The Distance Learning Playbook, Grades K-12: Teaching for Engagement and Impact in Any Setting

I’ve long been a fan of Hattie’s Visible Learning research and the books that his team has produced to help educators to apply research findings in the classroom. And so, when I saw a reference to this book pop up on Twitter, I joined the long line of educators who pre-ordered a copy.Although this resource was created and brought to market at warp speed, it does not disappoint. The ideas offered are instructionally sound but practical. The organization of the book makes it easy to find just-in-time support for specific needs. The authors’ key messages are clearly stated up front and consistently reinforced across modules:• Investment in learning means that there is a drive to foster each student’s increasing ability to recognize when they are learning, when they are not, and how to go about fixing it.• Teachers [must] know the impact of their instruction in terms of progress and achievement and take steps to refine their approaches.• The mindframes of teachers, which is to say dispositions and beliefs, are in the driver’s seat. (p. 3)The authors take on the common myth that distance learning is necessarily bad by looking to the research. They state:In comparison with traditional building-based learning, distance learning is not an accelerator. It’s also not negative. That means that the setting isn’t the deciding factor. Nor should it be interpreted that “distance is disastrous.” What is far more important are the methods of teaching that spark learning, not the medium. (p. 5)The authors also do a nice job of looking thoughtfully at issues of equity in distance learning. They recognize that providing all students with technology tools is just the beginning of the equity-focused actions we must take to ensure that all students have access to high-quality learning experiences. Then they go out to show us how to incorporate these strategies into our virtual instruction.As always, these authors position teachers as professionals with the will and the power to help all students learn and grow in important ways this year and well into their futures. They tell us:You are still an educator. You didn’t forget how to teach. You can still impact the lives of your students and know that you made a difference. (p. 8)This resource is well worth its $30 price tag ($10 on Kindle).

This is an excellent resource for virtual or hybrid teaching. In March when we went into remote learning, teachers often struggled to transfer their best practices to the virtual classroom. Instead of giving a list of tech tools and apps, this book starts with the essential teaching strategy and then gives ideas for shifting it to the online classroom. I love the fact that the book has space to reflect on my own teaching practices ("drawing on my expertise") before giving suggestions for adapting them to the virtual format. The book is well laid out, easy to navigate and chock full of ideas! This will be my go-to resource for coaching teachers this year.

While this didn’t teach me a lot of things about distance teaching, it has helped me to refocus on what’s important. I highly recommend this to anyone who is new to teaching, feels stuck in a rut, or just wants to remind themselves of the pillars that hold up good teaching no matter what setting you are in.

The Distance Learning Playbook is a perfect guide for teaching and engaging students in an online education environment. This is exactly the resource I have been looking for during this most unusual school year. I found it invaluable in providing practical strategies for successfully navigating the virtual classroom. This book provides very clear instruction with a lot of practical advice. It addresses important areas, such as, teacher-student engagement, assessment, feedback and how to manage the unique pressures of our new virtual world.

I've not read any other reviews for this book, so I don't know if I'm offering anything new or if I'm a revolutionary! After reading this, I volunteered to lead a PD offering my take-aways from the book. I am probably responsible for an additional 20-30 sales of the book via that PD.Reading this book calmed my anxiety about distance teaching. It gave me avenues of thought I hadn't translated from the classroom yet. It has helped me immensely.

I love the activities that go along with the readings, help to reflect on what you are doing. Hoghly recommend as a quicker read for NEW teachers. This gives MANY useful resources.I was a part of a book study while going through this book, we had to reflect on each chapter.

The content of this book is useful, but the formatting of the Kindle version is SUPER difficult to use for some reason. I typically buy professional books digitally and I've never had so many problems as I do with this book.

These were purchased as a guide for "today's teachers". It has a vast wealth of knowledge, suggestions, recommendations for the dual learning environment that our teachers and students are now faced with. They absolutely love it and are implementing several of the strategies contained in this book. Every school should have a few of these available in their faculty library.