https://glu8859.wixsite.com/techtools/

The Coronavirus has caused many issues since it’s spread in the United
States at the beginning of March of 2020. With the severe spread of COVID-19,
most schools have either gone completely online or they have a blended model
where they are partially in school and partially online. There are very different
types of learning being used in schools during this time, there is remote learning,
online learning, and traditional learning. Remote learning is also called
synchronous learning meaning that students and teachers meet on some form of
video chat (i.e. Zoom, Google Meet) and get direct instruction. Online learning is
also called asynchronous learning meaning that the students are presented with
premade material that they can do at their own pace. Traditional learning is the
everyday classroom pre-COVID-19. Most schools are using a combination of
those three styles to create a hybrid model. When the lockdowns started in
March of 2020, “schools were scrambling to make the shift to online teaching and
learning, the corona virus was taking the lives of thousands of people—including
educators” (Bushweller, 2020). These major implications are a large part of the
reason that I chose this project. Schooling has changed dramatically in the last
nine months, since the shift to online and remote learning. Personal observation
and research showed that there are little to no places that compare and contrast
different websites or resources. One noteworthy resource is Commonsense
Media (https://www.commonsense.org/education/), this resource has kept up

with the times by incorporating information about remote or distance learning.
Therefore, the idea of creating a website that would do exactly that was born. It
provides a unique resource of multiple different kinds of websites or tools that
can be used online with students. Teachers and students need more support
now than ever.
There are many teachers that are struggling with this severe change in the
schooling atmosphere. “Teachers will also need training on establishing a remote
learning ‘cadence,’ balancing synchronous (live lessons) and asynchronous
(assignments and projects completed anytime) teaching, finding supplementary
online curriculum materials, and reconfiguring time management to remote
teaching environments” (Lieberman, 2020). There are teachers who are having
issues finding a way to intrigue and engage the students with them not in the
physical classroom. Many teachers are not familiar with the technological
resources that are at their disposal. Most of the resources mentioned have free
versions that can be used in a classroom, virtual or in-person. This thesis project
focused on finding a way to show those teachers that there are tools out there
that can help them in their adventure in these unprecedented times. There have
been many circumstances where schools have had to go completely remote at a
day’s notice. One of the local schools in my area has closed quickly and moved
to remote learning due to a severe spike in the number of cases in the school
(Dallastown Area School District, 2020). Teachers who choose to use technology
in their classes have an easier time transitioning from in-person to remote
learning.

One big issue that has been noted by teachers is that they are struggling
to get feedback on how the students are receiving the information they are
presenting. To help the teachers gain a better understanding of the student’s
knowledge, teachers are able to use these resources to collect live data from the
students which will help the teachers direct their instruction more effectively.
Resources such as Quizizz, Quizalize, Kahoot, Socrative, Gimkit, Formative, and
Classkick. These resources are covered in more detail in the Formative
Assessment tab of the website.
Students are struggling with online learning, having issues with being
attentive to teachers that are using the lecture method to present information.
“[Students] are bored. A lot of teachers are finding it is difficult to give work that’s
not just videos to watch” (Rothenberger, 2020). There are multiple tools included
on the website that cover ways to present knowledge. They can be found under
the Direct Instruction Presentations Tab. Students are also struggling with the
amount of work and the lack of help from the teachers. There are tools that could
be utilized by students as well, such as Quizlet or Gimkit. Students can take
charge of their own learning and help themselves by making study tools.
When I began designing the website, I decided that a fun and engaging
color format would be a good fit for the information I was planning to provide.
This website is meant to be used by students and teachers alike, so fun colors
needed to be involved. I also separated all of the websites/tools that I did
research on into categories. I then put them into the individual tabs and
separated them within the tabs by their similarities. For example, Padlet and

FlipGrid were put next to each other because they are the most similar. Padlet
one is words based and FlipGrid is videos based. I did this for all the different
websites and tools.
After researching different website creation applications, I decided to use
Wix.com to create my site. Wix.com came highly recommended by a professor
and it was one of the most user friendly. It was super easy to navigate, and it
also gave me access to a phone view option of my website. I was able to edit
both the phone view and the computer view which I believe is very important for
a site to have. Overall, it makes the website more accessible. There was also a
unique feature that allowed me to link individual websites to my website. It’s as
easy as clicking the button below the paragraph to go directly to the linked site. I
linked the opening page so that the user could go directly to the tabs from the
front page by clicking the corresponding name.
Overall, the intention of this thesis project is to help teachers and students
navigate this difficult and constantly changing time. There are multiple resources
for school districts to use to determine which Learning Information System will
best fit their needs. There are more resources than what was covered on the
website, and there is still more room to grow. This thesis project does not end
here, I intend on continually updating the website with new resources that I find
during my time as a teacher.

Reference
Bushweller, K. (2020, June 02). Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 on Ed-Tech
Use. Retrieved January 01, 2021, from
https://www.edweek.org/technology/assessing-the-impact-of-covid-19-oned-tech-use/2020/06
Dallastown Area School District. (2020). Communications. Retrieved January 01,
2021, from
https://sites.google.com/dallastown.net/dasdcovid19/communications?authu
ser=0
Lieberman, M. (2020, July 22). The Pivot Back to Remote Learning: Checklists
for Teachers, Principals, and Ed-Tech Leaders. Retrieved January 01,
2021, from https://www.edweek.org/leadership/the-pivot-back-to-remotelearning-checklists-for-teachers-principals-and-ed-techleaders/2020/07?MvBriefArticleId=19664
Rothenberger, Z. (2020, May 10). Teaching in the Time of Coronavirus: A
Conversation with a Math Teacher in Texas. Retrieved January 01, 2021,
from https://knowlesteachers.org/blog/teaching-in-the-time-of-coronavirus-aconversation-with-a-math-teacher-intexas?gclid=CjwKCAiArbv_BRA8EiwAYGs23CVi_liFzdSvnbpCLVGeVBG1
Ge0PWFE_QLbn8ba_e7M2j8vq7pmt8RoC4YoQAvD_BwE