<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1591121636174.jpeg" alt="Emporia State University Professor James Ehlers used editing software to create video lessons for his Emporia State University students. James Ehlers" />
 <figcaption>Emporia State University Professor James Ehlers used editing software to create video lessons for his Emporia State University students. James Ehlers</figcaption>
 </figure>By STEPAHN BISAHA <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/post/6-lessons-kansas-teachers-learned-when-coronavirus-pushed-classes-online">Kansas News Service</a>WICHITA, Kansas — Educators say there was a silver 
lining when Kansas schools and campuses had to shut down because of the 
coronavirus: It was a chance to learn how to do remote learning right.Now
 with college finals submitted and most K-12 schools in summer vacation 
mode, educators are reflecting on those two months of online teaching, 
especially knowing that some universities will have to do it again come 
fall (Wichita State plans online-only instruction after Thanksgiving).Here are six things that Kansas professors and teachers say they’ve learned outside of the physical classroom.1. Educators need new ways to show students they care — or students won’t.Even though he teaches classes with 100-plus students, Ronald Brockhoff memorized all of their names.“It
 makes it harder for them to hide from you,” said Brockhoff, a 
mechanical and nuclear engineering assistant professor at Kansas State 
University.It also showed his students that he cared about their
 education, making it more likely they would, too. To translate this to 
online learning, Brockhoff created kits for each of his students in his 
mechanical engineering lab, including load cells, a thermocouple and the
 necessary circuitry.In return, all 97 students stayed engaged. 
It was a big feat, considering some Kansas educators say they were lucky
 to have half their students still show up for online lessons.“We
 were engaged and we cared about their experience and therefore it made 
them more likely to rise up to the occasion,” Brockhoff said.But
 Brockhoff didn’t have the same luck in a lecture-based class, which he 
admits to putting less effort into. He said he thinks students could 
tell, and some stopped doing the work.2. Online learning makes school a little less serious, and a little more vulnerable.Remote
 learning may sound distant, but it’s often littered with distractingly 
human moments. Live video lessons often come with screaming toddlers 
offscreen, or family pets fighting in the background.It’s those moments that educators at Olathe Public Schools believe are a good thing.“When
 I was teaching math in high school, that was the most important thing a
 kid did,” said Rich Wilson, the district’s director of curriculum and 
assessment. “One of the things that this has done is it’s kind of 
knocked all that pretense down.”Shelly Todd, a seventh grade English teacher in the district, said she’s found it easier to show emotions online.“I
 was in a Zoom meeting last week and one of my students had written a 
song and was playing her ukulele, and I started crying,” Todd said. 
“It’s important that they see that we’re all human.”3. It’s much easier to bring in star power.Julie
 Pentz is a professor of dance at Kansas State. While most of her 
classes are in-person, over the years she’d recorded more than 100 
videos of how to do different movements.But one thing she hadn’t tapped into with online instruction was bringing in guests. That changed during the coronavirus.She
 interviewed Dena Rizzo, one of the leaders in hip-hop dance. Pentz also
 shared a conversation with a Rockette, which spanned the challenges of 
finding and keeping a high-caliber dance job.“My students love 
to hear that struggle,” Pentz said of the conversations that wouldn’t 
normally come up in class. “They tended to get lost in these interviews 
even for just a short time.”While guests were always an option 
before the pandemic, a prerecorded voice chat was significantly cheaper 
than purchasing a flight for the guests to teach in person. Now Pentz 
plans on continuing the interviews for her students even when they’re 
all back on campus.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1591121701369.jpeg" alt=" Professor James Ehlers created engraving kits for his Emporia State University students to take home while they learned remotely. Credit James Ehlers" />
 <figcaption> Professor James Ehlers created engraving kits for his Emporia State University students to take home while they learned remotely. Credit James Ehlers</figcaption>
 </figure>4. Hands-on learning without fancy equipment can be more practical.Students
 who study engraving at Emporia State University normally have the 
benefit of workbenches equipped with about $15,000 worth of tools, 
including microscopes and power-assisted engravers.But once 
instruction went online, the school had to loan out inexpensive tools. 
Emporia State professor James Ehlers said that created an opportunity to
 teach students how to do their work with the basic tools they’ll have 
access to post-graduation.Ehlers taught students how to maintain
 their blades without the sharpening tools on campus. It’s a skill only a
 few students normally learned from him because they were curious and 
asked.“It gives them a sense of what exactly do I need to remain a practicing artist whenever this semester is over,” Ehlers said.5. Professors must intentionally create unintended learning.Andrea
 Follmer Greenhoot, director for the University of Kansas’ Center For 
Teaching Excellence, said some of the best learning moments happen 
outside of structured class time.That’s when students learn from
 each other — asking questions before class starts or chatting with the 
professor after the lecture ends. Those unplanned moments are less 
likely to happen online unless educators specifically make space for 
them.“When you’re teaching online, everything has to be intentional,” Greenhoot said.Online
 discussion boards are useful, Greenhoot said, but spontaneous moments 
have to happen outside of the classwork. KU teachers found that groups 
on Facebook and LinkedIn helped create that space for students to 
naturally ask questions without prompting and their peers to provide the
 answer.“Those things don’t happen unless you set them up,” 
Greenhoot said. “This is the kind of thing that’s going to be a big 
focus of the work that faculty do to prepare for the fall.”6. Some students do better online.Online learning is full of distractions; it can be hard to pay attention to a lesson with YouTube just a few keystrokes away.The
 school building can be even more distracting for some students, like 
those who struggle with loud classrooms and crowded hallways. Plus, 
students with physical disabilities may be more concerned about hazards 
to their health than their algebra midterm.Because of the 
success that some students are having with remote learning, Topeka 
Public Schools decided to start offering virtual summer school this 
year.Kaylee Erickson, a fourth grade teacher at Topeka Public 
Schools, said about a third of her students are doing better with remote
 learning, including the students she described as more hyperactive, 
because they were able to do the work on their own time.“My students continued to mention how amazing it was for them to be able to do it when it was working for them,” Erickson said.Stephan Bisaha reports on education and young adult life for KMUW and the Kansas News Service. You can follow him on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/stevebisaha?lang=en" target="_blank">@stevebisaha</a>.

Lessons Kan. teachers learned when virus pushed classes online