COVID-19 School Strategy
As I write this (August 2020) the state of Victoria in Australia has gone into Stage 4 lockdown due to a COVID-19 second wave and many educational facilities are now revisiting their COVID-19 School Strategy. In this article we are going to talk about how an Online Education Platform is a very smart part of any COVID-19 School Strategy for those in Victoria, the rest of Australia or anywhere in the world.
COVID-19 School Strategy – What is an Online Education Platform?
An Online Education Platform is a website that is specifically built to deliver education content and should be a part of any COVID-19 School Strategy. That could be for a School, a University, a Technical Colleague or a Private Educator.
An Online Education Platform covers the continuance element of a COVID-19 School Strategy. Yes the COVID-19 School Strategy addresses how to deal with outbreaks, minimising risk etc, but how do you keep your education at the same standard as face to face learning when you are not allowed to be face to face?
COVID-19 School Strategy – How to create an Online Education Platform?
In our other articles we covered how to create a Online Education Platform and include it in your COVID-19 School Strategy. For the clarity we will repeat and expand on that here.
- Build a Online Training Platform. You will need a developer who is “up to speed” with this technology to do this. Alternatively we can build it for you and hand over the keys, or build it and maintain it for you – think of it like a lease on a house.
- Once you have your platform built, we need to get the high level structure right. The high level structure is number of macro groups, eg year 7, year 8, year 9, year 10. Then the number of subjects, then the number of classes and frequency. This becomes part of the assessment framework.
- Load content. Content can either be static or live-stream content.
- Build quizzes/assessments/essays
- Build certificates.
- Test, test, test
- Load students
- Start educating via your Online Training Platform.
- Review modify, review modify etc etc etc
The nine steps above have been simplified and for larger institutions it can become fairly complex, however you are not alone. We will hold your hand through the process.
COVID-19 School Strategy – Why is this important?
Let’s build a scenario. Lets say that you run a School in densely populated capital city. There are 5 million people in your city and 35 schools in a 20km radius all with over 400 students.
An infectious mosquito like insect has been found to be breading in the trees in the area. The insect is immune to pesticides so is close to impossible to control. These insects are responsible for spreading infection amongst the 5 million people of your city. When someone is infected they must stay indoors for 2-4 weeks to prevent being bitten again. They are fine, just cannot be bitten again as that can prove fatal. As a result your school (and the other 34 in your area) is open, then closed, then open then closed. Its for the best of the students, however you know their education is going to be impacted. You need to continue their education, as you can’t make the whole school repeat a year. This is not something that is going to be finished in 6 weeks, this cycle could go on for years until this pest is finally eradicated. You’re the decision maker, what are you going to do?
What is the solution – the solution is you build a COVID-19 School Strategy that includes a distance or Online education element. A Online Education element that mirrors your normal face to face classroom education. You know it will take some time to get used to but it is the responsible thing and more importantly, the safest thing to do for the students and staff. That is why having a Online education facility that mirrors your face to face is important in your COVID-19 School Strategy
How do you get started?
The decision to start is often the hardest part. Simply complete the following form and we will be in touch. Let’s just start talking. Who knows, we might be able to help you just over the phone. We know about Online Training Platforms and you know what your situation is, so lets chat and see if we can come up with some options for you.
Take care.
