With students and teachers getting acclimated to the prospect of on-campus learning after spending most of 2020 online, YCIS Beijing's pivot back to E-Learning in January was met with much disappointment by all. As Ms Jane Martuneac Kang, Primary Co-ordinator, said during a parent workshop, returning online “is not ideal”.

“We want to be back on campus,” she underscored.

Continuous Learning a Priority

Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, we have taken a u-turn but thanks to the experience gained from the school's earlier transition to online learning and constructive parent feedback, our academic staff is well prepared this time with ‘ClassIn’ – our new online learning platform.

Part of the preparation included a parent workshop led by Ms April Peng, Primary Chinese Vice Principal, and Ms Martuneac Kang. The workshop was an informative online session designed to outline this platform's considerable benefits for students and parents. The YCIS online approach prioritises continuous learning regardless of the method of teaching.

The workshop drew attention to a number of areas that included:

• Retaining the teaching of core subjects such as mathematics, Chinese and English while applying differentiated learning techniques.
• The importance of limiting screen-time by tweaking timetables and lesson duration.
• Social Time, which allows students to link with their peers twice a week under teacher supervision.
• A music appreciation lesson.

How Does ClassIn Work?

According to Ms Martuneac Kang, “ClassIn is a fantastic option more suited to our online learning.” It offers an enhanced user experience with effortless access to lessons, tasks and playback for students and parents. The format allows for the uploading of study material to the platform the day before a lesson to ensure sufficient time for preparation.

The goal of the workshop was to bring parents on board with the new platform and to promote greater involvement with the learning process as well as collaboration with teachers.