E-Learning With Experience: Is It Better This Year?

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"Well, here we are again
The same old shape we’re in
….Did we learn nothing new
From all that we went through?
Or was it worth the same
To do again?"

- Here We Are Again,

The Statler Brothers

We knew it was a possibility all along, and as much as we’d all prefer to be inside our schools, educators all prepared for this moment as well. So now that Shunyi schools are one to three weeks into e-learning and Chaoyang schools just started, how is it going?

First, let’s check in with a parent who experienced e-learning from two Beijing international schools and also one in the United States last spring. Tonya Ramsburg‘s son now goes to Western Academy of Beijing (WAB), but that’s after last year when her six-year-old son vacillated between being “completely checked out and unhappy” and demanding quite a lot, to the point where she says, “He learned a lot but I fought with him constantly to get his work done.”

Now, giving both of those schools the benefit of the doubt, we were all thrust into the unknown, and I’m sure everyone has adjusted better this year. That being said, Ramsburg finds WAB to be “a perfect balance between the two. I met with them today and am so impressed by how well all of Hayden’s teachers know him, not just as a learner but also on an emotional level. They do an incredible job of individualizing learning plans for each student based on where they are at and scaffold each child to grow in the direction of their choosing.”

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They keep his screen time to shorter 20-30 minute bursts and his other work is research-oriented on Seesaw, focused on "going and doing something." Most important to Ramsburg however, especially at her son's young age, is that WAB wants to continue "developing a love for learning and the importance of play." Her son even finds it fun and manageable, leading to a smoother adjustment than they had last year.

A parent from The British School of Beijing (BSB), Sanlitun also thinks e-learning is a vast improvement from last year. Her primary aged daughter is doing school time with a friend, and BSB requested they wear their uniforms to class, at least their PE clothes if not the full outfit. In terms of the learning platforms, she says, “The school switched to MS Teams which works better in China. Also, the classes are way more structured and aligned with the in-class curriculum which helps to maintain the same routine. The school is also trying to keep screen time to a minimum, basically, we have about 15 minutes of screen time with the teacher in one class followed by an independent work off-screen. The school has also provided supplies for everyone and offered extra iPads for families who have two or more students at home.”

This all follows with my own experience engaging in Yew Chung International School of Beijing (YCIS Beijing)‘s new e-learning. We have a different platform, ClassIn, which is much easier for the kids to learn. It’s not imperfect, but having all of our class assignments, schedule, and access to the class in one place makes for a smoother experience for the parents than the multiple modes of communication last year. I think it’s easier to mute everyone at once, too!

There are also two new developments in their schedule: their violin class is split from two classes/week to one violin specific and one called “Music Appreciation.” Today they explored the short composition “Peter and the Wolf” together, always a nice entry into classical music for kids, with one instrument for each character and a nursery rhyme kind of story.

YCIS also instituted a “Social Time” for year 2 classes twice a week. We’ve only experienced one so far, and I’m not sure what the point is exactly except to give the kids time to just be kids with each other on the online platform, but I’m all for the experiment and wish teachers and parents the best with it! Early Childhood Education, or ECE, is an entirely different monster no matter your school, and beijngkids will investigate next week.

But what’s it like for older kids? How are teenagers adjusting to the process?

Senior Bella Perez says that the hardest part for her is living in the same time zone as her classes. She has been stuck in the US last year, with “a 12-hour difference and [I] was constantly moving places, so I was given more room in e-learning to do things on my own time. My teachers are a lot more strict now because they know I’m at home, and I have no excuse to be late or not show up. I’m not used to a lot of these components of e-learning, my school changed platforms, my classes expect different things of me, and I’m not used to waking up at 8am if it isn’t to go somewhere.”

These stories are barely a microcosm of the full experiences around Beijing, and we’d love to hear what you think in the comments. How’s it going for you as a parent, student, or teacher? What are some great ideas you’ve seen or implemented since last year? Or is it still kind of unbearable some days and tolerable the next? Let us know!

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Photos: Canva

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