The pandemic left teachers scrambling to develop digital lesson plans while forcing parents to take a crash course in homeschooling.

Tucson Electric Power had an opportunity to help provide quality content while school is out by converting our classroom educational programs to online offerings.

SafetyLand, a program that teaches 1st – 3rd graders how to stay safe around electricity in their home, school, and neighborhood, made its virtual debut in early April as a livestream on Facebook.

Bright Students, a program that teaches about energy sources, electricity generation, and energy efficiency, became available in mid-April, also as a livestream on Facebook.

Links are available at https://www.tep.com/education/ to 45-minute videos of these programs that can be viewed whenever it fits with online learning schedules.

Both programs are usually presented live in classrooms.  To create the online versions, the presenters had to remain safely distanced from each other while still seeming to interact. It took hours of rehearsal to get it right and to work out the technical aspects so presenters could engage with students and teachers who had questions or comments about the material.

Dozens of teachers say they have taken advantage of these online learning opportunities for their classes. One of them, Alicia Darden, shared it with her third graders at Fruchthendler through Zoom. “I just wanted to thank you for adapting the content and providing us with these great resources,” she said. “It was a fun reason to get back together for a great safety review.”

Renewable Students, designed to explore renewable energy resources with high school students, also is being converted to a digital stream over the next few weeks.

“This was really exciting for us because not only are we expanding the number of students who can see this important content, but it just feels good to help in a time when people are looking for these kinds of resources,” said Jennifer Cox, TEP’s Education Outreach Representative.