Teachers are often used to conducting classes in a certain way. These habits can be really helpful - they help us to be consistent and provide a comfortable base from which to build flexibility in class.
However, if you've recently started using LearnCube, and are used to teaching on platforms like Zoom, the habit of leaning heavily on screen sharing may be holding you back.
For more on how to share your screen in LearnCube's Virtual Classroom, see this article.
When is the whiteboard better than sharing your screen?
With LearnCube's Virtual Classroom and Online School, there are some specific advantages to loading lesson materials into the whiteboard:
All of the materials you load into the classroom, including your annotations, are saved in the post-class review.
This means that students can easily access class notes for revision. In addition, teachers can re-load these notes into future classes, for reduced prep time and better consistency.
With a screenshare, the resources are not stored in the class review, since there is no longer a connected screen to share.
In a LearnCube classroom, the focus is on the shared material in the whiteboard. This encourages a more collaborative & interactive class.
Sharing your screen requires a more presentational style, which can be less engaging.
Embedding a saved resource uses less internet bandwidth (not requiring an additional video stream), so you can expect much better performance on slow connections.
It is possible to open YouTube videos and Google Docs inside the classroom, without needing to share your screen. This means that you and your student can stay in the same tab, and you avoid the confusion of juggling lots of different windows.
For those of you teaching younger children, there's also a safety concern in directing them to open external websites, so it's best to keep everything in one place.For more on how to share your screen in LearnCube's Virtual Classroom, see this article.
When is the screen sharing better than a whiteboard?
As I mentioned above, screen sharing involves a different teaching style. That's not necessarily a bad thing though! It's basically the difference between a lecture and a tutorial, and both may have their place in your pedagogy.
There are some situations in which it. may be better to share your screen:
When I want to work with resources on an external website.
When I want to use a video that is not on YouTube, and I don't have the video file to upload to my library.
Remember to also share the tab audio, so your students can hear the video.
When I want to use animations or transitions in a PowerPoint presentation or similar.
There are times when this is necessary, but for the most part, it's fine to do away with the animations and rely on other methods of making a class more engaging.
If you upload a PowerPoint file to your lesson library, it will be converted to a flat PDF, so animations will not appear.
When I want to see my student's screen.
If your student has a file that they want to use in class, it's much better for them to send it to you, so you can upload it to the classroom. However, this isn't always possible, and sometimes a lesson requires walking a student through something on their screen.
Depending on your settings, it is possible for a student to share their screen with you.
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