COVID-19 resources: Online learning supports

As schools and afterschool programs have closed, we’ve heard from many folks looking for engaging online activities for young people.  While we are not content experts, we have heard of a number of resources either newly created or curated and are sharing those resources in a series of blogs and on our COVID-19 website. (See our previous post on STEM resources.) Please note that we are not able to vet each resource and do not endorse any one product over another. 

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has created a listing of 41 free online educational resources. Many of the resources now available used to charge fees. The list is targeted to educators, and includes learning platforms that can be used at home or by afterschool or care providers as well as tools for managing engagement with youth. It is sortable by age group and may be updated as more resources are identified.

Among the resources on the AFT listing, a few notes:

• Brain Pop, an education platform used by teachers to supplement learning in the classroom, has made all its content free to educators and families whose children are out of school due to COVID-19. The site will remain free until schools open again. Units typically include a video, one or more activities, and an online game and quiz to test knowledge. Content spans K-8 and English Language Learners, with topics covering math, science, English, health and SEL, arts and music, engineering and tech, and social studies. A study of Bain Pop met the moderate evidence level of impact under the education law ESSA. 
• Khan Academy, the free online math learning site, has added live streams on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter at 9 a.m. PT/12 p.m. ET each weekday for students, parents, and teachers navigating school closures, and has created several guides for parents and teachers.
• National Geographic curated a new Learn at Home site with educational resources to support the families during the crisis for students K-12. Activities are mapped by grade and subjects.
• Scholastic has created free weekly sets of resources to support families and educators during the outbreak for students from PreK-grade 9. Learn at Home provides 20 days of activities. Each activity includes two digital books to read, a related video and an activity. Currently two weeks of materials are posted, with more to come.
• TED-Ed has created a new resource for K-college students, parents and teachers affected by the pandemic, to offer high-quality, interactive, video-based lessons on a daily basis, for free. Enter your email to have a handful of engaging lesson plans organized by age group that span all subjects delivered to your inbox every day. Each newsletter will also include insights and tips collected from TED-Ed's global community of students, parents, and teachers

More Resource Lists:

• The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy has curated a toolkit of trusted, high-quality online resources that can be used anytime, anywhere.
• The National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement has created a repository of COVID-19 educational-related resources, tools, and informational websites to support educators, community organizations, and parents. The first part of the list focuses on learning resources; a good number of the resources are free and are noted as such.