When SARS hit Hong Kong:
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Facing this crisis, the ability and willingness to collaborate was more key than ever. Our school had a limited web presence that relied upon the abilities of only a few teachers who had an understanding of how to use complex web page writing software such as Dreamweaver and FrontPage-- a reality that made us embrace very excitedly web-based virtual learning environment providing tools like Moodle and our own myDragonNet (CMS, Portfolios and Curriculum Mapping) in the years following SARS.
Issues: Cyber-safety, Privacy and more
During SARS, we needed to bring students to an understanding of their responsible use of our shared web spaces, and cyber-safety protocols. The faculty became more clear about the difference between free web sites with obnoxious advertising and the protected and professionally edited resources of online databases. We discovered and addressed new issues of privacy. Our clientele were high profile celebrities, diplomats and government officials in Hong Kong, and we all felt concerned that conducting school virtually must not endanger any of its participants. Virtual school trained me to look for how to provide password protection for the work students share in blogs, at wikis, and in their forum discussions. In addition, we became careful consumers of what's free on the Web. We would have loved using Virtual School to engage the kids in typing practice, but as the free sites for typing tutorials are replete with ads for dating services, we quickly learned that "free" could have its costs.
SARS eventually came to pass, but what threatened Asia next was an outbreak of Avian Flu, and our efforts (this time, proactive) never ceased. Virtual Schooling had a profound effect on the skills and awareness of web resources that our faculty possessed. We learned first hand the pros and cons of learning digitally. We were fortunate that a sense of "community" was already solid in April, and that we could anticipate the extra challenge this type of learning would present to our struggling readers and typers. A wonderful discovery we made was that our online interactions with students gave voice to the students who are often quiet in the back of the room. How alive they became in the literature circle discussions we posted online! And they were excited because they could scroll through lots of postings and select the topics that motivated them the most to discuss matters deeply. We followed virtual school with a fantastic new set of services for our gifted and talented students that made creative new uses of the web for program delivery. Without a doubt, appetites were whetted and we all had a healthier appreciation for both the promises and the limitations of web-based learning. Thus, we continued to challenge ourselves to learn about the ways the web could help us for crisis management, but there was also a newfound excitement of its uses for everyday coursework. The library and its teacher-librarian became more heavily involved in providing students and their teachers resources and lessons for learning in the 21st century. |