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E-learning platforms are playing an important role as schools in Japan close amid coronavirus fears.

By on March 2, 2020

Today starts the month-long unexpected closure of schools in Japan over coronavirus fears.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s sudden move to request all schools to be closed from today through early April to prevent the virus from further spreading in Japan, is testing the mettle of families and educators. Teachers must now figure out how to carry on with lesson plans with no significant interruption. Families are grappling with how to divide time between the longer-than-usual hours with children and work.
The forward-thinking Meyer family from Setagaya whose children, ages 10 and 12, go to an international school, knew the school closure was bound to happen. “We signed up for online classes because we are concerned our children won’t be able to catch up with their school work when schools re-open.”

Given that this is the first sudden school closure in Japan, teachers are faced with challenges in finding the right mix of technological tools and traditional face-to-face classroom setting.

“I had a conversation once with a teacher at my son’s school who didn’t fully understand the value of e-learning. I think this will be more of a necessity for schools as more parents are getting on board. Japan is prone to earthquakes. Schools must think ahead before an epidemic like this happens,” says John Wood, a dad from Yokohama.

Alibaba-owned DingTalk, now the most downloaded free app on iOS App Store, rolled out a classroom setting feature for live-streamed lessons. It enables 300 participants or more including an online testing and grading system. At least 50 million Chinese students from elementary to high school had signed up for its online teaching programs as of Feb. 10, according to the group.

iGroup Mangosteems Pte Ltd‘s BSD’s (Build Something Different) now available to schools and students in Japan, offers 12 digital education solutions to support K-12 learners in the area of S.T.E.E.M.S.(Science, Technology, Engineering, English/Languages, Mathematics and Social Studies). BSD’s curriculum is aligned to US, IB and British academic standards which can be implemented immediately even by teachers new to e-learning platforms. 76% of teachers using BSD online and BSD programs have no technology experience. It has an Engineering program called EIE (Engineering is Elementary) that caters to pre-kindergarten to Grade 12 students. Created by the Museum of Science in Boston, the program has 48 engaging projects to choose from, to support both teachers and children with curricula and professional development for engineering literacy.

E-learning tools give teachers real-time feedback on how a student is engaging with a subject lesson. They can also monitor where students get lost in a lesson.

“If lesson plans are carefully thought out then e-learning from any location shouldn’t disrupt children’s productivity,” says Alicia, a mom of a senior high school student at Tokyo Cosmo Gakuen using DingTalk.

 

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