校長ブログ

Home Study System

This a story about how Seibo Elementary teachers set up the Seibo home schooling system for the period students cannot attend school. Through most of March we were obliged to reorganize everything according to the guidelines coming to us from the Ministry of Education, prefecture and local education authorities. This required extensive planning. Preparing for a special school restart with social distancing, health check protocols, hand-washing, disinfecting and other special requirements was very time consuming. However, as we entered April it became clear that everything we had planned had to be canceled. Instead, because students could not return to school, a comprehensive home schooling system would be required. The problem we encountered in setting up a home schooling system was not on the teacher side. It was on the student side. We hoped students could attend 始業式 so that we could train students in using the home study system. At the last moment, as the infection situation worsened, this also became impossible. The method to set up the home schooling system requires parents to download software, organize logins and prepare devices at home. From a parent survey we know not all students have equal access to WIFI and devices suitable for study at home. For this reason we set up the system at 3 levels. (1) PAPER This is textbooks and worksheets sent by post. (2) Download This is sending video and PDFs and text messages using the Google Classroom platform. (3) LIVE This is Google Meet video conferencing. It is the same as Zoom but with better security. Seibo already uses Chromebook PCs and the Google system for ICT so we are extending this system for home study. Yr. 6 began live classes by Google Meet this week and we will extend live classes and interactive time with students as possible. Below are examples of our teaching videos. Teachers are making videos using their smartphones. They also make videos by turning Powerpoint slides into videos.  Now we face one more hurdle. From next week teachers will also have to stay home. The last video is an example of a video Mr. Shimizu made from his home. Even though students and teachers cannot attend school, together with parents, we will ensure students’ health and studies by every means possible.