At accadis
International School Bad Homburg more and more students are returning to
face-to-face classes after weeks of digital learning. What did the families
miss most during the last few weeks?
Classroom teaching
from 18 May 2020
Since Monday, May
18th, some normality is gradually returning at many Hessian schools - in form
of in-class teaching. Each school is developing the model that suits it best in
order to comply with the hygiene and distancing regulations. accadis
International School Bad Homburg has opted for a rotation system. Grade 4 to 10
have been divided into two groups and they attend face-to-face classes every
other day, alternating with a maximum of 12 students per room. This means that
by the start of the summer holidays on July 9, 2020, the students will have had
at least 17 classroom days. On the other day, they will be able to follow the
lessons via live streaming from home. The technology allows both teachers and
students to converse live during the lessons. At the end of the lesson, the
teachers post homework and learning content on the student portal, as both
sides have already become accustomed to doing in recent weeks.
More than just assignments
by email
Looking back, digital
teaching at accadis International School Bad Homburg has become very well
established over the past two months."Teaching via the Google Classroom platform is a colorful mixture
of videos, audio instructions, tasks and interaction via the Google Meet
platform," summarized one parent. "Our teachers were quick to develop
creative ideas for distance learning and put them into practice with the help
of IT. Nothing further was needed because the digital infrastructure at the
school is long established," says Janina Sparks, Head of School at accadis
ISB.From Grade 3 onwards, all accadis
ISB students have a student account, which they used in the past to communicate
with their teachers about homework, practice materials or presentations for their
classes. Based on this it was possible to quickly set up a Google Meet platform
for each subject, which will now continue to be used for the live streams of
the lessons.
E-learning does not
replace face-to-face teaching
"Of
course, we miss our students here on site and digital learning cannot replace
social interaction. We look forward to gradually giving back at least a bit of
everyday school life to our students in the coming weeks," Janina Sparks
continues. "You can really notice that friends are missed," says the
mother of a Primary School girl. "Parents play differently than children.
I often had the feeling that I was playing "incorrectly" and it hurts
me to see my child being isolated at the moment. Unfortunately, even online
lessons or video calls don't change that, because my daughter misses her
friends even more afterwards," the mother continues. In general, the
desire to return to normality is immense. "We hope that our children can
go back to school safely. Because that is something our older boy in particular
misses ever so much," report the parents of a Secondary School student.
"Only learning is not everything! Personal contact needs to also be
restored." Conclusion - digital learning is all very nice and good and
future-oriented. However, it cannot replace social contacts. Everyone is equally
looking forward to them, even with distancing!