This has been quite the time for all of use. Whether you homeschool, are a teacher, work in a daycare, or anything else related to working with kids, this has been a changing and learning time. Many schools and classes went to online learning and some had to send printed packs home. This time has changed for not only the teacher or parent, but also for the student. Online learning and distance learning are the main forms of education right now. I’m trying to adapt with the changing times.
In an attempt to grow and change with the times, I’ve joined a group beta testing on TpT. What this beta test group is doing is adding a layer over simple PDFs and making them interactive. Some of the features that can be added are a text box so that students can type their answers in, a pen, and a highlighter. For those stores part of the beta test group, the seller and the buyer can make these changes by adding this layer to the PDF.
How it works is a button is clicked on to make it digital and the resource will open. The pages to make “digital” are then opened and you select which pages you want to use. For example, you can remove the answer keys so that the students aren’t seeing those. The answer (text) boxes are then layered on top. You can also type directions in the side bar of each page. An example of directions would be, “Use the highlighter to mark the words in the puzzle as you locate the words found in the “Word Bank”. Once you do that, you assign it to your class in Google Classroom. The student will then open it and know to use the highlighter to mark the words in the word search.
What I’m doing to help is to put the digital layer on my resources. I’m picking the pages that I think work best for online learning and the resources that will work best. I know I have resources that this won’t work for at all, but I don’t currently have the option to exclude them. I know that there’s also pages in each resource that it won’t work well with. It’s my hope that I can make this easier on anyone who purchases something from me on TpT for online and distance learning.
This is actually a rather long and tedious process, but it’s worth it to me if I can help anyone in doing this. I’m making a list of the resources that I’ve updated with this digital layer. It hopefully makes it easier to find the things that are already updated. As I said though, the buyer also has the option to update with the digital layer since I’m part of the beta test group. You can click here to see the list and I will continue to update the list as I do more resources.
I hope that this helps you all in some way during these changing times. I’m not even sure what to expect as we go back to religious education in the Fall, but I think that I’m ready. I know that I’ll do what I have to do and I know that you all will as well.
Stay safe and healthy!
