Namya Joshi, Grade VIII Satyan and Monica Joshi, IT Head, Sat Paul Mittal School were invited as panelists at Virtual Asia Berlin Summit on 22nd September, 2020 for Fireside Chat: Tech & Schooling: The sudden impact of COVID-19 on educational systems, technological preparedness and parents having to become teachers. Sean Tierney- Director, K-12 Education Strategy, Asia – Microsoft, Matija – The Paradigm Effect from Australia and Derk Marseille- Moderator were also a part of the Virtual Summit.
Namya Joshi, a Minecraft Whiz, opined that the COVID-19 pandemic was a huge challenge to the education systems. She shared her work on Minecraft and what she had done during Lockdown. She further added that she wasn’t limiting herself to Minecraft only but also working on other applications such as Graphic Designing, Python, etc. She told that it’s important to manage time effectively. During lockdown, kids should not waste time by playing games when they could learn new things (art, craft, etc). Namya Joshi stated that this Pandemic had challenged us to take a leap.
Monica Joshi, an SDG Enthusiast, an MIEE, discussed of using Minecraft in school. When asked how she thought of using Minecraft in school, she said that Minecraft was a game-based learning that helped students work on several important skills including critical thinking. Moreover, during the pandemic, it’s a big challenge to engage and involve students since they were the ones most affected. She asserted that the teachers have to be motivated to bring out competency of the students by bringing changes in the lesson delivery and teaching style. The lessons should be delivered in such a way that the students could understand and learn properly. She further added that it is very important for teachers to talk the language that children understand easily.
The other panelists discussed how schools must be well prepared to adapt to long term use of digital learning that had played an important role during the unprecedented Covid times. This event that brought together a host of virtual panelists from world over was held offline as well.