EDUCATION & LEARNING :
HOW DO YOU TEACH THROUGH A PANDEMIC ?
Carla Marschall , Director of Teaching and Learning , UWCSEA East
As a result of our remote learning experience , we recognised the importance of the social function of school . Feedback from 1,600 of our K – 12 students and their parents reported trends in student well-being during the time of remote learning , with survey questions around our UWCSEA well-being principles ; autonomy , connectedness and competence .
Key feedback included that remote learning supports student autonomy , but that ( perhaps rather obviously ) it also requires social emotional competencies and executive functioning skills such as selfregulation and self-management . For this reason , older learners fared far better than our youngest learners . ( Being the mother of a K1 student at the time , I say that first-hand .)
Any transformation of learning in future will need to go hand in hand with an awareness of different needs within our community . Schools as physical environments promote identity development , and create opportunities for positive social interactions , which students missed during remote learning . This role of the school , in supporting healthy self-concept and the development of friendships and pro-social behaviours , is crucial .
From our period of remote learning , we also saw how important it is to match tasks and purpose , and to have a balance of offline and online tasks . Across all three sections of our school – primary , middle and high – students asked for more offline tasks ; eyestrain , neck and back pain , and the monotony of tasks were all issues reported during remote learning .
Agency , which is about acting rather than being acted upon and making responsible decisions and choices rather than accepting those determined by others , was one of the benefits that technology brought during remote learning . Students reported that the ability to self-pace their learning , and the high degree of choice this offered , including being able to take breaks when they need to , was very helpful for their learning and well-being . We are continuing to consider ways we can create developmentally appropriate opportunities for student agency enhanced , in part , by technology .
This trend brings together the possibility for technology to support both student agency and personalised learning in the future , making remote learning not as much about the digitisation of learning as about our ability to personalise the learning to each student . Where is the student and how are we bringing the curriculum to them ? How can we personalise our learning programme based on our students ' identities , whether racial , cultural , linguistic , national or based on their passions , interests and talents ? This is directly concerned with some of our strategic focus on diversity , equity and inclusion , our development of interdisciplinary learning which bridges disciplines and our elements , and an enhanced focus on our experiential learning programmes such as through our recent hyper local ‘ campus adventure ’ outdoor education programme , where students came to know more about their Singapore context .
Digital competence is an essential literacy . Students require the skills to learn through technology , as well as essential knowledge about how technology functions . As we move towards use of digital learning to promote student agency , personalisation of our curriculum , we are examining how we can weave technologies into a complex tapestry that puts the student at the centre – and where technology might somewhat disappear . Of course , students and considerations of their wellbeing will be part of shaping this future .