At our school we have had to teach online ni two different periods during school years 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. The students were not allowed to come to school between March 2020 and the summer holiday and had to follow all their lessons via MS Teams. This tool was used because at our school we are in a complete Microsoft electronical environment. In September s schools opened again but within a few week students were send home again to be taught online. From November on all lessons were online again. Only exam class students were allowed to come to school for their lessons. After Christmas classes were split up into two of three groups. One of the groups was allowed to come to school, while the students in the other group(s) had to follow he lessons online. The groups intermittently stayed at home of were at school.

The fact that we were able to teach almost all the lessons to almost all the students is of course THE big benefit of online teaching, there are upsides and downsides to the form of teaching:

Benefits of online teaching:

In my opinion the biggest benefit of online teaching is the enhanced internet and ICT skills of the teaching staff. The possibilities of online teaching have become a lot clearer for the teachers. The necessity to use the online teaching tools was an empowering method for teachers who would normally have been a bit hesitant about using ICT possibilities.

This is also the case for students, but their level of ICT skills was already sufficient for these challenging times.

Downside of online teaching:

The responsibility of their education increased substantially for the students. The distant teachers are less in control over the educational process.

Testing is very difficult online. The measures that had to be taken to make sure that the students could be tested fairly and without fraude were almost impossible. The alternative was that the students had to hand in al lot of assignments. This is also not ideal but it is the only way in which teachers can assess their students objectively.

School closure was mandated as part of public efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 from February to May 2020 in our country. During the 20-21 academic year our school was open and all classes were face-to-face. When a student was confined the student follows the lessons by streaming.

• Live-streaming application: Google Meet
• All the professionals and students had appropriate electronic devices to follow the lessons as well as connectivity
• the training of teachers has been fundamental to ensure on-line education
• families and students have clear guidelines for timetables, platform, methodology, qualification of tests etc..

Organizing and monitoring live-streaming lessons

Synchronous live-streaming lessons may be carried out through various devices and applications. It is necessary therefore for teachers to redesign strategies and activities in order to monitor the teaching and learning process. The following four recommendations may be helpful toward this end:

1. Teachers should ask questions frequently during the live streaming lessons in order to find out whether students have mastered the content.
2. Teachers could use a survey website to administer bespoke questionnaires for each class.
3. Teachers should devote time to discussing students’ emotional and psychological state.
4. Teachers can help students check their understanding by creating a checklist with the learning objectives

Due to the spread of Covid 19 in the beginning of 2020, Gymnasieskolan Knut Hahn in Ronneby closed for studies in the school building, in March 2020.

All the students and teachers started to work from home, with distance  learning.The classes were given on Teams, according to the timetable, and the students connected to the lessons. In the beginning it took some time to adapt to this, and both students and teachers had to invent new and creative solutions, to make it work.

After a while it ran more smothly and the attendance at the lessons actually rose from when the students were in school. The distance learning continued until the summer holidays in June, 2020. After the summer the students came back to school, but in November it had to close down again, due to rising of infected persons.

In March 2021 a new procedure took place. Some classes were in school and some studied from home, taking turns different weeks. This worked quite well, but many students were infected at this time and sometimes whole classes had to stay home, due to this.

Now, in August 2021 everyone is back again in school and the intention is to keep it this way, if the situation doesn´t get worse.

The students had different thoughts about the distance learning. For some it worked well. They could concentrate better at home, and got more done. For others it was the other way around. They couldn´t work well on their own or didn´t have anyone at home to support them, Some of them also got social problems due to this and felt sad and alone. Technical problems sometimes made it hard to participate fully.

In spite of this, most students managed to pass the courses and some got even better grades than before.  

We hope the school can stay open now, because it is the best for everybody in the long run!

In the first lockdown schools were closed; instead of lessons, the students got exercises in the different subjects. Depending on the weekly hours of the subjects, the exercises covered smaller or larger themes. Within one week’s time, the students had to hand in their work via computer, as written papers, documents, but also as photos, videos and so on. The teachers corrected the exercises and gave feedback.

At the end of the first lockdown, schools opened, but only half of the class was taught in present, the others had to work on exercises on their own at home.

In the second lockdown, schools were closed again; because of progress in digital teaching the methods changed quite a lot: MS Teams was the medium how the lessons were held. This program has enabled students and teachers to talk, to talk in different ways: one person to another person, one person to a group, … The lessons in fact were much more similar to “normal” lessons in school, but there also were a lot of problems; students didn’t follow the lessons, switched of their screens or micros and so on.

When schools opened again, a new method of teaching took place: half of the class was taught in attendance, the other half was taught via MS Teams.

Advantages of online lessons:

• A huge focus on personal responsibility and independence
• A high knowledge in digital learning and teaching

Disadvantages of online lessons

• Less possibilities for complicate explanations
• More students with learning difficulties and mental problems

In the first lockdown schools were closed; instead of lessons, the students got exercises in the different subjects. Depending on the weekly hours of the subjects, the exercises covered smaller or larger themes. Within one week’s time, the students had to hand in their work via computer, as written papers, documents, but also as photos, videos and so on. The teachers corrected the exercises and gave feedback.

At the end of the first lockdown, schools opened, but only half of the class was taught in present, the others had to work on exercises on their own at home.

In the second lockdown, schools were closed again; because of progress in digital teaching the methods changed quite a lot: MS Teams was the medium how the lessons were held. This program has enabled students and teachers to talk, to talk in different ways: one person to another person, one person to a group, … The lessons in fact were much more similar to “normal” lessons in school, but there also were a lot of problems; students didn’t follow the lessons, switched of their screens or micros and so on.

When schools opened again, a new method of teaching took place: half of the class was taught in attendance, the other half was taught via MS Teams.

Advantages of online lessons:

• A huge focus on personal responsibility and independence
• A high knowledge in digital learning and teaching

Disadvantages of online lessons

• Less possibilities for complicate explanations
• More students with learning difficulties and mental problems