Lessons from lockdown

Liam Isaac, Head of Digital Learning Technology, Dover Campus
27 November 2020

In March, Singapore went into lockdown, bringing with it an abrupt shift to our lives as we all switched to ‘remote’ models—learning, working, gathering and supporting. Whilst SARS in 2003 meant that the notion was not completely unprecedented, the extent of the impact of the current pandemic will no doubt be viewed as a pivotal moment for existing trends towards technology-led changes in so many areas of our lives. Historians documenting the factors influencing changes to the industrial educational model of the 20th century will no doubt point to the necessity of adapting to the pandemic as an accelerator in a long-overdue digital transformation of a sector that had been largely unchanged by the rising tide of technology.

During the circuit breaker (lockdown), our community worked tirelessly to positively influence the learning and wellbeing of our students during what was a truly challenging time. Our students developed new levels of resilience as they somehow managed to motivate themselves each and every day to attend classes online and continue to engage with their teachers and peers. Parents and carers performed an all-too-often herculean balancing act; meeting the ever-shifting needs of their children whilst continuing to juggle demanding professional and domestic responsibilities. 

And then there were the teachers, who years from now with the luxury of hindsight, will no doubt cite their own experience of implementing remote learning as one of the most challenging periods of their career. They juggled the challenges of continuing to fulfil their professional roles while supporting student wellbeing, working to ensure that the students within their care remained physically and psychologically happy and healthy.

It would be easy to reflect on what our community achieved during that period, consider it a job well done and, at least within our Singapore context, thank our lucky stars that (very) slowly, things are beginning to return to ‘the way it was before’.

However, as a learning institution in a sector that is ripe for digital transformation, it’s important that we use the lessons from this experience to understand how technology can be used to contribute to the future of learning. As Tom Fletcher said at the UWCSEA-hosted Navigating learning for the 21st century event on 29 October, “We face technological, environmental change at a pace we can’t understand or control at the moment. We’ll have to be brave enough to master technology, rather than be mastered by it.” 

And so UWCSEA is looking to leverage the lessons from lockdown to improve our future provision and practice. Here are just some of the ways in which our response to the pandemic might ultimately lead to our evolution:

On-demand learning

Pre-pandemic days, all teachers diligently uploaded learning resources used in class to our digital learning platforms, informing students that, should they wish to revisit the material, they could. This was—and still is—good practice. However, our use of these digital tools has rapidly evolved over the course of the last 10 months to better leverage their potential as tools that will deliver opportunities for learning that suit the needs of more of our students.

One of the great advantages of online learning is that resources, once shared online, are available for learners to access as and when the need arises. This ease of access, along with the flexibility to work through the resources and revisit and revise at their own pace, makes the learning process increasingly flexible and equitable for all students. 

In a UWCSEA context, where all students have access to devices, all students therefore enjoy access to learning at their own pace using online resources, which support face to face instruction. This blended learning model has long been recognised as an integral approach to learning at UWCSEA, led in particular by a focus in the Middle School on East Campus which has seen the development of extensive professional learning resources to facilitate implementation over the past several years. 

The circuit breaker accelerated the adoption of an increasingly blended approach to teaching and learning at all levels at UWCSEA. Increasingly, teachers are tailoring the learning resources they share online to reflect the needs of the students in their class. For example, instead of simply sharing the slide decks used in a class, teachers are now sharing screencast presentations of these slides which provide a short, sharp micro-lesson format. This mode of delivery then allows students to engage with this rich material outside of the classroom, freeing up more time in class for discussion, project-based work or personalised feedback and guidance.

Opportunities for personalisation

Historically, the orientation for new Middle and High School students has been almost entirely face-to-face; with families coming onto campus to collect laptops, attend sessions and meet staff. This year, safe distancing measures meant that the August 2020 orientation for new families moved online in a format that allowed families to complete the set-up independently at a time and pace that suited their schedule. 

Through custom learning modules, students were able to set up their devices to be ready for the first day of school. Importantly, students and families were introduced to our educational philosophy and provided guidance on how to maintain a balanced home life in the presence of potentially disruptive devices. These independent learning modules—which are available online to be revisited as necessary—were followed up with a series of live workshops on related topics such as ‘Managing Digital Distractions’ and ‘Social Media’. 

Feedback from families was overwhelmingly positive, and we have gathered rich data that will allow us to adapt our ongoing provision in a very intentional way. This adapted approach proved so successful that, regardless of what the world looks like at the start of the next school year, we will continue to run some aspects of digital onboarding and orientation for families using this model. 

What’s more, we are currently exploring opportunities to employ similar approaches in other contexts, for example connecting our current High School students with our extensive alumni network to share valuable information for learning in specialist areas as they pursue topics of individual interest. This networked learning approach greatly extends the power of the existing network of alumni mentors who to date have shared information on career and university choices.

Engagement through gamification

Whilst the term may be new–and perhaps quite alarming for some–in an educational context, the concept is not. For example, students and families have long created flash cards to support their learning of everything from spelling or multiplication tables, to key political figures in history or the periodic table. The use of online quick-feedback apps such as Kahoot and Quizizz are well established in classrooms across the College. 

A natural consequence of the increase in use of digital tools as a way to enhance learning, gamification is an increasingly effective strategy to motivate consistent participation and long-term engagement by students of all ages. However, the extended period of home-based learning during circuit breaker prompted more teachers to apply creative gamification as a means of consolidating or enhancing student learning in their virtual classrooms. This resulted in the emergence of increasingly interactive and immersive strategies. One example is a digital escape room, where students need to ‘escape’ from a carefully constructed Google form by applying their subject-specific knowledge in tandem with their problem-solving skills to answer questions. 

Gamification strategies such as this have the potential to challenge conventional assessment. For example, in one IBDP (or IB Diploma Programme) class last year, escape rooms were trialled as an alternative means of formative assessment. Replacing an end of topic test, students needed to ‘escape from the unit’ before progressing to the next topic. Students are incredibly positive about the potential long-term impact that this requirement to apply their learning in new ways might have on their learning.

Augmented and Virtual Reality

There are exciting potential future applications of how both AR and VR could be used to enhance student experience. In the Primary School, for example, teachers are exploring how to use VR to create immersive learning environments that allow students to use their iPads to take virtual expeditions around the world—all while in their own classroom. 

During the circuit breaker, a virtual art gallery was constructed ‘on’ Dover Campus where, despite not being able to physically visit campus, parents, staff and students were still able to enjoy a visual art exhibition in virtual reality.

What next? 

As the world continues to adapt in response to the pandemic, UWCSEA will continue to explore how we can leverage technology to empower our students to engage and learn beyond the confines of their immediate borders and boundaries.