It appears most parents, teachers and students are pleased with how the Lakehead Public School Board is handling on-line learning during COVID-19.
Superintendent AJ Keene tells us they’ve been able to supply over 1,400 laptops to those who need them, as well as cell phones through Tbaytel to rural families.
“We certainly have also heard from families with maybe 3 or 4 kids, and bandwidth is difficult, we’re quite mindful of that. The students I’ve talked to, I’ve got a couple of kids in high school, they’re finding it really good to connect with the teacher,” says Keene.
The Lakehead superintendent adds many students are not too crazy about self-teaching and appreciate at least connecting to others via video. The biggest concern is making sure every student was equipped to learn.
“What we can’t control is how engaged students are in the home, and so we have a number of employee groups working hard on that. Our student support professionals, our grad coaches, as well as teachers, admins, secretaries, are really reaching out to families,” points out the superintendent.
Keene adds the amount of time spent on-line depends on what grade the student is in.
“It’s an hour, a couple of hours a day, max. But we’re really not trying to replicate schools. The activities are very different as well, because you’re not actually being taught, and we’re trying to provide more than just a worksheet for a kid to work on,” adds Keene.
The superintendent adds teachers provide instructional videos, as well as links to activities and websites for parents to choose from.
As for whether this can be compared to on-line learning the province and teachers’ unions were discussing during contract talks, he says this isn’t on-line learning, it’s remote learning, during a pandemic. It’s not meant to replicate an on-line course, where you would finish a program in a certain amount of time with self-teaching and videos.
