As schools across the country are getting ready for the arrival of fall, teachers are preparing their classrooms and lesson plans just like they have at the end of every past summer— with one major change. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of clarity around return to school mandates for school districts, many superintendents have been left to decide for themselves exactly what this return to the classroom will look like, with many of them choosing hybrid learning.

Hybrid learning is an educational model where some students attend class in-person, while others join classes virtually. Educators teach both remote and in-person students at the same time using video conferencing hardware and software. Hybrid learning will look differently in every classroom. In some cases, students will attend classes in-person and virtually on a rotating schedule while in other districts students may be busing to school as frequently as every other day. 

For many educators, this shift to virtual classrooms will come with a learning curve. The good news is, Zoom Summer Academy and Owl Labs are here to help!

About Zoom Summer Academy and Hybrid Learning

Over the course of two days in late July, tens of thousands of teachers, educators, IT staff, and education leaders from 154 countries around the world registered for the first ever K-12 Summer Zoom Academy

This virtual professional development series organized by Zoom featured school leaders and learning elective content. With panels focused on key themes around hybrid classrooms, educators around the world left the Zoom Academy confident and ready to kickstart the hybrid school year.

Thanks to Zoom’s commitment to education, first displayed when Zoom CEO Eric Yuan gave K-12 schools free access to video conferencing tools and again with continuous free access to Zoom Academy’s virtual sessions, teachers and students will be able to find success this fall no matter where they are joining their classroom from.

Owl Labs on Embracing the New Role of the Teacher

We were thrilled to lead a session during Day 2 of Zoom Academy. Our very own Education Category expert, Kaylin McNamara, hosted a panel for teachers where she was joined by two experienced teachers-administrators to chat about how to embrace the new role of the teacher in an increasingly remote classroom… and how to get an A+.

As our three panelists discussed, embracing the new role that the modern teacher plays is all about mindset and tapping in to the belief that hybrid learning is an opportunity for even more educational exploration. Kaylin said it best on the panel, “This is the cornerstone to creating an even more inclusive classroom and educational system.”

It’s not too late to tune in to Kaylin’s panel on embracing the new role of the teacher, or any of the other insightful Zoom Academy courses. The future of education is here, and it’s hybrid and inclusive learning. 

 

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