Using Technology to Stay Current with Students Who Cannot be Physically in Your Class

We've all experienced students missing class for one reason or another.  Sometimes students are too sick to come to school, but other times students are unable to attend school for other reasons.  How can these students to stay current with their education?  In the past a parent might stop by the school and pick up their homework.  Schools may send teachers to students houses for in house instruction.  Current technology allows students to stay in touch with their classes anywhere they may have internet access.  There are a lot of ways that students and teachers can stay connected and here are just a few suggestions:

• If teacher and student both have access to iPad, Macs, iPhones, or iPod Touches they can connect via Facetime.  At the start of the class the teacher can call the student and through video chat the student and the class can interact with each other.
• If you have a Smartboard and a microphone, teachers can record everything they do and say on their smartboard using Smart Record.  They can then post these videos on YouTube, Vimeo, Safari Montage, inside Moodle, etc for students to watch on their own time.
• Our district has the google education apps.  Through Google Video Chat teachers and students can connect and interact with each other much like the FaceTime app already mentioned.
• Using join.me teacher's can share everything they are doing on their computer screen with a student who has a computer or mobile device.  Right now they even offer free audio and chat features along with screen sharing.  This is also a great tool for a student who may be visually impaired, as they could use their own device to enlarge what the teacher was doing on their computer.  There is no registration or sign in required, you simply go to the website and it will give you website to share with your students.