Paref Springdale adopts online learning system

WHILE the school faces challenges in transitioning to online learning, Paref Springdale was able to overcome these through technology and collaboration between the school and the parents.

Maintaining its rigorous standards through the years, Paref Springdale supplements its curriculum with web-based lessons, virtual experiments, online activities and assessments.

This strategy lets the students acquire the right disposition and attitude towards technology, which makes the transition to online classes easier.

Recognizing the imperative shift to online learning, Paref Springdale made preparations, assessed different platforms & looked at the viable technology the school could use for online classes.

Because of the pandemic, Paref Springdale has to rethink its teaching methods. The school came up with Springdale’s Modified Instruction and Learning Environment (Smile).

Smile is Springdale’s alternative means of curricular delivery amid the pandemic. It uses modified resources, materials and references that provide various learning opportunities for teachers and students. It allows collaboration between teachers and students.

Smile uses Genyo e-learning and Google Classroom learning management systems. Genyo e-Learning is a fully integrated online learning platform that offers interactive multimedia content on Science, Mathematics, Araling Panlipunan and Filipino.

It enables students to access digital lessons assigned to them by their teachers as well as monitor their own performance in exams through automated assessment tools. The students could also collaborate with their teachers and co-students through the Announcement Board, Forum, Blog and Messages.

On the other hand, Google Classroom is another learning management system that helps learners become fully engaged in the learning process. Students can comment on each other’s answers on questions in the Google Classroom. This further develops deeper thoughts for students.

To maximize learning, Paref Springdale also reduced the number of students per class. For the primary grades, classes are reduced from the regular 20 students to only 10 students. For Grades 4 to 12, there are only 15 students, down from the previous average 20 to 25 students.

While the teachers were already comfortable using technology in their physical classes before the pandemic, they still had to undergo three sessions of Google Suite training.

In spite of the decline in enrolment in the 2020-2021 school year, the school made sure to maintain the quality of education it was known for even without any tuition fee increase.

Springdale’s preparation, however, did not stop there.

The school coordinated with parents, discussing with them what the requirements are in a remote learning setup, such as additional bandwidth in their homes so their children could attend online classes.

The school also taught the parents how to navigate the virtual platform that will be used for the online classes.

To ensure that the online classes run smoothly, the school conducted a trial run before the official start of classes.

As the past school year progressed, the school was able to make changes to fine-tune their learning system.

The school also planned for unforeseen circumstances such as slow internet connection and power interruptions by recording the learning sessions to enable students to access these later.

Meanwhile, parents also appreciated the home-school collaboration, which enabled them to adapt to the online system. If they have questions or difficulty in accessing the system, teachers immediately respond through an online chat group and assist them.

The school also provides assistance to students who have difficulty in class.

Through the school’s mentoring system, teachers are assigned to help students achieve their academic goals.

To maintain a semblance of normalcy, the school continues to maintain its regular activities such as the football club, the holding of daily Masses and the father-son bonding, among others.

The school also plans to have a virtual graduation ceremony so the graduating students could also enjoy this moving up rite.

Moving forward, the school is looking at the possibility of blended learning — a mix of physical and online classes — when the pandemic is resolved to keep up with the changing situation. / PR