive) presentation, we will look at some of the technical tools that can be used to support ELLS. We will use the state-endorsed sheltering strategies as a rough guide: apps to support vocabulary acquisition, reading comprehension, and writing.