Drastic times call for drastic measures. The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the education world upside down by forcing schools worldwide to continue teaching and learning from home.
Sekolah Pelita Harapan (SPH) started its transition to Home-based Learning since mid-March. We saw that there are three key elements of successful Home-based Learning:
Investment in Advanced Educational Software and Technology
SPH invests in advanced technology that makes Home-based Learning achievable. We have official licenses of Microsoft Office and various learning management tools – Edmodo, SeeSaw, and Managebac. These programs allow teachers and students to communicate effectively, share lesson materials, upload homework, and provide announcements.
We are completely aware that remote learning has its limitations. Nevertheless, SPH’s technology infrastructure ensures the continuity of learning, maximizing the effective use of the 21st Century tools available to our students and families.
Creative, Engaging, and Accommodating Team of Teachers
Besides technology, teachers play a crucial part in creating a successful Home-based Learning experience. SPH’s faculty is highly adaptable, flexible, communicative, and creatively engaged our students. Learning from home is challenging, especially for younger children. Teachers need to make sure they design their online classes to be fun, engaging, and with reasonable learning targets for each day’s lesson and assigned work.
SPH Home-based Learning has brought out the best of our teachers’ abilities. We witnessed hard work in their preparation of teaching with thorough lesson plans, video recordings, engaging activities and much more. They continued giving their best, investing countless hours to ensure their students were given their best.
Solid Partnership and Continual Communication with Families
Partnership and communication between teachers and parents were crucial factors in Home-based Learning. Parents had to step up and take part in their children’s day-to-day learning activities. Teachers also establish clear expectations from the beginning and made themselves available for parents who had questions or needed further assistance.
One of the perks of Home-based Learning was how it strengthened bonds between parents and their children. We have seen families become closer as they spent entire days at home. Parents grew in a deeper understanding of what their children were learning in school and praised their child’s teachers for the work they do.
SPH has established strong partnerships with parents even before Home-based Learning period. As it takes a village to raise a child, we see parents and families as partners in education. We believe a solid collaboration between the school and families is the key to children’s success in their learning.
SPH will start the new Academic Year of 2020/2021 with Home-based Learning, and continue to prepare for when the time is right to reopen the school on campus. SPH and Siloam Hospitals Group has established the first strategic partnership between a school and a hospital in Infection Prevention and Control (IPC). As part of this collaboration, COVID-19 Health and Safety Trainings were conducted for all SPH faculty, staff and field staff. With this partnership, SPH wants to ensure that our school’s facility management, health protocols and safety procedures is up to measure with global healthcare facility’s standard of IPC.
SPH is committed to providing the best education possible for each student, no matter the circumstance – home learning or not. This unprecedented situation may not be ideal, but as long as we are willing to adapt, we will surely thrive.
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