Get the most out of hybrid learning with Acrobat tools

COVID-19 is forcing us to rethink education and to make the most of hybrid learning. Check out tips from Adobe for students, parents, and teachers.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact education for students, parents, and teachers. As many schools move to hybrid learning — with some days of instruction in person and other days still taught remotely online — new adjustments and even more patience is needed.

Hybrid learning schedules provide more structure for students but can add complications for both parents and teachers trying to work around them. Another major concern is the social and emotional wellbeing of students. The need for more social interaction is critical, and yet safety precautions are still necessary. In addition, digital technologies need to be adjusted for remote use and in-classroom instruction.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Adobe Acrobat team has been working hard to deliver tools that address these new educational challenges, particularly when it comes to managing digital assignments and classwork. Adobe also created the Adobe Resource Hub for Education to provide guidance on how to leverage powerful PDF tools for distance and hybrid learning. Adobe tools and the tips below can help you better navigate these challenging times.

Help your student create a schedule and structure

Although many students rejoiced at staying home when COVID-19 shutdowns began, it didn’t take long for some of them to lament the loss of structure, purpose, and predictability that a daily school schedule provides. Hybrid learning schedules can bring added structure, but there often is still a lot of unscheduled time each week and often each day.

Parents can help their children succeed and reclaim some feeling of normalcy by working with them to design a daily and weekly schedule that reflects the rhythms of the school day. After adding all formal instruction time to your student’s calendar, set up specific blocks of time daily or as needed for self-guided classwork, homework, creative projects, snack times, and rest periods. However you structure the days, make sure that each one contains a mix of academics, creativity, free time, and outdoor exercise.

If your student needs some scheduling inspiration, look to Adobe Spark for free PDF scheduling templates that help make daily and weekly planning a breeze.

Encourage maintaining social connections

Aside from the family, school is often the center of a child’s life. It’s where they spend most of their time, make most of their friends, and learn how to be with others. Parents and educators know this function of school is just as important as its academic function, and it’s been hit just as hard, if not harder, by COVID-19 school closures. While texting and video chatting can help, they’re no substitute for the face-to-face relationship building and social interaction that all children need.

As vaccination rates increase and states ease restrictions on schools and public spaces, students can begin to socialize more with reduced risk. While everyone should continue to follow state and local regulations, with the right precautions, students can get the social stimulation they need while also staying safe. Spring weather allows for more engaging outdoor activities in many regions. In addition, families can continue to maintain COVID-19 social pods — small groups of people outside your household to interact with in person.

Make the most of new technology

Although many students today are fairly tech-literate, they may still feel confused or frustrated when trying to understand and navigate the various distance learning systems schools have adopted to manage assignments and communications. Acrobat offers a range of online PDF tools to help make hybrid and distance learning easier. These tools can be used in conjunction or in parallel with your child’s normal distance learning platforms to create better digital organization and to simplify communication between students, parents, and teachers.

• Adobe Scan: The free Adobe Scan mobile app lets students submit any piece of homework as a digital PDF. Your child just needs to snap a picture of a drawing, math equation, or entire essay. Adobe Scan then turns it into a PDF that can be quickly cleaned up and submitted online.
• Liquid Mode: As more and more educational materials are consumed on screens, students can take advantage of Liquid Mode, the best PDF reading experience for mobile devices. Liquid Mode, available in the Adobe Acrobat Reader mobile app, automatically reformats text, images, and tables for effortless reading on phones, tablets, and Chromebooks.
• Fill & Sign: The Fill & Sign tool is the ideal solution for parents needing to sign and return a school form, permission slip, or any other document digitally. It can also provide students with an easy way to update their PDF schedule or complete and submit a homework assignment.
• Add Comments: The Acrobat Edit PDF tool eases collaboration and communication between students, teachers, and parents by letting everyone make comments and annotations right in PDF documents. Students can add questions and notes to make sure they understand a homework assignment or to remind them of key points. They can also add annotations to an assigned reading, show their steps on a math assignment, or leave comments on a group project. Similarly, parents can use the commenting tool to help guide their child or to ask teachers clarifying questions.
• Organize Pages: A number of Acrobat online tools make it easy to organize a PDF file just how you want.
  • The Rotate PDF Pages tool lets you rotate a page to portrait or landscape mode.
  • Use the Delete PDF Pages tool to delete one or more pages from a PDF.
  • Move pages around with the Reorder PDF Pages tool.
  • The Split PDF tool lets students or teachers split a large file into smaller sections, breaking up a syllabus into more manageable weekly units or splitting reading into relevant chapters, sections, or assignments.
• Merge PDFs: If you need to combine multiple PDFs into one PDF file, the Merge PDFs tool makes it quick and easy.

COVID-19 has created a slew of new educational challenges, but with the right tools, preparation, and mindset, you can help your child excel at hybrid learning. Adobe is dedicated to assisting both parents and students navigate the digital classroom with flexible online tools and helpful guidance.