We have hit the halfway mark of Term 2 and have now been teaching the MITS students online for two months. This is not the way we were planning on running the MITS learning program this year, but here we are and there is always a silver lining when you are confronted by a hurdle like COVID-19. Michael, Isabelle and I all agree that remote learning is not perfect but we have learnt so much about new teaching approaches, digital platforms and most importantly our students, their families and communities.

What we are celebrating is the ability of the students to adapt to new ways of learning. They have all become incredibly confident connecting with us through daily Zoom Meetings. They understand to complete the Survey Monkey daily wellbeing check-in before they connect on Zoom and have respectfully shared and provided feedback online to each other about the work they are completing. A special thank you to the Telstra Foundation for provided each student with the data they need to learn remotely.

Students use Google Classroom to complete learning tasks and are given live feedback as they work in their local school classrooms, living rooms, back yards, even local council offices, thousands of kilometres away. If they are unable to connect online they are now telling us via text or through the MITS Learning WhatsApp Chat Group. The pace at which they have been able to learn and then utilise these new learning platforms is reminding Michael, Isabelle and I how capable our students are and the value of always setting high expectations for our students.

Google Classroom, Google Meet, Kahoot, Padlet, Edpuzzle, Survey Monkey, WhatsApp, Flipgrid are all new digital platforms that the students are confidently engaging with and more importantly places where the students can take learning risks and demonstrate their understanding. These platforms will continue to be used when the students return.

I might sound like a broken record but teachers Michael and Isabelle have done an incredible job creating and rolling out the MITS Remote Learning Program. The skilful way they are interacting with the students to ensure they experience success in their learning each day is no doubt the reason they have had such consistent and successful engagement.

Ryan Martin

The MITS Photo Booth

Latisha sharing her work

The MITS Mob might not be in Melbourne, but they have been sharing their journey back home with us.