Common Sense Launches 'Wide Open School' to Assist with Remote Learning
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 04/01/20
Common Sense has launched an
online school to help educators and families cope with remote
learning and teaching. "Wide
Open School,"
as it's called, features resources curated by the media organization
and provided by a number of well known education content providers,
including Khan Academy, Scholastic, Time for Kids, National
Geographic, PBS, Sesame Workshop and others. The daily learning
activities are organized by grade band and subject.
The
website features:
-
Coverage
of math, English language arts, science, social studies, science and
the arts;
-
Virtual
field trips;
-
Resources
for special needs students and English learners;
-
Ideas
for physical activities and life skills;
-
Links
to daily live events; and
-
Guidance
on emotional well-being.
There's
also a link to a bunch of guidance on setting up a
virtual classroom.
For grades 6-12, that incorporates links to remote learning
resources, how-to's on setting up Google for Education and Zoom,
digital citizenship lessons and a list of the "best messaging
apps and websites for students, teachers and parents."
While
most of the sites require no log-in for access, some do require
registration. Common Sense has warned users that the external
websites and applications "are governed by their own privacy
policies or information-collection practices." For that reason,
the organization advised, "We encourage you to review the
privacy policies and information-collection practices of any external
websites and apps before using them with children."
"This
crisis has reminded us of our deep appreciation for the work teachers
do every day in their classrooms," company officials noted in an
"about us" page. "At Wide Open School, we celebrate
teachers--and parents--as they take on this new challenge."
Wide
Open School is freely
available online.
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.