At school, there is the benefit of using technology to supplement learning in the classroom and at home. Students, along with their parents, and teachers use technology to communicate with each other at the lower grade levels. In contrast, teachers and students at the higher-grade levels will communicate directly. The difference between the upper and lower grade levels also determines the types of technology used and how it is used to supplement learning. Throughout the school, Managebac is the platform that is consistently shared no matter the grade level. However, MYP and DP use Moodle and other online platforms regularly to support teaching and learning. Since online education has become more dominant, there is a need to improve our capabilities and systems to support a heavier reliance on technology to learn. The Director of ICT, Mr. Ryan Tannenbaum, provides insights into our development of online learning programmes:
Can you talk a little bit about online teaching and learning?
The goal is to create a natural continuation of our curriculum but through an online medium. The most crucial aspect of any kind of teaching is to make sure that the instruction is meaningful, creating productive learning experiences for students. Online teaching is a rapidly expanding medium for instruction - but it is also one that many children and students have less experience with. As we have proceeded with online teaching and learning, not only have the students learned and improved - but so have we. Each day, staff and teachers are learning how to better utilize the technology for curriculum delivery.
What are our specific needs at OCAC for online teaching and learning?
At OCAC, technology has always been a part of our instruction, just as it is a part of the world around us. For teaching to transition to an exclusively digital realm, the platforms needs to be secure and reliable. Students need to have the skills necessary to engage with the instruction, and teachers need to have the understanding and capacity to develop and implement lessons that facilitate knowledge and skill construction and development. Furthermore, we have the additional challenge of a truly international staff - our platforms need to be secure and accessible throughout the world.
How have we met those needs with what we have implemented?
At OCAC, we utilize numerous online platforms to best support the needs of our students, parents, teachers and administration. We have dedicated communication, storage, file sharing, curriculum delivery, student management systems, video conferencing platforms and more. As a result of the enormous global shift toward online teaching (as a result of the recent epidemic), many platforms have struggled to support the increase in use. We have had great success using open-source self-hosted software like Moodle, NextCloud, and more because we can set up servers that can meet our specific needs.
How have our online teaching and learning systems improved during this time?
1) Our digital systems have become more fleshed out as a result of this period of online learning and teaching. We have decentralized file storage servers in numerous countries that communicate with each other. This way, teachers around the world can share resources with each other.
2) The capacity for online teaching and learning through our Moodle platform has been significantly expanded. Also, we have introduced ManageBac as a means of communication and work submission platform for the entire school and have developed capacity for everyone.
3) Teacher training has played a big part in this. We have tried to implement online reference pages that teachers can use to upskill themselves in their own time.
4) Parent references - parents can access blog.ocasuzhou.net to get additional information about our online platforms, and get the support that they need.
How effective have our online teaching and learning programmes been?
In secondary, we have had near 100% engagement with Moodle every school day
What are some of the things that you have focused on, and what's next?
In the beginning, the main focus was to get platforms up and running that were resilient and sustainable. The next important task was to set up teacher training so that teachers had the skills to deliver the curriculum effectively. Afterward, it was to ensure that parents and students were able to connect to the platforms. In essence, we spent time working with departments and divisions to try and enhance our communication with parents, making it more explicit what was expected of students each day. As this period continues, one of our greatest concerns is towards the social needs of our learners. While it is no replacement for the interaction that takes place at school, I am starting to look at how online social networking platforms can help build the school community and provide positive ways for students to interact with each other. This also aligns with the goals of our digital literacy program - developing student understanding and technology skills in today's digital environment. A safe social network could be a powerful way to improve this.
With information like this, we can all rest assured that our online learning programme is in good hands and is continuously improving. For more information about the type of learning that can be done to support English language learning from home, our librarians Ms. Sally Baxter and Ms. Yuan Yanhui, have some suggestions that would benefit all students learning from home.
Ms. Sally encourages all students to read a wide selection of texts, and for Grades 1-3, use the accelerated reading programme to check understanding and earn achievement certificates. For students in grades four and above, she suggests for students to use readworks.org, which is a website containing several essays and questions to check understanding. An excellent resource for all to use is getepic.com, which is a wonderful ebook and video website which all students can get access to for free with the help of their teacher providing them with an access code. Please note that sometimes the connection to getepic.com can be a bit slow or unreliable, but it is excellent when it is working, so please be patient with this resource. During this time of online learning, Ms. Sally says that the most important thing to remember is to read for fun. Choose texts that interest the students and that they are excited to read and learn from because those resources will always be the most effective.
Ms. Yanhui suggests for students to use an app called 喜马拉雅, which contains a lot of audible English books. Also, if parents or students have Suzhou Library card (or Shanghai Library, Nanjing Library, etc.), they can go to the website to borrow ebooks online. The link for the Suzhou library is: https://szlib.overdrivechina.cn/
