Teacher's PETs

The coronavirus known as CoViD-19 has been recently declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a global pandemic. WHO defines pandemic as a worldwide spread of a new disease for which most people do not have immunity.

One of the measures that the Hong Kong government has done to minimize the spread of the virus is to suspend classes.

Our Information Technology Expert, Mr Peter Chan is well-prepared for such a scenario and has helped provide solutions to move all classroom learning online.

Mr Chan’s PETs on: Online Learning

This school year has been rocked by some unusual difficulties, most recent of which is the spread of the coronavirus. However, we, at YPICA Lee Lim Ming College, are always ready to face any challenge with a positive attitude.

During the class suspension period students have a lot of downtime that should be spent for learning, so how do we achieve the goal of "suspending classes without suspending learning"?

Learning at home cannot fully replace classroom learning. However, we can make good use of diverse online and electronic resources so that students can continue their studies at home during the class suspension period.

Here, I would like to introduce some of the eLearning resources that we are currently using in different classes, depending on their needs.

Zoom (http://zoom.us) Put simply, Zoom is like the video chat for learning. Zoom unifies cloud video conferencing, simple online meetings, and cross platform group chat into one easy-to-use application. With few technical problems and fair pricing, Zoom is considered as one of the best options for online learning.

Microsoft Teams (http://team.microsoft.com) Microsoft Teams is Microsoft's challenger to Google Drive. This powerful education tool set promises better learning outcomes and provides teachers with time-saving tools for planning and assignments. Students get to build the skills they need for success with tools and apps that improve creativity, communication, and collaboration, empowering them in their online learning. However, this does not come cheap. In order to use the administor-level service, the users must have the Office 365 license.

Google Classroom (http://classroom.google.com) Enter Google Classroom, a robust tool in the G Suite for Education. It helps teachers create and organize assignments quickly, provide feedback efficiently, and easily communicate with their classes. You can easily integrate the Google resources and tools in the Google Classroom like Google Docs, Google Slides, and even Google Drive. Best of all, these are all free to use!

Google Forms (http://google.com/forms) Although Google Forms can be integrated into Google Classroom, the feature can stand on its own as a teaching tool. Teachers can quickly create accessible worksheets, quizzes and tests using Google Forms. The forms are compatible across all devices like PCs, Mac Computers, Android, and iOS devices. It comes with a complete set of form features from dropdown menus to linear scales. The answer key feature allows teachers to automatically mark and grade tests.

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Besides these tools we can use, we must remember that the key to success is always the self-discipline. Take advantage of the technology but do not forget to read more and practise more because only we can help ourselves.