Teacher Digital Learning Guide

Teacher
Teacher
Digital
Digital Learning
Learning
Guide
Other than statutory and regulatory requirements included in the document, the contents of
this guidance do not have the force and effect of law and are not meant to bind the public. This
document is intended only to provide clarity to the public regarding existing requirements under
the law or agency policies. [OET-FY21-02]
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ 3
Introduction............................................................................................................................................... 5
Access, Digital Citizenship & Safety, and Privacy & Security....................................................... 6
1. ADDRESSING ACCESS.................................................................................................................................... 6
2. TEACHING DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP & SAFETY...................................................................................... 7
3. ENSURING PRIVACY & SECURITY............................................................................................................ 8
Personalize Learning for Students.......................................................................................................11
1. EMPOWERING THE INDIVIDUAL LEARNER......................................................................................... 11
2. FOSTERING STUDENT ENGAGEMENT...................................................................................................13
3. DEVELOPING AGENCY AND SELF-DIRECTED DIGITAL LEARNING.....................................17
4. OPTIMIZING ASSESSMENTS USING DIGITAL LEARNING........................................................... 18
Collaborate with Parents and Families to Support Students...................................................... 21
1. COMMUNICATING WITH PARENTS & FAMILIES................................................................................21
2. SETTING EXPECTATIONS AND SUPPORT FOR STUDENT PARTICIPATION.................... 23
3. SUPPORTING SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL NEEDS OF STUDENTS......................................... 25
Teacher Professional Learning and Well-being..............................................................................28
Navigating the Future............................................................................................................................ 31
Endnotes ...................................................................................................................................................32
Digital Learning Guide | Teacher 2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was developed under the guidance of senior staff in the U.S. Department of Education,
Office of Educational Technology with technical support from Pia Dandiya, Jessenia Guerra,
Michael Ham, Kevin Johnstun, and Maile Symonds and contributions from Digital Promise.
The team extends their thanks to a Technical Working Group of education leaders and
researchers who provided valuable insights and examples from their experience (listed in
alphabetical order by last name):
Jose Blackorby, CAST
Jered Borup, George Mason University
Linda Burch, Common Sense Media
Jon Deane, GreatSchools
Pete Just, Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township
Sarah Pottle, The New Teacher Project
Beth Rabbitt, The Learning Accelerator
Justin Reich, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Valerie Truesdale, American Association of School Administrators
LEGAL DISCLAIMER
This document contains resources that are provided for the user’s convenience. The inclusion
of these materials is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse any
views expressed, or products or services offered. These materials may contain the views and
recommendations of various subject matter experts as well as hypertext links, contact addresses
and websites to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations.
The opinions expressed in any of these materials do not necessarily reflect the positions or
policies of the U.S. Department of Education. The U.S. Department of Education does not control
or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any outside information
included in these materials. For the reader’s convenience, this document contains examples of
potentially useful information. Inclusion of trade names, commercial products, commodities,
services, or organizations does not constitute an endorsement nor a preference for these
examples, as compared with others that might be available and be presented, by the Department
or the U.S. government. Additionally, the discussion herein does not imply an endorsement of
any curriculum or learning model. The Department does not in any way direct or control any
curriculum or learning model.

WHAT CAN THIS GUIDE DO FOR YOU?
This guide is designed to provide important resources and recommendations to

support teacher implementation of digital learning. Digital learning is defined as
“any instructional practice that effectively uses technology to strengthen a student’s
learning experience and encompasses a wide spectrum of tools and practices.”1
Sections in this guide include key considerations, guiding strategies, resources, and
reflection questions to help guide your thinking and planning in a way that will be
specific to your unique situation and the unique needs of your students.
This “Teacher Digital Learning Guide” is part of a series of guides including the
“Parent and Family Digital Learning Guide” and “School Leader Digital Learning
Guide” intended to support teachers, parents, families, and leaders in leveraging the
capabilities of digital tools and resources for teaching and learning.

INTRODUCTION
Digital learning and its supportive technology can help you as a teacher advance learning,
mitigate learning loss, and create opportunities for social and emotional engagement. These
benefits are possible when you and your students are in the classroom and when you are
teaching students who are learning at home. To achieve these goals, access to devices and the
internet must be available for you and all your students, and digital learning should be as nimble
and accountable as possible.
When school buildings closed across the country in the spring of 2020, there were varying
approaches and levels of success in transitioning from an in-person classroom to a remote
learning environment. Schools that were able to ensure all students had access to technology
had many more options for staying connected and supporting students, parents, and families.
In order to achieve the promise of digital learning, each of your students (and you!) need
access to a device, the internet, digital tools and resources, and the skills, norms, and practices
to ensure digital learning is empowering, engaging, and productive. While the pandemic has
been challenging and uncertain, it has also provided an opportunity to rethink our approach to
education and strengthen the partnership among parents, families, teachers, and leaders to best
serve our nation’s students.
Technology can help you achieve a myriad of teaching, learning, and assessment goals
regardless of the educational environment in which you find yourself, whether virtual, fully in-
person, a hybrid of the two, or an alternative approach, such as pandemic pods or micro schools.
This guide will help you understand how to use educational technology (EdTech) to support four
key goals:
1. Access, Digital Citizenship & Safety, and Privacy & Security: Empowering students with the
mindsets and skills needed to responsibly use devices and meaningfully, safely, and securely
engage in digital learning.
2. Personalize Learning for Students: Meeting individual students’ needs through EdTech-
supported personalized learning.
3. Collaborate with Parents and Families to Support Students: Engaging parents as full
partners in their child’s success and connect with students in a virtual, hybrid, or in-person
learning environment.
4. Teacher Professional Learning and Well-Being: Building pathways to continually learn and
refine strategies for using technology to its fullest potential.
In each section, you will find tips, resources, and questions to help you make the best use of
EdTech to support students and learn new skills to add to the timeless educator attributes of
creativity, caring for students, and ensuring love of learning.

THIS SECTION IN 30 SECONDS
In a digital learning environment, students need access to devices, internet
connectivity, and skills to support optimal learning. Before implementing
digital learning, you should consider how to close digital divides, teach
digital citizenship, and maintain privacy and security for the student data
created by digital learning tools.
ACCESS, DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP &

SAFETY, AND PRIVACY & SECURITY
1. ADDRESSING ACCESS
Key Considerations
Before a student can meaningfully engage in digital learning, they
need access to a device and the internet. As a professional on the
frontlines of an educational landscape that is increasingly digital, it is
important for you to have a current understanding of what technology
tools are available, what your school can and does provide, and what
your families can access. Consider how to be prepared and build in sustainable
flexibility based on variations in what your school may provide and what your students can
access.
Additionally, you may need an understanding of your school or district’s policies on software
selection and use, resource sharing and tracking, inventory, and any insurance coverage of
devices. If you are involved in the selection and evaluation of software for learning, consider
thoroughly vetting tools by conducting rapid-cycle tech evaluations (RCE), 2 and consulting
evidence-based product certifications from non-profit organizations such as Common Sense
Media, International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), and Digital Promise.
Guiding Strategies
In collaboration with your school or district:
• Take inventory through survey or other means of student access and establish a
process for monitoring changes to access.
• Inform parents and families of local options for home internet access, and provide
school or school system resources about free or low-cost home internet service
options in their area or through resources such as the Federal Communications
Commission’s Lifeline program, the non-profit EveryoneOn, or the National Digital
Inclusion Alliance.
• Coordinate with school system personnel to understand the current timelines and
systems for procurement and maintenance of district devices and options for internet
access and technical support and ensure that both families and students know where
to direct questions.

• Reflect upon the needs of your students and ask your school or school system critical
questions before adopting and using a tool to understand, for example, what internet
speed is required for the tool to work properly, whether content can be accessed or
downloaded offline, if the tool can be easily used on mobile devices, and the extent
to which the tool meets accessibility standards for the unique needs of each learner
(e.g., whether it is compatible with assistive technology software such as screen
readers, whether it includes captions for videos).
2. TEACHING DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP & SAFETY

Key Considerations
Although students may use technology in their personal lives, they may not yet have developed
the awareness, dispositions, or skills to be responsible and ethical digital citizens. Good digital
citizenship refers to the behaviors and actions students need to safely, ethically, and responsibly:
• navigate and participate online;

• exhibit critical thinking and problem-solving skills;
• know and understand their rights;
• evaluate online information for accuracy and trustworthiness; and
• take ownership of their privacy and digital presence.
Therefore, as students access the tools needed for digital learning, it is important that they are
equipped with the knowledge and understanding of digital citizenship practices.
As a key facet of digital citizenship education, it is important to focus on student safety in the
digital space and to incorporate material designed to teach students about an increasingly
digital world. This focus will provide them the skills needed to protect their digital identity,
develop appropriate communication skills and positive relationships, protect themselves from
cyberbullying and potential predators, and understand the mental health and wellness aspects
of screen time and making good choices online. You have an important role in helping students
safely participate, learn, and create in a digital environment.
Developing your students’ digital citizenship skills will require professional learning, intentional
learning environment design, and collaboration with their parents and families. As the primary
educators of their students, parents and families are essential to successful digital citizenship skill
acquisition. Just as you may need additional resources to navigate this transition, your students’
parents and families will likely need the same and supporting them will help you leverage them
as partners.
Guiding Strategies and Resources

• Build your own understanding of digital citizenship by exploring resources like
Common Sense Media’s Inside The 21st-Century Classroom report on EdTech usage
by K-12 teachers with their students and observations on its impact on learning;
materials from ISTE, including access to ISTE’s virtual digital citizenship course
for K-12 teachers; and other resources, such as the materials for teachers, parents,
and communities available through the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children.
• Familiarize yourself with general guidance on screen time for the age group you
teach, and best practices for screen time during remote learning.

• Recognize that the quality of screen time is more important than the amount of
screen time, and share guidance with students, parents, and families.
• Embed digital citizenship skills into your lessons. Help your students learn about
safety and privacy issues including how to manage their online identity and
reputation, how to identify and report suspicious behaviors or incidents, and how to
protect their personal information.
• Utilize ready-made lesson plans such as the free lesson plan materials from Common
Sense Media and curricula materials available at CYBER.ORG, work which is
funded through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
• Learn about cyberbullying from the Federal Commission on School Safety and
understand the forms of cyberbullying, as well as the laws and policies and how to
stop cyberbullying. Although cyberbullying often takes place outside of classrooms
(and virtual classrooms), be cautious about incorporating classroom EdTech tools that
allow peer-to-peer conversations that are not accessible and monitored.
• Explore the FBI’s Safe Online Surfing modules for third through eighth graders.
• Host parent and family workshops, either in person or online, or develop other
creative solutions to help them navigate digital learning tools in ways that promote
their students’ digital citizenship.
3. ENSURING PRIVACY & SECURITY

Key Considerations
You have an important role in protecting the privacy and security of student data online.
Students increasingly share personal information online through activities like signing up for
accounts. As a result, data about them is collected by devices, internet algorithms, companies,
and third parties, which is then at risk to misuse or abuse.
With increased technology comes the need for increased vigilance to protect student privacy.
Your school’s leadership should provide devices and EdTech tools that have already been
properly vetted. Alternatively, your school may have guidance on vetting and adopting tools
that meet privacy and security obligations, in accordance with federal law, for the classroom
and home access. Make sure you are familiar with available resources that may be shared to help
partner with, and educate, parents to keep their students’ information safe.
Reference the “Parent and Family Digital Learning Guide” for information on empowering parents
in their role in digital learning and working with parents to protect the privacy and security of
students.

Federal Laws Governing Privacy and Safety: FERPA, IDEA, and COPPA
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, known as FERPA, is a federal law that, where
applicable, among other things, generally prohibits FERPA-covered educational agencies (e.g.,
school districts) and institutions (e.g., schools) from disclosing personally identifiable information
(PII) from the education records of a student without the prior written consent of the student’s
parent or the “eligible student” herself or himself (i.e., the student if he or she is 18 years or
older or attends an institution of postsecondary education). 20 U.S.C. §§ 1232g(b), (h), (i), and
(j), and 34 CFR Part 99, Subpart D. FERPA contains specific exceptions to this general consent
requirement that are set forth in 20 U.S.C. § 1232g(b)(1)-(b)(3), (b) (5), (b)(6), (h), (i) and (j),
and 34 CFR § 99.31. FERPA also generally provides parents and eligible students with the right
to inspect and review their education records, and the right to seek to amend information in
their education records that is inaccurate, misleading, or in violation of the student’s rights
of privacy. 20 U.S.C. §§ 1232g(a)(1)(A) and (a)(2), and 34 CFR Part 99, Subparts B and C. For
more information regarding FERPA, please visit the U.S. Department of Education’s Student
Privacy Policy Office’s website at https://studentprivacy.ed.gov. Of note, the U.S. Department of
Education released guidance to parents on FERPA in April 2020 titled, “The Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Act: Guidance for Parents,” which is available at https://studentprivacy.
ed.gov/ sites/default/files/resource_document/file/FERPAGuidanceForParents.pdf. This was
aimed at operating during the COVID-19 emergency and in a virtual environment.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), where applicable, also contains
confidentiality of information provisions that protect PII in the education records of children with
disabilities. 20 U.S.C. § 1417(c) and 34 C.F.R. §§ 300.610-300.626. IDEA also generally provides
parents with the right to inspect and review their child’s education records, and the right to
seek to amend information in their child’s education records that is inaccurate, misleading, or
in violation of the student’s rights of privacy. IDEA’s confidentiality provisions generally require
parental consent for disclosure of PII in education records, to parties other than officials of
participating agencies, and generally incorporate the FERPA exceptions to the prior written
consent requirement. Note that the IDEA confidentiality of information provisions incorporate
some of the FERPA requirements but also include several provisions that are specifically related
to children with disabilities. More information about IDEA and FERPA confidentiality provisions is
available at https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/ptac/pdf/idea-ferpa.pdf.
The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), where applicable, generally gives
parents control over what information is collected about their children online. Under COPPA,
schools may, in certain circumstances, provide consent on behalf of parents to the collection of
student personal information. The Federal Trade Commission recently clarified that “schools can
consent on behalf of parents to the collection of student personal information—but only if such
information is used for a school-authorized educational purpose and for no other commercial
purpose. This is true whether the learning takes place in the classroom or at home at the
direction of the school.” More information about COPPA is available at https://ww.ftc.gov/news-
events/blogs/business-blog/2020/04/coppa-guidance-ed-tech-companies-schools-during-
coronavirus.

• ConnectSafely.org provides information on district policies and professional
standards related to social media communications with parents, families, and
students, and Edutopia.org provides the resource, How to Create Social Media
Guidelines for Your School.
° A best practice is to make your professional accounts for email and social
media separate from your personal ones.
° Refrain from saying anything online that you would not say in class; be even
more careful, as online interactions lack context and tone, and, as a result, may
be easily misinterpreted.
• Examine how your students manage passwords. Some school systems support a
single sign-on strategy. If this is not the case, think about strategies for managing how
students will create and keep track of multiple logins and passwords (e.g., recording
all information in one place, either physical or digital). Make sure parents and families
are familiar with the process, as appropriate.
• Learn about federal regulations, guidance, and best practices on student privacy at
the Department’s Student Privacy Policy Office website.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
ADDRESSING ACCESS, TEACHING DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP & SAFETY,
AND ENSURING PRIVACY & SECURITY
Planning and Assessment:
• Do my students and their parents and families have access to the tools needed for
supporting effective digital learning at home? If not, how can I facilitate their access?
• What data are collected and shared by the provider when the student uses or
accesses the tools I am using in my teaching? Is data deleted and when is it deleted?
• Could the data collected by the provider be used to disadvantage students in the
future, such as when they apply for college or jobs?
• What steps can I take to help identify and prevent cyberbullying?
• What district guidelines and resources are in place to ensure compliance with
applicable privacy laws, regulations, and policies?
Teaching and Learning:
• How will I teach students to use new tools, ensure they can access technology
support if they have trouble with the tool, provide opportunities for practice, and
share expectations for its use?
• How do I plan to teach and model digital citizenship skills for my students?
Communication:
• How can I work best with my students’ families to exchange best practices and
resources for access, digital citizenship and safety, and privacy and security? My
colleagues? My school leadership?

Personalizing learning can promote students’ behavioral, cognitive,
emotional, and relational engagement; foster student agency (i.e., student
initiative, intention, and responsibility in pursuing their education); provide
data that can be used to differentiate learning to meet each student’s
individual needs; and optimize assessment to best document student
progress.
PERSONALIZE LEARNING FOR

STUDENTS
Classroom learning has changed, quickly. Learning is now
occurring in a variety of environments—synchronous,
asynchronous, hybrid and virtual formats, school closures, and
limited or rolling grade-level openings—with each impacting the
learning experience of students. The current environment has
created the demand to support students by leveraging EdTech and
tools to empower the individual learner, foster engagement, develop
agency and self-directed digital learning, and optimize assessments.
1. EMPOWERING THE INDIVIDUAL LEARNER

Digital learning and technology can move you toward meeting the needs of each student and
providing an individualized approach to education. Tailoring support to each student’s strengths,
interests, learning styles, and time considerations allows for empowering the individual learner by
focusing on their competencies and enabling real-time assessment.
Key Considerations
Once you have considered whether students have access to learning materials and resources
to support digital citizenship, you can focus on leveraging EdTech to address your students’
individual learning needs. Digital technologies, including assistive technologies, can empower

students to become drivers of their own learning, deeper thinkers, and stronger collaborators.
EdTech can also provide you with supports for personalizing learning by allowing you to tailor
assignments that address student interests, creating options for student choice and providing
just-in-time feedback.

• Recognize that your students bring their unique traits and characteristics to their
learning circumstances; that includes things such as neurodiversity, disabilities,
gender, culture, ethnicity, economic status, English language learning status, and
more.
• Personalize learning by meeting the needs of individual students; tailor assignments
to their needs, interests, and differences, and provide them with choices.
• Assess whether additional supports or resources are needed for your students to
address any learning losses or gains that may have occurred, mitigate future learning
losses, and build upon gains.
• Use EdTech tools to support personalization in multiple ways such as through apps,
adaptive environments and problem sets, the availability of myriad topics of interest
on the internet, games and simulations, the use of tools for creativity and self-
expression, and the ability of students to develop and maintain their own portfolios.
° Examples of these tools developed with the support of the Institute of
Education Sciences (IES) include:
• Math: NumberShire, Teachley, Querium’s StepWise Virtual Tutor,

ASSISTments
• Science: ChemVLab+, Happy Atoms

• English Language Arts: A2i Platform, Moby.Read, MOCCA
• English Learners: Uno, Dos, Tres, Listos!, STORYWORLD, Enfoque en Ciencia
• Social and Behavioral Development: SELweb
• Early Childhood: Molly of Denali, Individual Growth & Development
Indicators, Cognitive ToyBox for Schools
• Special Education: EdMod, KinderTEK, Go Phonics, Future Quest Island

• Classroom Discourse: Class 5.0
• Personalize learning for students with disabilities by ensuring they have access to
instructional materials, aids and services, and assistive technologies that are tailored
to their specific needs as identified in their Individualized Education Programs (IEPs).3
• Familiarize yourself with information about the early impacts of COVID-19, like
this report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to Congress on the
distance learning challenges in providing services to K-12 English Language Learning
students and students with disabilities. (GAO 21-43)

EMPOWERING THE INDIVIDUAL LEARNER
• Have I reviewed the learning strengths, weaknesses, and needs of my students—both

academic and technological—to understand and prepare content, tools, and supports
accordingly?
• In making instructional plans and selecting curricular materials, to what extent am
I making decisions to empower all students, while keeping the most vulnerable
populations in mind?
• How does my district account for the digital delivery and support of legally required
needs, goals, and services for students with disabilities?
• How am I basing learning personalization on data, and what is the source of these
data?4
• To what extent is research available to support the efficacy of the personalized
learning tools that I am considering using for my students?
• Do I have a student or students who I think should be assessed for extra services,
special education needs, or both—and if so, how do I ensure that happens?
• What additional supports or resources are available for my students to address any
learning loss that may have occurred and to mitigate future learning loss?
Communication:
resources regarding personalized learning? My colleagues? My school leadership?
• Have I communicated and connected parents and families to additional supports or
resources available for my students to both meet their different learning needs and to
address any learning loss?
2. FOSTERING STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

Key Considerations
Digital technologies can be powerful tools to help foster student engagement. Engaging
students, either in-school or virtually, includes:
• supporting their social and emotional development;

• fostering relationships with you and classmates;
• partnering with parents, involving families;
• building practices such as personalization; and
• giving consistent feedback.

Learner engagement is made up of multiple components: behavioral, emotional, relational, and
cognitive. In your planning, think about how to engage students in different ways.
Behavioral Engagement
Behavioral engagement considers student effort and participation in activities. The use of
EdTech in digital environments provides the opportunity to be responsive to students’ behaviors.
EdTech can yield reports that include the number of interactions with course materials,
assignment completion rates, or the extent to which each student participated in virtual
discussions and other synchronous sessions.

• Develop a method for tracking student digital participation using the data reported
by your digital learning tools. Many provide login counts, number of posts, and
number of interactions with materials (number of clicks a student makes).
• Determine what digital participation data are most informative and follow up with
students who do not meet your participation goals.
• Foster student engagement by tapping into research to increase engagement during
remote learning.
• Consider incorporating strategies such as those from The Learning Accelerator to set
up systems of accountability in digital learning.
• Create norms and rules for digital participation in class. For example, in synchronous
sessions, establish a procedure for students to ask and answer questions using the
chat features of a videoconferencing tool. In asynchronous learning, students can
provide comments in a shared document.
• Partner with parents, as the primary educators of their children, to support their
child’s efforts and participation.
• Communicate with parents and families to get insight into their child’s behavioral
engagement.
Emotional and Relational Engagement

Emotional engagement consists of both students’ feelings about school and their relationships
with others. With emotional engagement, feelings, attitudes, and perceptions toward school
activities should be considered through students’ level of satisfaction in the class, and the
content of assignments.
Relational engagement addresses the connections in the classroom among students and their
teacher. For some students, emotional and relational engagement will relate to how their family
discusses and encourages schoolwork. In a virtual setting, it is particularly important to be aware
of, and monitor, both emotional and relational engagement.

• Explore frameworks such as Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to support students
with, and without, disabilities.
• Identify online tools (e.g., videoconferencing, conversational features in learning
management systems including messaging tools and discussion boards, backchannel
tools, collaborative games, or shared documents) that allow for students to
collaborate in groups, engage in discussions, and share their ideas with one another.
• Check in with students frequently to acknowledge feelings and create a positive,
motivating online environment.
• Use small group chat rooms to check in with groups of students, ask students to
record short videos (using a tool like Flipgrid) or audio, create a blog to use as a
reflection tool (make it private for just the student and you, or the class) or ask
questions or make comments in a shared document with one student on their work.
• Connect learning activities with students’ experiences and interests to increase
personal relevance and positive feelings toward class; digital choice boards allow
students to select the topics they wish to explore.
• Develop an online classroom community to support students as they collaborate in
groups, engage in discussions, share their ideas with one another, and co-construct
presentations and projects.
• Partner with parents to support their child’s positive feelings about their school,
classmates, and teachers.
• Communicate with parents and families to get insight into their child’s emotional and
relational engagement.
Cognitive Engagement
Cognitive engagement includes students’ planning, self-regulation, progress monitoring,
metacognition, and reflection while learning. Supporting and tracking this type of engagement
through digital participation relies on your ability to gain insight into students’ thinking, which
underlies their interactions with digital learning.
Guiding Strategies
• Understand the strengths, weaknesses, and learning differences of your students as
you design your digital learning lessons and experiences.
• Use an asset-based approach that highlights links between what students already
know and the content and skills being taught.
• Partner with parents to support their child’s self-regulation, progress monitoring,
metacognition, and reflection.
• Communicate with parents and families to get insight into their child’s cognitive
engagement.
• Design personalized ways to motivate students, help them make meaning of
information, and express their understanding.
° Provide multiple ways for students to successfully engage with content,
recognizing that each student is motivated by different things such as a
powerful story, music, personal connection, and logical discourse.
° Provide multiple representations (e.g., text, graph, video) when teaching a topic

to support all students, including language learners, students with sensory
difficulties, and those who may process information differently.
° Leverage tools like text-to-speech programs to promote students’ ability to

process information in ways that are best for them.
° Allow students to express their knowledge in multiple ways. Provide students

a choice menu of technology tools that they can use to present their learning
(e.g., designing a report or comic, creating a digital storyboard, or explaining
their thinking using an online recording tool).
• Provide frequent and meaningful feedback and help your students develop new
ways to reflect on their learning. Use of a shared document—or tool that supports
voice annotation—and asking students questions can encourage critical thinking or
reflection to provide feedback on their thinking.
• Monitor students’ progress, using tools like those provided by the U.S. Department of
Education.
• Have students post or share their daily and long-term goals and provide structure for
self-reflection. Students can create screen recordings to share reflections, and receive
feedback from you, their peers, or both.
• Support both cognitive engagement and relational engagement by asking students to
record videos discussing their thinking process.
FOSTERING STUDENT ENGAGEMENT
• Have I done a baseline assessment of the strengths, weaknesses, and learning

differences of my students and the digital learning skills necessary for them to be
successful?
• What types of engagement do the digital learning tools I use support?

• How have I built in ways to optimize technology to provide frequent and meaningful
feedback, and assess student progress?
• How am I utilizing EdTech to strengthen my students’ personalization of their learning
and keep students motivated and engaged with both content and each other to
support their emotional, as well as academic, needs?
• How am I considering multiple dimensions of student engagement as I plan digital
learning?
Communication:
resources regarding fostering student engagement? My colleagues? My school
leadership?
• Have I established regular communication with parents and families to provide
them meaningful information about their child’s academic progress, as well as their
engagement and emotional well-being?
• Do I have a helpful mechanism for feedback from parents about their student’s
feelings about their learning and progress, their school, classmates, and teachers?

3. DEVELOPING AGENCY AND SELF-DIRECTED DIGITAL LEARNING
Key Considerations
Ensuring that each student can participate, engage, and learn in the digital space should be
the center of your planning for developing agency and self-directed digital learning. When
incorporating digital learning and new technology tools into your practice, quality is better
than quantity. Start with the tools that are vetted, provided, and supported by your district, and
consider how to use them in conjunction with your lesson plan content in a way that makes your
students the drivers of their own learning.
It is important to consider optimizing your time, and that of your students, whether you are in
an in-person classroom environment, teaching virtually, or in a hybrid model. Hybrid learning
environments require thinking about which activities and lesson plan content make the most
sense for the in-person, versus virtual, portion of your teaching. Regardless of your students’
learning environment, you should ensure they understand the expectations of them and
opportunities for digital learning engagement to help them acquire self-direction skills.

• Self-assess readiness for teaching in a digital learning environment. An example for
self-evaluation includes this Teacher Readiness rubric or, for a more comprehensive
resource, the National Standards for Quality Online Teaching is a benchmark for
quality online instruction.
• Consider these six promising practices for remote digital environments.
• Determine the appropriateness of synchronous and asynchronous approaches for
different assignments and activities using this document from Digital Promise, or this
resource from The Learning Accelerator.
• Provide students with clear learning objectives and straightforward presentations of
materials and instructions, and let them know how and when to ask questions.
• Present information and assignments in small modular components.
• Model how to do the work, in live sessions or recorded videos.
• Differentiate instruction using these strategies from The Learning Accelerator, and
these Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guidelines.
• Use self-assessment and reflection as strategies that foster deeper learning and
help learners become more independent. For example, before moving on from one
activity, have students use a technology quiz tool that allows them to submit answers
and receive immediate feedback (e.g., Quizlet), or submit written, audio, or video
reflections identifying their own strengths and weaknesses.
• Provide opportunities for active learning where students can ask questions, learn
by doing, or actively think about a problem or concept (alone or with others) when
possible.
• Use digital technology tools to create a shared space where students can generate
questions (such as Poll Everywhere or a shared document). You can ask students to
vote on questions and then create teams who work together to find answers or solve
them.

• Explore these online learning resources curated by ISTE, and Educating all Learners.
• Explore the Institute of Education Science (IES)’s blog, which provides digital tools
for Early Learning, Math, Science and Engineering, Social Studies, and Special
Education.
DEVELOPING AGENCY AND SELF-DIRECTED DIGITAL LEARNING
• How do the technology tools I use facilitate my students developing self-directed

learning?
• How can I leverage the strengths and mitigate the limitations of digital learning in a
virtual or hybrid environment? In limited school openings or during rolling openings
by grade level?
• When using a synchronous approach, what strategies will I use to support students
who are not able to attend a session?
• How will I track or understand whether my students are engaged and participating
during asynchronous learning times?
• How are my lessons helping to empower my students as learners?

• Am I showing students what is expected and encouraging them to reflect on their
own progress?
• Am I having students do the thinking or am I leading their thinking?
• How am I monitoring and measuring the development of student self-agency?
Communication:
• Have I made my expectations for asynchronous learning clear and provided students
with ample opportunities to ask questions, and do I have a way to intervene if
students are going in the wrong direction or are not regularly checking in on
assignments?
resources regarding developing agency and self-directed learning? My colleagues?
My school leadership?
4. OPTIMIZING ASSESSMENTS USING DIGITAL LEARNING

Key Considerations
Assessments are critical tools for personalization. In addition to providing you with data about
student progress to inform your next move, assessments provide your students with information
that builds agency and supports goal setting and self-regulation. Assessments can also help to
reveal equity imbalances within your classroom. During times of school closures, assessments are
especially important because your daily observation data is minimized.

While virtual learning (learning conducted remotely) presents new challenges for student
assessment, the use of digital learning technologies opens new possibilities for assessments. As
you develop your assessment plan, determine what you will do with the information from those
assessments.
Technology apps can provide frequent formative checks that can guide you and your students
in next steps for learning. Likewise, technology enables innovative possibilities for summative
assessments by supporting new ways for students to demonstrate their learning in context.
Assessing and grading students based on their mastery of standards or competencies aligned
to personal learning pathways provides new assessment opportunities compared to relying
on seat time for advancement.5 Technology-supported assessment can provide flexibility and
personalization to help ensure that each student masters a given skill or topic.

• Explore this Assessment and Data toolbox from the Dallas Independent School
District and consider a list of digital tools, apps, how to pick the right digital tool, and
formative practices workshops from NWEA.
• Check for understanding using digital formative assessments to inform your next
moves as a teacher and help students know where to go next.
° Use just-in-time opportunities (e.g., polling and student response tools) for
students to show their understanding and receive feedback.
° Many digital systems provide teacher data dashboards that collect, summarize,
and report on student work, so insights can be gained into student thinking in
real-time. Data can be a helpful tool to identify student misconceptions, permit
timely feedback, and adapt tasks accordingly.
° Use these dashboards to share anonymized samples of student work with the
class to help your students learn from each other with examples that show
common issues encountered by students or exemplary answers or solutions.
• Design digital summative assessments, like these online labs, that are appropriate
without a proctor.
° Assessments that are performance-based (e.g., capstone projects, portfolios
of student work, design thinking projects) have students demonstrate their
learning in context, rather than recalling memorized information.
° Authentic and open-ended tasks allow your students to demonstrate their

learning, can allay fears around cheating, and allow assessment of multiple
standards, integration of the important skills of problem solving, critical
thinking, and even collaboration.
• Have each student maintain a personal digital portfolio of their work so they can
see their own progress, including writing samples throughout the year, reading (can
record audio tracks as demonstrations of their reading ability), and mathematics.
• Communicate both expectations and progress with students, parents, and families on
a regular basis.

• Identify whether other assessments may be needed for students who may have
suffered any learning loss and continue on-going appropriate assessments to mitigate
future learning loss.
• Leverage learning management systems and other technology tools to provide
parents with just-in-time access to data on their child’s progress in your class.
• Feedback with students and their parents and families on progress can be provided
in a variety of formats; recording a voice memo may be more engaging and personal
than traditional written feedback.
OPTIMIZING ASSESSMENTS USING DIGITAL LEARNING
• What data dashboards are available in the technology tools and applications we use
to help me plan assessments for students with different learning needs?
• Have I planned other assessments for students who may have suffered learning loss
and ongoing appropriate assessments to mitigate future learning loss?
• How do I use technology to help me give timely and actionable feedback to each
student and in formats that are most helpful?
• How does the EdTech I am using provide feedback to students in real time?
• How can I keep track of each student’s progress on mastery of specific skills and
topics?
• How can I ensure that the grades I assign reflect the degree to which students have
shown progress toward mastery?
Communication:
resources regarding assessment? My colleagues? My school leadership?
• How will I communicate with parents and families about both their student’s grades
and assessment of their student’s progress toward content mastery?
• Do I have a helpful mechanism for feedback from parents about their student’s
feelings about their learning and progress, their school, classmates, and teachers?

Digital tools can be used to bolster communication with students, parents,
and families and increase student engagement in digital learning. By setting
clear expectations and maintaining open lines of communication, you can
leverage students’ support systems both inside and outside of school in
ways that are beneficial for students’ social and emotional wellbeing.
COLLABORATE WITH PARENTS AND

FAMILIES TO SUPPORT STUDENTS
1. COMMUNICATING WITH PARENTS AND
FAMILIES
Key Considerations
When parents and families are involved in education, students
are more engaged.6 Increasing the adoption of digital learning
provides new opportunities for parent and family engagement and the
development of strong partnerships, especially when students engage in
virtual learning from home.
Maintaining a two-way line of communication with parents and families is essential for ensuring
clarity. Active listening and empathizing can help establish trust. Make sure families know that
you care about their circumstances and will do what you can to meet their child’s learning needs.
Help parents and families understand the role they can play using straightforward language and
deliver messages in ways that are easy to understand.

• Build your understanding of the importance of family engagement by exploring
resources like this summary from Understood.org.
• Select forms of communication (email, phone calls, text messaging and/or other
platforms) that will best meet the needs of each of your students and their families.
Opt for tools that log communication in case documentation is needed later.
• Coordinate with school leaders and colleagues to ensure that communication is
streamlined and follows a consistent cadence. Provide clarity around how frequently
and in what formats communication will occur and provide parents and families
with options for contacting you with feedback, questions, and concerns as well as
identifying when you will be unavailable.
• Use the system your school has created for a “one-stop” location where parents and
families can find information quickly (e.g., school or class website with links or parent
access to a learning management system).
• Ensure that parents and families receive communications in their home language and
are informed of options for translation, over-the-phone interpretation services, or text
messaging translation.
• Consider hosting 1:1 or small group meetings that allow for two-way communication
(e.g., phone, online, in-person) when introducing new processes for the first time.
• Ask parents and families what goals they have for their child and get to know what
resources are available to them to support their child. You can gather this information
in a survey or by asking specific questions in an initial conversation.
• Share reasoning about how and why you make decisions about your activities.
Make sure that parents and families know how you will communicate clear goals for
assignments and provide the scaffolds and resources needed to help students and
their families work toward shared goals.
• Invite students and their parents and families to preview your online learning system
or website to see learning goals, materials, and criteria upon which students will be
assessed.
• Keep communication brief and avoid using educational jargon in your
communications (e.g., describe or name a learning management system rather than
using the term “LMS”).
• Identify and share strategies for maximizing family engagement, such as these Tips
to Help Your Child Focus and Stay Engaged During Distance Learning from Johns
Hopkins School of Education, resources from Learning Heroes, and Supporting
Young Children’s Learning and Development at Home: Resources for Early Childhood
Educators and Caregivers from the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), an
investment of the Institute of Education Sciences at the Department.

COMMUNICATING WITH PARENTS & FAMILIES
• In a digital learning environment, what tools and resources can help me plan effective
communications with parents and families?
• How will I track communications to—and responses from—parents and families?
• How can I intentionally plan positive messages to parents and families, ensuring we
are not only communicating when there is an issue or problem?
• Do I understand the background and situation of each of my students?
• What translation and interpretation services, or other resources, are available in my
district to serve the diverse needs of my students and how do I request them?
Communication:
• How can I provide insights into my classroom to parents and families of my students?
• Have I provided multiple methods for communicating with families, both
synchronously and asynchronously, and clearly communicated my availability?
• Have I communicated with parents and families to know and understand the goals
they have for their students?
resources regarding parent and family communication and engagement? My
colleagues? My school leadership?
2. SETTING EXPECTATIONS AND SUPPORT FOR STUDENT

PARTICIPATION
Key Considerations
Partnering with parents and families is essential to help students succeed in school, especially
when conditions require that learning occur in the home through virtual learning environments.
Insight can be gained through engagement and conversation with parents regarding how their
children participate. Families can help you learn how to better support your students.

• Communicate with parents and families to understand their circumstances and their
capacity to support their child’s distance learning.
• Develop a plan for flexibility to support diverse student needs and family
circumstances and lay out available options to meet those needs.
• Share how student participation—attendance, grading, behavior—in a digital learning
environment will be tracked and measured.
• Communicate with parents and families as to when and how they will be contacted if
their child is not participating in digital learning activities.

• Bring students into these conversations to fully understand their perspectives, build
accountability, and empower them.
• If a student is not attending classes, determine whether there are systemic or
individual barriers to participation (e.g., lack of access, understanding, or motivation,
potential struggles with physical health or mental wellness, or if there are home-based
responsibilities to which they must attend).
• Collaborate with the student and family to identify solutions that meet their unique
needs.
• Use these strategies from The Learning Accelerator for helping students set up
structures for remote work.
• Recognize that positive and trusting relationships between students and teachers,
with encouragement by their parents and families, yields emotional connections for
students that foster participation and engagement.
• Use your students’ parents and families as a support system to motivate students to
participate.
SETTING EXPECTATIONS AND SUPPORT FOR STUDENT
PARTICIPATION
• What is the home environment of each of my students and how might I support their
full participation?
• What additional supports or resources do any of my students need to address
potential learning losses or mitigate future learning loss?
• What recommendations are most appropriate for the home context, grade level(s),
and discipline(s) I teach?
Communication:
• What instructions will I provide parents and families around expectations and
schedules for remote schoolwork?
• Do students, parents, and families know how, at what point, and from whom students
should seek help when they are stuck with classwork?

3. SUPPORTING SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL NEEDS OF STUDENTS
Key Considerations
Emotions and social relationships are essential components that drive learning and academic
achievement. Your school is a community space that plays a pivotal role in the social
development and mental well-being of students.
To help address these needs in the digital space, whether in the classroom, virtually, or in
a hybrid approach, it is crucial that you work to build safe and supportive digital learning
communities. Expressly address the social and emotional needs of your students. When working
in a virtual learning environment, just as in your classroom, you will need to have strategies to get
to know your students, and to foster and build trusting relationships for the digital space.

• Connect with students before school starts with a video or email, personalizing it to
each student to the extent possible. You can use EdTech tools such as Flipgrid or a
shared document, or have them start a blog (that you continue to use over the school
year).
• Ask students through prompts to send you a picture of “a favorite memory” or “when
you felt proud” or “something that makes you happy or sad” as an open-ended
starter to get to know your students.
• Develop activities that help students get to know each other (e.g., small group chat
rooms around interest, get-to-know-each-other online games).
• Co-develop rules and respectful normative behaviors that create a welcoming online
classroom space, much as you would in a physical classroom.
• Make space for informal connections and social support by regularly scheduling 1:1 or
small group check-ins with students.
• Help students share their identities in the digital space in similar ways to how they
would in your classroom. For example, create a website or photo gallery of student
work. Students can take pictures of pen and paper assignments, or screenshots of
online assignments.
• Enable connections between peers by providing opportunities for students to share
experiences, engage in digital class discussions and small-group work, and support
one another.
• Provide avenues for students to share questions, comments, and concerns that are
related to instruction.
• Expand the classroom community by creating opportunities for students to connect
with other classes (e.g., within the school, across the world) to share ideas and
collaborate on projects.
• Support students in developing schedules and rhythms that include time for brain
breaks. During those routine breaks, encourage students to move away from the
screen (e.g., get outside if possible, draw, and move).
• Build consistent check-ins with students as a part of digital learning. These can occur
at the start of each synchronous session or once a day if activities are asynchronous.

• If you have concerns, coordinate support with school or other district personnel as
appropriate (e.g., special education practitioners, counselors, social workers, nurses)
to work as a team in supporting students’ social and emotional health.
° Understand and collaborate with your school or school system on strategies
for response if the safety of the learning environment for your class, or for an
individual student has potentially been compromised.
° Be aware of district and community supports that are available for students
who need additional support, as well as the processes and protocols to follow
in identifying students for timely referral to services.
SUPPORTING SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL NEEDS OF STUDENTS
• Am I giving students supports that allow for differences in home situations?

• Do I have a way to understand how much time is being spent on tasks by students so
that I can adjust or provide additional support, if necessary?
• Am I aware of different school, school system, and community supports for students?
• To what extent are learners invited to take ownership and responsibility in the online
classroom by co-developing expectations and protocols?
• Have I modeled and provided examples of effective and appropriate online
communication?
• Have I facilitated ways for my learners to get to know and trust me, as well as the
other students, in our online environment?
• Have I facilitated ways for my students to build and maintain social and emotional
connections with fellow students in a digital learning environment to foster their well-
being?
• What is the right pacing for scheduling for learning and breaks?
• What tasks allow for flexibility?
Communication:
• To what extent have I ensured rules and norms are explicitly communicated to parents
and families?
resources regarding social and emotional support? My colleagues? My school
leadership?
• How have I planned to implement a system of regular “well-being checks” with my
students and to communicate any issues or concerns with parents, families, and, if
necessary, my school leadership?

Resources
• The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) site on
social and emotional learning during COVID.
° CASEL provides important information on leveraging the power of social and
emotional learning as students grapple with the impact of school closures,
hybrid and distance learning environments, and uncertain return-to-school
plans.
• The Aspen Institute’s National Commission on Social, Emotional and Academic

Learning explains how emotions and social relationships are essential elements that
drive learning.
• Institute of Education Sciences: Supporting the Social and Emotional Needs of
Educators and Students: Skills for Now and Planning for When Schools Reopen
• Institute of Education Sciences: IES Expands Research in Social Emotional Learning
• Institute of Education Sciences: Measuring Social and Emotional Learning in Schools

The transition to digital learning can, for some, be daunting, but digital tools
can be used to ease this transition and equip you with the skills needed to
digitize your craft. Digital tools can be used to increase your collaboration
with colleagues, open new opportunities for professional development, and
potentially automate portions of your work. Focusing on your professional
learning and well-being requires intentionality, in collaboration with your
colleagues, school administrators, and school system leaders.
TEACHER PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

AND WELL-BEING
Digital teaching, in school or online, requires an additional set of
skills beyond traditional teaching, and adapting new practices
can be demanding. Maintaining a growth mindset can be helpful,
as well as engaging in self-care, and setting boundaries on work,
especially if you are supporting digital learning from home. Learn
what supports and well-being tools are available to you in your
district. Take time to acknowledge and celebrate the new ways you
are supporting your students and reflect on what works and what does
not work.
Recognize that navigating the changes in school-based, in-person learning, and a home-based
distance learning environment requires support from your school, school system, and leadership
team. You have a crucial role in researching and accessing resources which will benefit the
individual needs of your students in this unique teaching, learning, and assessment journey.
Key Considerations
Professional learning is an ongoing process: learn with and from others. Learning to teach with
digital technologies, including student access from home, changes the classroom system and
will take time and support from your school and district leaders. Requesting and investing in
professional self-development is very important consideration to empower teachers and benefits
students.
The burden of transitioning to digital learning can be lessened when colleagues share ideas,
capitalize on available tools, and co-create resources. Collaborating with others also provides
information and resources that support inquiry and reflection.

• Partner with someone who can play the invaluable role of thought partner and
provide personalized support and guidance with implementation.
• Identify colleagues with whom you can share ideas, think through issues, and openly
discuss successes and failures.

• Find out how you can work with a coach to get personalized support in implementing
changes in your classroom practice if your district offers coaching as a form of job-
embedded professional learning.
• Partner with other teachers in your school, district, or beyond to work together,
record videos, or co-create lessons and resources to save time.
• Invite a colleague to join your online synchronous class to observe and provide
feedback, co-teach, or teach so that you can observe them.
• Maintain connections with other educators. If the school building is closed or is open
in a limited capacity, take advantage of EdTech and move to the digital space; create
opportunities for spontaneous and informal conversations around what you are
experiencing, tips, resources, and shared ideas.
• Join or create grade-level or subject-area discussions or find groups to collaborate
with in online professional learning communities (PLCs).
• Learn with and from students, parents, and families. In times of transition to virtual
learning, it is more crucial than ever that teachers remain attentive to the voices and
experiences of students, parents, and families.
• Actively listening to students, parents, and families about their concerns and needs
during this transitional time so you are better poised to provide personalized and
flexible support.
• Look for new insights into the learning process as you use digital technologies.
• Find digital and on-demand professional learning opportunities, such as those
supported by micro-credentials, that provide educators with flexibility to learn on
their own time.
• Focus on one or two specific priorities at a time, such as supporting students’ social
and emotional health and wellness, connecting with families, and teaching digital
citizenship.
• Rethink your workflow. Digital teaching has the potential to automate portions of the
teacher’s work and allow more time to connect, build relationships, and work with
students individually and in small groups.
• Recognize that it can take time to set up and learn how to use EdTech, but it can
automate processes, build efficiencies, and help you make more meaningful use of
both digital and offline learning time. Systems exist that can help grade student work,
personalize homework, and inform you about what your students know and don’t yet
fully understand (e.g., digital math homework system, inquiry science system).

TEACHER PROFESSIONAL LEARNING AND WELL-BEING
• Where am I on my journey to using EdTech to support each of my students?

• Does my school have a PLC, or are there other online PLCs I can join?
• How will I decide which technology tool best supports the instructional strategies I
am using to support learning?
• What types of support are available as I bring more digital technologies into my
teaching and connect in new ways with students and their parents and families (e.g.,
coaching, district workshops)? What else do I need?
• What steps am I taking to measure my progress and build in time for reflection?
Communication:
• How can I work best with my colleagues to exchange best practices and resources
regarding teacher professional learning and well-being? My school leadership?
Resources
• ASCD provides clear strategies and tips for taking offline classes online.
• The Learning Accelerator provides research-based online professional learning
resources.
• Digital Promise provides a wide variety of educator micro-credentials designed to
support personalized and flexible professional learning.
• EdSurge: What Does Remote Professional Development Look Like for Online
Teachers?
• UDL for Teachers: An Introduction to UDL
• Dynamic Learning Project (DLP) Strategy Menu
• Institute of Education Sciences: This research study examines how online math
homework paired with teacher professional development can increase student
achievement.
• Office of Educational Technology’s STEM Innovation Spotlights
• Institute of Education Sciences: COVID-19 Evidence-Based Resources
• Institute of Education Sciences: How to Grow Teacher Well-being in Your Schools
• Institute of Education Sciences: Reflecting on Teacher Well-being During the
COVID-19 Pandemic
• WestEd: Self-Care Strategies for Educators During the Coronavirus Crisis: Supporting
Personal Social and Emotional Well-Being

NAVIGATING THE FUTURE
As a teacher, you are a valued partner in the development of children’s futures. It can be
daunting to contemplate your role in your students’ education and success in these challenging
times.
Yet, the systems of support and information to aid teachers in successfully navigating the
current learning environment are deep and broad. It is important to seek and ask for the wealth
of research, common resources, and EdTech available from school-based, community, industry,
state, and federal sources. Capitalizing on and effectively utilizing technology to personalize
learning will help meet the diverse needs of students, improve confidence, and empower
and enhance their learning through increased opportunities for authentic engagement and
participation.
Optimizing resources and EdTech will also help establish and grow much-needed connection
and collaboration with parents, including the opportunity for innovation to reach and support
low-resource families, so they may assist their students from home in their digital learning.
Incorporating digital citizenship will support and promote academic success, and social and
emotional health and wellness of students. Clear and regular communication with all parents and
families will help establish mutual understanding and expectations for teaching, learning and
assessment in your current learning environment, and as transitions in learning environments
occur on the horizon.
As you work to meet the perennial demands on teachers, not only in these historically
unparalleled circumstances but in general as well, it is important to seek and drive your own
meaningful professional learning. Ask for high-quality professional development, innovate
and collaborate with colleagues, and build on or establish new PLCs to address existing and
emerging challenges.
Your success and that of your students can be helped tremendously by accessing and effectively
using an array of technology, tools, and resources. Know, most of all, that while you are
navigating unchartered educational waters—you are not alone, and your efforts on the behalf
of your students are valued and appreciated!

ENDNOTES
1. ESSA Handbook (2017). Retrieved from https://cdn.iste.org/www-root/Libraries/
Documents%20%26%20Files/Advocacy%20Resources/handbook-essa.pdf
2. The Role of Research in K-12 District Decision Making (n.d.). Retrieved from https://
symposium.curry.virginia.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/WG-A-The-Role-of-Research-
in-K-12-District-Decision-Making_FINAL.pdf
3. Unless otherwise noted this guide does not address schools’ responsibilities to provide
services or modifications to students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, or Title II of the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Information about the IDEA is available at https://
osepideasthatwork.org/. Information about Section 504 and Title II is available at https://
www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/504faq.html
4. What is Data Based Individualization? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.

edu/module/dbi2/cresource/q1/p01/#content
5. Introduction to Competency-Based Education (n.d.). Retrieved from https://aurora-institute.

org/our-work/competencyworks/competency-based-education/
6. Family Engagement and What Research Says (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.
understood.org/en/school-learning/for-educators/partnering-with-families/family-
engagement-and-student-success

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Access, Digital Citizenship & Safety, and Privacy & Security....................................................... 6

2. TEACHING DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP & SAFETY...................................................................................... 7

3. ENSURING PRIVACY & SECURITY............................................................................................................ 8

Personalize Learning for Students.......................................................................................................11

1. EMPOWERING THE INDIVIDUAL LEARNER......................................................................................... 11

2. FOSTERING STUDENT ENGAGEMENT...................................................................................................13

3. DEVELOPING AGENCY AND SELF-DIRECTED DIGITAL LEARNING.....................................17

4. OPTIMIZING ASSESSMENTS USING DIGITAL LEARNING........................................................... 18

Collaborate with Parents and Families to Support Students...................................................... 21

1. COMMUNICATING WITH PARENTS & FAMILIES................................................................................21

2. SETTING EXPECTATIONS AND SUPPORT FOR STUDENT PARTICIPATION.................... 23

3. SUPPORTING SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL NEEDS OF STUDENTS......................................... 25

Teacher Professional Learning and Well-being..............................................................................28

Navigating the Future............................................................................................................................ 31

Digital Learning Guide | Teacher 2

Jose Blackorby, CAST

Jered Borup, George Mason University

Linda Burch, Common Sense Media

Jon Deane, GreatSchools

Pete Just, Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township

Sarah Pottle, The New Teacher Project

Beth Rabbitt, The Learning Accelerator

Justin Reich, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Valerie Truesdale, American Association of School Administrators

Digital Learning Guide | Teacher 3

This guide is designed to provide important resources and recommendations to

Digital Learning Guide | Teacher 4

Digital Learning Guide | Teacher 5

ACCESS, DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP &

Digital Learning Guide | Teacher 6

2. TEACHING DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP & SAFETY

• navigate and participate online;

Guiding Strategies and Resources

Digital Learning Guide | Teacher 7

3. ENSURING PRIVACY & SECURITY

Digital Learning Guide | Teacher 8

Digital Learning Guide | Teacher 9

Planning and Assessment:

Teaching and Learning:

Digital Learning Guide | Teacher 10

PERSONALIZE LEARNING FOR

1. EMPOWERING THE INDIVIDUAL LEARNER

Digital Learning Guide | Teacher 11

Guiding Strategies and Resources

• Math: NumberShire, Teachley, Querium’s StepWise Virtual Tutor,

• Science: ChemVLab+, Happy Atoms

• Special Education: EdMod, KinderTEK, Go Phonics, Future Quest Island

Digital Learning Guide | Teacher 12

Planning and Assessment:

• Have I reviewed the learning strengths, weaknesses, and needs of my students—both

Teaching and Learning:

2. FOSTERING STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

• supporting their social and emotional development;

Digital Learning Guide | Teacher 13

Guiding Strategies and Resources

Emotional and Relational Engagement

Digital Learning Guide | Teacher 14

Digital Learning Guide | Teacher 15