Blended learning – education reimagined and revented

 

Mrs J Au-Young

 

Pandemic disruption to learning worldwide has been an opportunity to reimagine and revitalise education. As forward-looking educators, we should take this chance to further our efforts to reinvent education by training teachers, bridging the digital divide, and rethinking our current curriculum to equip our students with the skills and knowledge that meet the future needs to flourish in our rapidly changing world. The Covid-19 period has given our school, WFJLPS, the opportunity to introduce our students to different areas of the world without leaving the classroom! Now, more than ever, it is essential to utilise digital resources to transform our young learners into global citizens of the 21^st century.

 

In November and December, our Primary 4 Blended Learning Project provided students with the opportunity to try out various learning strategies and to make global connections with primary age students in Korea and Japan via Zoom! Blended learning involves a combination of online and offline active, engaged learning providing students with more control over the time, place, pace, and path of their learning. They experienced different modes of learning and teaching which provided them with ample opportunities to read, write, listen, and speak in a fun way!

 

The experience of making global connections through all these precious virtual exchanges, enabled our Primary 4 students to have an intimate glimpse into the daily classroom routines, habits, and cultures of people living thousands of miles away in an authentic English manner. In return, our students introduced our Hong Kong culture to our friends from afar! Both sides wrote on Padlet Walls responding to each other’s comments in a genuine and sincere way. Students were very excited and motivated to participate in this culture exchange.

 

This unique online classroom experience wasn’t just fun. The global connections that were made by the participating students increased cultural understanding and acceptance within our school community, diversified the breadth of their academic knowledge and greatly improved their speaking skills in terms of learning a second language (as well as the speaking skills of their Japanese and Korean counterparts).

 

At the end of the project our teachers and their Korean and Japanese friends exchanged lovely and meaningful cards and gifts with one another. We are grateful for their kindness, and the thoughts and efforts they made to make the project a success.  We wish them all merriment and bliss in these challenging times!

 

Last but not least, this project highlighted the accuracy of George Couros’ words:

 

‘Technology will not replace great teachers, but technology in the hands of great teachers can be transformational!’

 

Thank you.