PenDragon - the official magazine of LCIS PenDragon Vol 6, Summer 2020 | Page 14

IB EDUCATION GOES ONLINE :

The LCIS Virtual Learning Programme

By O ’ Niel Bain , Marketing & Communications Director
For LCIS , the 2019-20 school year began with exciting developments . We welcomed a new Principal , Mr David Mindorff , and had major plans to complete construction on our new , state-of-the-art Upper School campus . No one could have expected what the year had in store . What started out as a typical year for most schools around the world by late winter had turned into a crisis unlike anything most of us alive today have ever experienced .
By September , we had faced an in-country crisis of incredible magnitude with the passing of Hurricane Dorian over the most northerly islands of The Bahamas . The aftereffects of the storm were felt throughout the country , with members of the LCIS community assisting in disaster relief in a wide variety of ways . Yet , while The Bahamas was still recovering from the superstorm , a new challenge arose with the rapid spread of a novel coronavirus that would eventually become a pandemic .
In response , by late February LCIS had performed a review of its technological systems and implemented a risk matrix with guidelines for campus health procedures and potential school closures . With the confirmation of the first case of COVID-19 in The Bahamas on Sunday 15 March , schools throughout the country were officially closed , requiring the conversion to a virtual platform for instructional delivery . the primary tools to deliver LCIS ’ high-quality International Baccalaureate ( IB ) curriculum to students from Preschool to Grade 12 . The programme made use of synchronous and asynchronous instructional delivery methods to maximise student engagement while balancing the need to carefully manage screen time for younger learners .
Understanding
that
what
was
arguably
most
important
during
these uncertain times
was
maintaining
connection ,
school
leaders published a list
of House Challenges
to
supplement
the
VLP and to encourage
students to “ get up
and
go
outside ”.
Government lockdown
measures
permitted
outdoor
exercise ,
so
many
challenges
allowed
students
to
show off their physical
and
athletic
skills ,
while others tapped
into students ’ artistic
and creative abilities .
Virtual assemblies for students and weekly parentto-parent
group meetings were held , and tri-weekly
parent updates were sent out , which included letters
from the Heads of School , counselling and parenting
LCIS launched its Virtual Learning Programme ( VLP ) the next day , tapping into the strong technological foundation the school had built over the past decade . School systems already in use , such as ManageBac ,
SeeSaw , The Portal , Google Suite and Zoom became advice , health tips and other important information . 14