Digital Learning Strategy 2020

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

The objective of our Digital Learning Strategy is the thoughtful and innovative integration of high quality face-to-face teaching with online digital practices to deliver a flexible and personalised learning experience for our students.

1. Learning Management

System

With the successful introduction of KingsNet, the School’s communication platform, this year, in particular, has provided our academic leaders with the opportunity to reflect on the effectiveness of iLearn as the platform for delivering academic classes and resources, both during the distance learning phase (asynchronous) earlier in the year and in face-to-face teaching (synchronous) in our classrooms. The School has identified that a key objective in the successful delivery of digital resources to our students is the consolidation of these resources on to the one platform. For this reason, the decision was made to move to Canvas, a Learning Management System in use by schools and universities in Australia and around the world. Canvas is supported by a huge community of users and continues to grow in response to the needs of its users. The School has provided academic staff with Professional Learning opportunities throughout Term 3 and 4 to develop Canvas skills and to begin to develop Canvas courses. Facilitated by external trainers (experienced teachers) from Canvas, staff worked through the types of opportunities and challenges that are typically encountered in the first few weeks of going live in this system with students. The aim of the professional learning opportunities was for teachers and administrators to build depth of knowledge and experience in using a range of features in Canvas and importantly, establish a common baseline of knowledge across the campuses. Delivered as a series of hands-on sessions with facilitated discussion, teachers and administrators became familiar with and confident in the fundamentals of Canvas specifically related to content delivery and assessing with Canvas. In addition to the two formal Professional Learning days, the Canvas@Kings Project Team offered a series of drop in sessions for individual staff or Departments to hone their Canvas skills.

Feedback from academic staff has been extremely positive. Several faculties in the Senior School have already started to deliver their Canvas courses to students; from Term 4 2020, all Year 11 students will have transitioned from iLearn to Canvas to ensure consistency (throughout 2020 and 2021). From the start of the 2021 academic year, all other Senior School students will also transition to Canvas. The Canvas@Kings Project Team worked with each Deputy Head/ Director – Academics, and in the Senior School each Head of Department as well, to design an implementation strategy suited to their specific needs. The School is confident that the transition to Canvas will provide many benefits to students across the Senior School, Prep School and Tudor House.

2. Textbooks

With the introduction of Canvas as the School-wide Learning Management System, the School now has the opportunity to consolidate its digital resources on to the one platform. In the Senior School, the decision has been made to transition from Campion to Box of Books, an Australian owned company at the forefront of digital learning. There are many advantages for the School, academic staff and students in moving to digital textbooks. Box of Books integrates seamlessly with Canvas, enabling Senior School students to have access to their complete suite of digital textbooks within Canvas, thus allowing us to consolidate digital textbook resources into the Canvas platform. Other benefits of digital textbooks include:

• Textbooks can be downloaded instantly; this ensures that students have access to the resources they require anywhere and anytime and on any device • Digital textbooks are cost effective when compared with print copies • Flexibility; resources can be instantly exchanged when students change subjects or level

• Sustainable; digital resources support sustainability, reduce waste and lower resource consumption • Ergonomic; students do not have to carry multiple print textbooks in their backpack each day • Currency; once a textbook has become digital, it can updated regularly providing academic staff and students with access to the most current version

• The option of a blended model with a combination of digital textbooks and print textbooks, if needed

3. Online resources

All Academic Departments are using various online resources to also support the learning in the classroom. Education Perfect https://epforlearning.com and Edrolo https://edrolo.com.au are just two examples being used. Atomi https://getatomi.com/au has now been implemented for Year 11 and 12 courses. These products, and others, are designed to make learning, engaging and effective, blending content and excellent pedagogy to further enhance teaching and learning experiences.

Entering the online learning space was initially daunting for both staff and students as we sought to replicate the unique aspects of teaching that normally take place within the physical classroom. Although this feat proved to be very difficult, it did offer the opportunity to harness the capability of the school’s new LMS, Canvas, to ensure that all students were receiving the best lessons possible. To this end, we focussed on creating interactive experiences for students that would move beyond conventional online learning. This included creating interactive worksheets and games, as well as using Zoom features to create a drop-in desk for teacher assistance. Indeed, it was through having to use Zoom for distance learning that we realised its potential within the physical classroom where it has subsequently been used to connect classes and facilitate team teaching as well as whole Year group lectures. The recording of these Zoom lectures is another positive outcome – by recording and uploading them to Canvas, we are able to ensure that students who are absent do not miss out.

Sonya Harper Co-Head of English

In Visual Arts, Canvas provides us a way of seamlessly integrating a range of engaging activities and resources into our teaching and learning programs. It provides Visual Arts students with core content, whilst still allowing for teacher customisation, based on the needs and interests of their individual classes. Year 12 Geography staff and students have seamlessly integrated Canvas into their daily teaching and learning. Adaptability, being the flavour of this year, has meant that we have quickly embraced change for the better. We have together recognised the high quality learning management system that Canvas is, and that is has the potential of being just so. Like a new language, we are working through all the intricacies and moving parts and are striving towards finding an appropriate hybrid between how we traditionally teach and use this powerful LMS tool.

Brendan Stewart Head of Geography

The School is committed to ensuring its students have access to the very best educational resources and we believe that the transition from iLearn to Canvas, and Campion to Box of Books, will provide students with improved learning experiences, both in and out of the classroom. The concept of blended learning is seen as a set of strategies to leverage the best elements of face-to-face and online learning to provide students with a personalised and learner centred environment. Blended learning, commonly referred to as “hybrid” learning, aims at providing students with the opportunity to enjoy the both traditional and modern methods of learning, emphasising interactive, flexible and self-directed learning. The move to Canvas supports this learning well and underpins the way our staff teach and our students learn, now and in the future.