Keeping in contact during school shutdowns
Ordinarily, term one holidays would end on the 14th of April. However, the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic may force longer closures. Because of this, many schools are seeking guidance on how to run their curriculum.
Victorian Education Department Term Dates 2020
We thought it might help to suggest some ways to make communicating with your school community easier.
Classroom by Video
LinkedSuccess and uEducateUs aren’t affiliated with any of these services, so if you have any concerns, please check their privacy policies before use.
Each requires a login account which may need to be created and authorised by a parent or guardian.
At this time, uEducateUs does not have video chat, but you can use any of a number of products, including Microsoft Skype or Google Hangouts.
Microsoft also runs “Skype in the Classroom” where you can run classes of your own, or have students join an existing session held by volunteer teachers across the world.
Communicate with teams - Slack or Microsoft Teams
There are a number of “team communication” applications out there, like Slack or Microsoft Teams. These are “premium” applications which charge per user. You may already use these in your workplace, or want to try them out for your school.
“Team” applications include a number of features, including:
-
Individual or team chat - hold conversations with single or multiple people
-
Tasks - setup tasks and assign them to team members
-
File sharing - share files with team members
-
Internal calendar
Luckily, uEducateUs already includes these features and it’s designed for the school environment.
Further information
Victorian Government COVID-19 information page
The Age/Sydney Morning Herald article on taking classes from home
The Age/Sydney Morning Herald School from Home podcast
Edit 10 April 2020
Removed references to Zoom meetings because of their security issues. Learn more on Business Insider Australia.