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E-Learning at Greenville City Schools
By Laura Bemus, Assistant Superintendent/Director of Curriculum and Instruction
Susan Dankworth, Assistant Principal at Greenville Elementary School
Jim Hooper, Director of Curriculum for Greenville City Schools
In these unprecedented times, there are many more questions than
answers regarding the future of the school year. As of this writing,
the Ohio Governor has closed schools through April 3rd, and classes are
set to resume on April 6. That could change, but the school district is
preparing to begin school again on April 6. Between now and then,
schools and teachers will continue to use e-Learning as the way to keep
students completing assignments and staying up with their school work.
What is e-Learning? E-Learning is the name that the district has given
to the activities and lessons that students are doing on their iPads,
and the way that teachers are communicating with their students.
Depending upon the grade level, teachers are creating activities and
lessons using a variety of methods – from video conferencing to
recording themselves, and then communicating those lessons to students
using the student’s district email, or the Remind or SeeSaw app. With
the quick shutdown of the schools on March 13, there was little time to
prepare students and staff with how easily this would be accomplished,
but the District had been purchasing iPads and training staff and
students over the past several years, so we were well prepared to
continue learning and teaching using a digital platform. Within just a
few days of e-learning, all teachers were communicating and responding
to students with greater success each day. After two weeks of
e-Learning, teachers are seeing over 90% of their students completing
assignments and engaging with them online.
Students should expect to spend a typical amount of time completing
assignments as they would in a normal class. This may be about 20-30
minutes per day per subject. If your student is feeling overwhelmed,
have them communicate with their teacher and ask for help. Teachers
will be available during regular school day hours to answer questions;
some teachers have even set up a live video session to work with
multiple students at a time.
Greenville City Schools understands that technology can be confusing,
and at times, frustrating to work with, which is why we have set up a
link directly to the technology department to help answer any questions
or problems that occur. That link is techsupport1@gcswave.com, and can
be found on the Home page of the district’s website.
As all families struggle with how to manage the new situations that
have been placed upon them, the district wants to reassure parents that
our first concern is the safety and well-being of the students and
staff, especially as students increasingly use digital technology to do
school work. The district has a robust internet filter in place so
students can only access appropriate educational content, and the
technology department and principals all monitor student’s web searches
for inappropriate content.
Greenville City Schools is here to help all students and parents.
Please feel free to reach out to the district with any questions or
concerns about e-learning. Stay healthy and wash those hands!
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