The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has had a cataclysmic impact on all areas of life including education and learning. At Mount Litera Zee School, we consider this a challenge and we certainly love challenges! These difficult times have helped bring out the best in us. It has helped us realise our technical potential, besides acquainting us with the fact that quality education is not confined to the four walls of a classroom and can be accessed from any corner of the world. We only need a resolute will to do so. Mount Literans and their parents have proved that education goes beyond books and schools. It’s all about a person’s state of mind. They have been very supportive of our e-learning initiative and we are proud of them.”
– Manjot Dhillon, director of the CBSE affiliated Mount Litera Zee School, Amritsar – Punjab’s top ranked co-ed day school.
A part of one of the fastest growing chain of K-12 institutions in India with more than 83 schools in 70 cities across the country, Mount Litera Zee School (MLZS), Amritsar has been in the vanguard of technological revolution in education over the past decade. Amid the ongoing nationwide lockdown that has disrupted regular schooling, MLZS Amritsar staff and management have been working in tandem to create an engaging virtual school, the first-of-its-type in the Doaba region. The seven-step strategy chalked out by the school to ensure continuity in the teaching-learning process during these testing times includes:
Implementing ideas: The idea stemmed from the use of digital technologies for official and personal use. Since the school staff and management were already using virtual tools for formal and individual exchanges, they were convinced that with proper planning, training and execution, these could be utilised effectively for academic purposes too. So, with the goal of ensuring continuity in learning for students, the school started with Skype classes.
Specifying the scope: The e-learning facility caters only to students from kindergarten through class X who are on the school’s academic rolls, and has a specified structure and schedule in accordance with the needs of each class. Although the virtual learning initiative was designed initially only for class X students considering their board exams were just around the corner, the success of the initiative encouraged the school management to scale it up further to include all classes from kindergarten upwards.
Employing e-learning tools: Besides Skype, the school uses Google Meet and Google Classroom, which are designed specifically for teachers and students and enable teachers and students to interact with each other through live videos, send and submit assignments online, besides granting them access to archived videos on different topics, et al. Each student is required to join the Google Classroom through which they can access their assignments.
Scheduling sessions: The school has formulated e-learning schedules for each class, which includes live video lectures through Google Meet, allotment and submission of assignments and disbursal of students’ work duly assessed by the teachers through Google Classroom, at the stipulated time.
Allocating academic assets: The initiative required creation of e-learning resources for each class, which was successfully executed by the highly qualified teachers in collaboration with the school’s strong team of IT experts.
Training educators: Teachers were trained in the usage of e-learning tools by the school’s in-house IT specialists, apart from attending online training sessions with master trainers from Microsoft Google.
Tackling technicalities: A team of well experienced technical overseers was appointed to provide assistance to teachers and students to help with any technical problem during the virtual learning sessions.
“The parents and students have been very supportive of our e-learning initiative. This is evident from the fact that none of our students have missed even a single virtual class and are very enthusiastic about and regular with their assignments. Needless to say its impact and results have been substantial and the initiative has been a roaring success,” says Dhillon.
Parent voices:
Posted in CampusMLZS truly deserves an accolade for being triumphant with online classes for our children. My son looks forward to the interactive session with his teachers from Monday to Friday. We must say that the school fraternity has been working earnestly and diligently in achieving this huge success. We wish them good luck in their endeavour.
– Tanya and Sachin Khanna, parents of Vinayak Khanna, Grade 6
I cannot describe my contentment with the school for the mammoth task they have undertaken to conduct online classes from kindergarten to class 10. Their fervour, diligence and persistence truly deserves an applause. Each member of the school, starting from the director Mrs Dhillon, the digital coordinators, teachers are all rendering full time support and harmonising the process perfectly. My salute to them for helping us through this journey in a commendable way!
–Annie Kapoor, parent of Zidan Kapoor, Grade 3
