The work-life of the Belouga team has always been digital. Our team lives all over the world, and we use technology for everything we do. In so many words, we practice what we preach! But that’s not how most businesses and schools operate. With the recent outbreak of Covid-19 around the world, however, schools have had to adjust quickly to keep their students and teachers safe but also continue learning by shifting to a fully online environment. What does this new online environment mean for student learning? How can teachers continue to be effective while outside of the classroom?
We decided to dive deeper into what’s happening with learning during this global epidemic and how we can provide support. Here are the top 5 ways to use Belouga for free to create a quality online learning environment even if you aren’t in school.
Full Lessons and Units
Belouga offers a free library of engaging and interactive units and lessons about real-world topics like climate change, design thinking and STEM. New content is available all the time, and it’s personalized. Teachers can assign lessons, or students can explore content based on their curiosity. Here are a couple of examples of what we’ve published about COVID-19 recently.
Communication
Not only can teachers stay connected to their students and other teachers at their school, but they can connect and collaborate with other students and teachers all over the world. Easily send files through the chat too so everything stays in one place. Connect with a school in another state in your own country or find out what’s going on across the world. The Belouga chat and suggested connections make it easy.
Live Instruction
Lots of teachers want an easy way to meet with their students through video conferencing software. The Belouga Video Chat was built with teachers in mind. Conduct live teaching sessions with lessons from the Belouga Library and collaborate with other classes in real-time or asynchronously. Teachers have full control over how to run their classrooms with features like screen share and video streaming without ever leaving the platform.
Small Groups
Small group instruction on Belouga is particularly powerful. Teachers can create small groups in a chat, start a video conference, share and assign lessons targeted to the needs of their students and so much more.
Monitor and Assess
The dashboard is the control center for teachers where they have access to everything students are doing on the platform, from conversations with other students to the work they submit. As students submit answers to questions about lessons in the Belouga Library, teachers can provide feedback all in one place.
We welcome all students, teachers and administrators to explore Belouga. Get started here.