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We are Wellington [Online] | The transition to e-learning

15 Apr 2020

Matthew Corke

Assistant Head of Curriculum

If you’ve read the previous articles in this series, you’ll have already seen teachers highlighting some of the many obstacles we’ve all faced during the past seven plus weeks of e-learning. The differences in time zones, the poor WIFI connectivity and (for many of us) the lack of access to our usual learning tools and environments – it’s all been quite a challenge for us to overcome in a short amount of time!However, in spite of all these difficulties and more minor issues besides, these past weeks have given us all an invaluable opportunity to look at exactly how we learn on a daily basis. As a result, we’ve all seen that we can adapt our habits and methods to different circumstances, and even discover new and better ways to improve our ability to teach and learn.

Getting familiar with a ‘new normal’

At the beginning of our new e-learning setup that was introduced after Chinese New Year, there was a lot of information that pupils needed to absorb very quickly. They needed to know how their lessons were being organised, when they were happening and how to access them (and all supporting tools and resources) online. I definitely think that as this situation has continued, we’ve improved in making this part of the e-learning experience easier. On the teachers’ side, we’ve been quick to streamline the process of organising lessons and communicating key information with pupils. We now focus on Microsoft Teams and OneNote to share work, and a document going out every Sunday that collates all the individual year groups’ lessons for the following week in one place, with links to teachers’ Zoom classes.

Pupils have also done a fantastic job of adjusting too. Moreover, pupils and parents have been extremely patient and understanding, working with us to overcome difficulties. During the past seven weeks we had to build a lot of these systems very much ‘on the fly’ as the crisis has evolved, and fortunately our pupils and their parents have respected the inherent difficulties involved and have been very accommodating. In a way, I think we’ve been quite lucky in that the use of Zoom, Teams, OneNote and other online platforms is not a foreign concept to Wellington’s pupils and teachers. While there have been some teething problems along the way, I’m confident that everyone has done a much better job adjusting to e-learning than if we had to learn to use all of these tools from scratch. When it came to transitioning to working and learning in an online environment, it wasn’t nearly as challenging as it could have been, which speaks volumes about the importance of being digitally literate and capable in today’s world.

Taking online tools to the next level

While I’m sure we all miss the buzz of the College campus and its full classrooms, one of the most beneficial silver linings of enforced e-learning is that pupils are getting hands-on experience of using these different communication and collaboration technologies in a completely remote manner. While we can’t be sure what long-term changes the aftermath of the pandemic will bring, it’s safe to assume that businesses and organisations across the world will be considering how well they use digital technologies, and how they can become more effective if and when remote working becomes more of a ‘new normal’. This means that becoming more familiar and confident with leading digital platforms for collaborative working is an invaluable experience for our pupils, no matter where they see themselves in terms of higher education or future employment.

To give you a personal anecdote of what I’m talking about, I’ll refer to a recent lesson I had with my year 11s. In the previous lesson, I’d asked them to prepare an answer to a GCSE case study on the cause and effects of water pollution in the Citarum River in Indonesia. They then (digitally) came into the lesson brimming with ideas, which they shared and developed through the collaborative workspace of OneNote, even as they spoke to one another through Zoom. Even though it was lacking some of the natural dynamics of a normal classroom setup, everyone was still engaging with each other. Everyone was contributing their own research and opinions, as well as eagerly bouncing off of the ideas of their peers. After the initial discussion, the year 11s quickly added greater cohesion to their initially shared ideas. They formed their answer to the GCSE question collaboratively, thinking carefully as they shaped their paragraphs into what they considered to be the most logical and relevant structure. Throughout the whole lesson, I was extremely impressed by their enthusiasm and ability to work so well together even while they were physically separated. At all times they still maintained their usual sense of inclusiveness and courtesy, listening to each other’s ideas, considering different points and working them into the group’s collaborative answer. Nobody shied away from contributing and nobody outright dominated the discussion. This is how collaborative work should be done, whether it’s done in person or remotely via digital technology.

Ready for learning, living and working in the Digital Age

Technically, all of our pupils were born into the Digital Age or ‘Internet Age’ if you prefer. However, as the events of early 2020 have shown, we’ve only just entered an age where your ability to operate digitally is as important as what you can do in the physical world, if not more so. Sadly, not everyone is ready for this emerging reality, with many organisations and individuals struggling to function as the pandemic plays out.

This is one of the reasons why it is so important for our pupils to make the most of their e-learning time, and to learn the wider lessons it offers. Not only are they learning how to make the best use of specific digital tools and online resources, they are also essentially being forced to become more independent in their overall learning style. They are structuring their learning times beyond the set lessons, they’re reviewing their own work and, crucially, they’re looking out for further learning opportunities that the online world can offer. All of these disciplines constitute excellent preparation for both higher education and the world of work. So even though this is a time with many complex challenges for us to overcome individually and as a community, I’m personally incredibly impressed by the way in which pupils are identifying the positives and potential and making the most of them. Until we’re back at Wellington, keep looking, keep learning and keep thinking how you can take things further.

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