This week we continue our series of reflections on eLearning by asking some of our Secondary students about their experiences with the past month of remote learning. Their comments are centered around what discoveries they have made and what differentiates virtual from in-class learning.

The eLearning journey has propelled students to embrace and enhance their autonomy even further when coming to keeping up and completing their school work. This view is supported by Charlie Leung in Year 9 who shared with us that “With e-learning, the teacher is not there to tell you what to do, it is up to you to join classes, pay attention to lectures and complete tasks. You are making your own decisions to benefit your own learning”  This is certainly a skill that stands to benefit him and his peers in future.

Many of our students have appreciated the optimal use of technology during this time, as it has allowed them to continue with their learning away from their classroom walls and to keep in contact with their classmates on a regular basis. “No matter where you are in the world, you can still attend live lessons and still be able to learn and grow”  said Gabriel Low.

Elim Kim, a Year 7 student, also added to this sentiment saying, “I like how we are all still collaborating as a class, and trying to help each other as much as possible, since that’s the spirit of the school.”, referring to the school’s emphasis on collaborative work.

Charlie and Year 9 student Gabriel have been having positive experiences with this learning approach. They have even found it to be enjoyable. “Once you get used to it, it’s a great alternative to turn to when we can’t attend school.”  said Charlie. Flexibility has been a great lesson as well according to Gabriel who said so far, she has been “quick to adapt to this system of eLearning.”

Learning since the beginning of February has not come without challenges, with technical glitches being the most prominent. Elim’s initial experience was “rather difficult” he says. The year 8 student, who is currently in Korea, shared that “I wasn’t able to join a lot of calls or send a lot of messages due to technical difficulties and problems with the internet connection. But still, I learned to stay more focused from this experience, and I was able to keep track of what we’re learning.”  with the help of his teachers and the technical team responsible for the smooth running of the IT systems.

For Gabriel, “Learning from home has allowed me to be able to stay at home with my family and allowed me comfort while learning”  but even for her, nothing is better than face-to-face interactions with her classmates and teachers; a common theme amongst all three students.

“I miss the social aspect of the school. I miss performing in assemblies and events, performing is one of my favourite things to do and I can’t wait to step on stage when school reopens” concludes Charlie.

For Elim, his focus is on his learning, until we can go back to normalcy. “I just overall miss the learning, since I find it much more difficult to learn, and I miss my peers and tutors too. All I can do is to keep track of the learning and hope we go to school soon. Although the E-learning is overall not what we expected, we should still persevere and stay educated, until this unpleasantness ends.”

We are very proud of our students who have been displaying determination, perseverance and flexibility during this challenging time and like them, we hope for a swift change in events and to see everyone back on campus very soon.