PERU - Amid school closures necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Saint Bede Academy has launched a robust E-Learning program to support students from grades 9-12.
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PERU - Amid school closures necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Saint Bede Academy has launched a robust E-Learning program to support students from grades 9-12. “Our teachers and students have been working diligently to continue the learning process,” commented Michelle Mershon, Saint Bede Principal. “I truly believe that character is judged during difficult times and that the character of St. Bede Academy will be strengthened by what our community is contributing.”
The E-Learning plan was 12 months in the making. Originally designed to be used during snow/emergency days in order to not have to use extra days at the end of the year, faculty at Saint Bede have trained and refined the use of multiple online platforms in order to effectively communicate and teach students remotely.
E-Learning officially began on March 17 in conjunction with Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s mandated school closures. In advance of the launch and in order to prepare students, the administrative team and teachers held practice days using the online formats on the last few days of student attendance.
Some examples of E-Learning in practice include use of Google Classroom for discussions, assignments and assessments and face-to-face lessons via Zoom, an online meeting tool. ESL instructors Nicole Wiltse and Lindsey Olivero-Gong regularly utilize WeChat and SnapChat to converse with Saint Bede’s international students for lessons.
After the first week and at the teachers request, a schoolwide E-Learning master schedule was established to eliminate conflicts and allow teachers to meet with their classes at coordinated times to allow discussions, questions and engagement to continue as much as possible. The collegiality of the faculty and their flexibility to continue their commitment to learning and with the leadership of Mershon has allowed education to continue during these unprecedented times.
Even P.E. classes have gone virtual with students using their phone cameras or webcams to upload videos of them doing their daily exercise. P.E. instructor, Coach Samuel Allen, said, “I think all of us are having a lot of fun with this on the P.E. side of things. I even have some students giving better effort in their calisthenics on video than they do in the gymnasium!”
Computer science instructor Rick Fess explained what some students in his E-Learning classes are doing. “A neat thing some students are doing is allowing their home computer to do calculations for protein folding https://foldingathome.org/. This technique is called distributed computing. It’s when many computers share resources to solve complex mathematical tasks. This helps researchers solve problems when developing vaccines. So, these students are actually simulating research to find a vaccine for Covid-19.”
For more information about Saint Bede Academy visit www.st-bede.com, e-mail tmcgunn@st-bede.com or call (815) 223-3140.