'Distance learning has developed resilience for students'
Frederick T. Hill, head of school at Chadwick International, speaks during an interview held in his office in Songdo, Incheon, April 28. / Courtesy of Chadwick International
Educator speaks of proper function of online teaching
By Kim Jae-heun
Chadwick International is among the first schools in the country that started distance learning due to the COVID-19 outbreak that took hold here from late January.
On Feb. 6, the 19th patient confirmed with the virus visited Songdo Hyundai Premium Outlet in Incheon, and all the schools in the city were ordered to close.
Korean schools were on vacation at the time, so they were not pressed to immediately come up with online education strategies.
However, the American international school had begun its second semester a month earlier and the school faculty had three days to gather materials and start online classes with students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.
“We started off spending hours and hours creating videos and screencasts for students to access each day,” Frederick T. Hill, head of school at Chadwick International, said during an interview with The Korea Times, Tuesday. “We then moved towards more live teaching using Zoom. It was very challenging at the start.”
The problem didn't lie with older students, who had a more advanced level of independence in their schoolwork. It was the younger ones in the pre-kindergarten level, whose parents had to be more involved with the school's distance learning system.
“There is no way a four-year-old can do it without his or her parents. Parents had to get involved and if two parents are working, it makes it even harder,” Hill said.
Parents had divided opinions about the school having them involved in distance learning as some of them could not fully participate in this new system due to working commitments. Others liked the idea that their children could continue their educational programs and wanted the school to provide even more engagement via the platform.
Surveys of and feedback from parents helped the school to adjust and offer better educational options.
As a result, the school has been able to balance screen time with other activities for students. In elementary school, teachers instruct students to do their work with pencil and paper then upload a photo, rather than working problems out on the screen. This is because different age groups have different attention spans.
“Close communication with parents is critical in distance learning. We were fortunate to have wonderful parents supporting our educational approach and mission. We send Sunday evening emails to middle school and upper school students and parents that outline the schedule and learning objectives for the week,” Hill said.
This helps the parents see the progress their children are making toward their learning objectives even though lessons may look very different from what they are used to seeing.
Regina Del Carmen, a kindergarten math teacher at Chadwick International in Incheon, holds an online class as part of the school's distance learning system, April 28. / Courtesy of Chadwick International
The school also hosted meetings with parents online and saved time for live Q&As.
“This has been really fulfilling from our perspective because we get to interact in real time with our families and work through some of the challenges we are facing together,” Hill added.
Recreating Chadwick's style of offline education in their online content has been another big task.
“We had to learn, sort of teaching methodology ― how do you actually engage students in discussion, how do you engage students in collaborative work, when in fact they are all in their own apartment as opposed to sitting in the classroom,” Hill said.
“What do they have access to now that they didn't have before? Their apartment, their kitchen and their parents. So we've given them projects to do that are more based on their home where they can figure things out at home, which they can never do here,” Hill said.
In this context, the headmaster believes distance learning has provided an opportunity for his students to develop resilience, creativity, critical thinking and independence.
“Of course, this is not the situation that we had ever wished. However, everyone had to jump in and there has been tremendous sharing amongst faculty of what works well and what doesn't work. We are learning an amazing amount and we will bring some of them back in the campus because we've learned something good in any case,” Hill said.
It has not been decided when the government will reopen schools, but Chadwick International has already started preparing to welcome back students and school faculty with the safest measures possible in place.
A number of Korean firms have adopted the system where their employees take turns working from either home or the office.
Hill said this will not be the case for his school. He wants all of his students to come to the campus and they will be studying while practicing social distancing in some form. For example one idea under consideration is installing plastic partitions in the school's cafeteria to help keep distance between students during lunch time.
“We have not come up with the final plan. But we are moving forward with preparations by collaborating with an outside consultant, assembling an internal taskforce, working with our faculty on various reopening scenarios, and following closely on the guidelines from the Ministry of Education and Incheon Office of Education,” Hill said. “Education is important but health and safety of the society comes before it.”
This year, the school celebrates its 10th anniversary. Unfortunately, Chadwick International was forced to cancel many of its celebratory events and programs.
But despite these challenges, students and faculty are sticking to the school's motto of “Lead by example” to take responsible actions in the local community.
Students pulled together a school-wide COVID-19 fundraising drive and teachers created face protectors from 3D printers to donate. One of the student clubs also collected hand sanitizer to donate to a local community organization.
“These are wonderful life skills. We have actually launched a program called Fifty Skills for the Future,” Hill said.