Coronavirus: PASCAL Schools Larnaka Adopt Hybrid E-Learning Classrooms

Public health is of utmost importance during this uncertain and challenging time, with the Republic of Cyprus’ Health Ministry closing schools until after the Easter break as a precautionary measure against the Coronavirus.

With absences from schools affecting learning across the nation, and with the necessity to continue to meet students’ needs in order to effectively prepare them for forthcoming local, national and international examinations, PASCAL Private English School Larnaka and PASCAL Primary School Larnaka have taken proactive measures to ensure students continue to strive in their education, minimising the effects of school closures.

Since the first day of educational establishments shutting down, both PASCAL Larnaka Schools continued to support remote e-learning through the 4Schools platform, for which all teachers received special training after its introduction in 2015. 4Schools is an online digital environment that supports a range of online activities, from tracking students’ attendance to keeping contact with parents, aiding educators’ productivity. Teachers are able to upload a range of educational materials for students to access, supporting the delivery of the school curriculum through website links, audio files, videos and photographs, as well as various document types.

In addition to the use of 4Schools to provide educational materials for students to utilise at home, exam-based subject teachers at PASCAL English School Larnaka are conducting lessons in real time via Zoom© (the leader in modern enterprise video communication, enabling one-to-one and group video calls), Microsoft Teams© (the hub for team collaboration in Office 365) and Skype©, as well as communicating with students via e-mail.

These numerous ways to interact, including the joining of virtual lessons, boosts communication between teachers, students and parents, whilst increasing opportunities for classroom subject discussions through a flexible schedule and environment, with self-paced learning from the comfort of students’ own homes, where they can review course materials repeatedly, learning at their own pace whilst improving independent learning skills through the promotion of self-discipline and responsibility.

PASCAL Schools will continue to promote academic excellence through innovative partnerships with technology companies to ensure their online education takes advantage of all new developments that increase the capacity to learn.

The future of education lies with online learning, and whilst remote teaching is in the initial stages, possibilities are limitless.

 

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.