Dr. Elisabeth Kutscher, together with co-author Jennifer Lillis (Boston University) and the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition, wrote a Medium.com blog post for teachers on Supporting Transition in a Virtual World: Community Experiences.
Community experiences have been defined as “activities occurring outside of the school setting, supported with in-class instruction, where students apply academic, social, and/or general work behaviors and skills” (Rowe et al., 2015, p. 120).
With instruction moving online and social distancing guidelines keeping many youths and their families at home, the article explores how educators can utilize virtual tools to expose students to community activities and offer practice with skills students need to successfully engage in their communities later on. They provide resources that provide opportunities for academic behaviors and skills, general work behaviors and skills, and social behaviors and skills.
While the article is written at the time of the shift to remote learning during the pandemic, the resources and tools are beneficial to all students, whether they continue to attend school virtually or shift back to in-person learning.