The students in our school aren’t typical teenagers when it comes to technology. Yes, they almost solely communicate on Snapchat and snigger when I refer to ‘texting’, but unlike many students across the country, ours have consistently used online technology, educational websites and Google Classroom as part of their daily school life. 

As a school with ‘integrated technology’ as one of its design principles, the challenge to adjust to online learning was, anecdotally, smoother than most: starting live lessons on Google Hangouts was hitch-free, I had a visualiser for modelling, and most students were keen. However, within a couple of weeks, the holes rapidly formed, until it felt a bit like teaching in a black hole: a minority of ‘active’ students, with the majority reluctant to un-mute or contribute, a minority of students typing their answers in the chat function followed by a wave of others seemingly copying those answers. The tumbleweed grew so big, it filled the black hole. Who understood what? Which students were even sat at their device?  I certainly had no idea. 

To bridge the void between me and the students who I used to spend more time with than my own family, the following four websites have been a game-changer. I used all of these websites pre-lockdown, but certainly not fully, preferring in fact to fall back on paper and pen for both me and the students. In fact, I’d go as far to say that my knowledge of what individual students can and can’t do is possibly now more granular and accurate than it was before March.