Three Potential Models for Learning

In anticipation of an evolving situation in Dubai associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, ASD developed three models for learning across a continuum. These models are oriented toward the school’s preference for face-to-face learning.

ASD believes regular school will always be a better alternative to distance learning. The pandemic has made distance learning a necessary response as health and safety considerations outweighed our desire to be together, on campus. As we prepare for the new school year, we will be ready for the potential of a changing landscape. While we hope for the continual and gradual opening up of campus activities and events, we must still be prepared to toggle between learning models based on changing circumstances. All three models are informed by ASD’s Mission, Student Profile, and Learning Principles.

Face-to-Face Learning

This is the school experience that students are most accustomed to, where they attend school five days a week. Students interact with peers and teachers, and mostly all aspects of the school experience, including a full menu of activities, clubs, and events, are available to them. Learning that happens off campus is mostly in the form of home learning (homework), practice, and student-led activities or projects. Preventative hygiene policies are implemented, supplemented by realistic physical distancing guidelines. The risk of contracting the virus is low enough to allow for greater student density on buses, in classrooms, and in other shared facilities.

This is the model that ASD will open with on August 29*.

*ASD will also offer a limited online learning option through October 1 for for students who have health conditions that make them especially susceptible to COVID-19 complications, or for families that were are yet comfortable sending their children back to campus.

Blended Learning

This is the model we opened with in September 2020. This model combines aspects of the faceto-face model with coordinated online experiences. When teachers and students are together (on campus), they will take advantage of the opportunities for synchronous learning, advising, coaching, mentoring, and other aspects of the learning experience that are best done in person. When students must be home due to population density restrictions, made necessary to reduce exposure of the virus to our community, they will continue their learning through asynchronous assignments, which will promote agency and self-reflection.

Distance Learning

This is the model our community experienced in the final months of the 2019-2020 school year, where the ASD campus was required to close by the Dubai authorities. Students attend school virtually through the school’s online learning platforms, and toggle between synchronous and asynchronous lessons, activities, and meetings. While there are structures in place, and students will continue to collaborate online, it will not be at the same frequency as when they are in school. This model is dictated by the requirement to close campus due to elevated safety conditions in Dubai or due to a potential outbreak of illness in our community. ASD’s improved distance learning model takes into account reflections from lessons learned over the past year-and-a-half.