Helping students stay focused during distance learning
In recent weeks UK schools have made the transition to distance learning as part of the Government’s social distancing strategy, in order to better protect students and staff and slow the spread of coronavirus.
As we get to grips with working from home, helping students who have been busy preparing for their GCSEs and A-level exams will be key, whilst ensuring measures are in place to support our hardworking teachers.
In these unusual times edtech has become a vital tool for students to access learning materials, collaborate with their peers and link in with teachers from any location.
The GCSEPod service is bespoke to the needs of each individual school, from MIS integration through to exam board filtering.
Any school or college taking out a subscription to GCSEPod will have additional time added on to their subscription to cover the length of the school closure period.
Supporting Year 10s
For Year 10s who are at a pivotal stage in their learning and GCSE preparation, the 3-5-minute revision videos are a fun way to maintain their progress. With a huge amount of content needed in preparation for next years exams, using this time productively is critical. GCSEPod provides a Netflix-style layout so students can create a playlist of videos for any areas they need to improve which teachers can add to as needed, helping to motivate those who are struggling to engage with traditional textbooks. The pods further allow students to re-watch and test their knowledge in order to deepen their subject comprehension.
Aiding teachers
We can all agree the dedication of teachers has been inspiring; from assisting students via digital learning platforms to planning new home-friendly lessons and offering mental wellbeing support. As such we should assist them as much as possible to make their workloads more efficient and effective. For instance, the ‘Check and Challenge’ feature in GCSEPod helps students that may be falling behind slightly since it allows them to self-assess and have additional learning video pods assigned to them; all without the need for a teacher to be at their side.
In the UK we might also look to schools in countries such as China who have been implementing distance learning for several months now. Carol Camargo, Director of Studies at Nord Anglia International School Shanghai Pudong, closed early on in the coronavirus pandemic and harnessed GCSEPod to deliver some continuity:
“Students find the system easy to use and as senior leaders we can be sure that they have quality and consistency in the work set. We are able to monitor how engaged the students are as well as the assignments set by teachers, therefore we are able to quality assure remotely.
“Overall, it has given us a consistent platform to use with our examination groups that students have been able to access using whichever device they had with them when abroad. As we have been providing e-learning for seven weeks now, we have had to expand the work we set our students, however, GCSEPod is still the platform we use to start the learning for each week in most subjects.”
Even if the classroom is now virtual, there is no reason why students cannot continue to receive a first-class education.
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“I can’t speak highly enough about how helpful the GCSEPod team were throughout the whole process.
Most importantly, teachers and students have found the resources relevant, excellent, and easy to use.”
Ian Lee, Yew Chung International School of Shanghai, China