Teaching & Learning in the Senior School

Online Learning in Full Swing

This week kicked off with online learning in full swing. I am immensely proud of our students and teachers for making this happen so well! Our classes are now working with a range of online learning tools, just some of which include:

• Google Classrooms
• Collaborative documents
• Screen-casting
• Video conferencing
• Sound recording
• Adobe annotation tools
• Digital whiteboards

As I walk around the near-empty College now, with many teachers remaining here behind the closed doors of their classrooms, I see wonderful sights like the following:

It is certainly the case that our teachers are determined to ensure that our students stay up to date in their learning, and maintain their strong connections to their classrooms, peers and teachers. One thing I’d like to emphasise in all this is the importance of keeping our students working to their daily timetable. This will help them stay connected and productive. 

While there is no doubt that we cannot completely substitute the real classroom experience with the virtual one, it turns out there are some unexpected positive outcomes of this type of learning! In one of my lessons this week one enterprising young lad finished his work a couple of minutes early and wrote to me, “If it’s alright with you Miss, I’m off to get started on next period’s work and then I’ll hit an early lunch.” It all sounds very adult!

May I encourage you to let your son’s teachers know that they are doing a great job? Our teachers are genuinely concerned about ensuring students remain connected and feel valued; let’s ensure our teachers receive that same support from our community!

Please contact individual teachers regarding the learning that is occurring in particular classes, but give me a call or email if you feel you need another perspective about a learning issue, or if you have any questions or comments to make more broadly about our online learning.

Louise Millar

Director of Teaching and Learning