EAST CENTRAL — The North East School Division (NESD) is developing a full curriculum that can be applied to distance learning if necessary.
“We’ll have the ability to move between online curriculums and face-to-face instruction in developing the online presence and modules, so that we have resources connected to all the curricular outcomes and students can move at a more independent pace,” said Don Rempel, director of education for the NESD.
“We’ve going to have a common platform for K-4 students and families when they’re working online, and another platform for Grades 5-12 in the fall.”
For Kindergarten to Grade 4 students, the platform chosen is Google Classroom. For Grades 5 to 6, it’s Moodle.
Rempel said they are hopeful that the majority of students will be able to safely attend small classrooms, but for students who can’t attend classrooms the NESD will have a “rigorous” online support system.
“Of course, as Minister Wyant said, we’ll have to see what September brings,” Rempel said. “But certainly we do think we’ll have face-to-face instruction or a blended model where we have most of our students in the school most of the time.”
For face-to-face learning, Rempel said the division is planning longer classes for the higher grades.
“We’re going to move to block scheduling so students have longer periods of learning time when they’re in school, so two two hour periods in a day and a one hour classroom period, so then the highschool student would only be connected with three teachers instead of five.”
Under this new program, credits will be obtained four times a year, equaling ten credits.
“They only have to work on two credits at a time, and then a third that will run a semestered class.
The NESD is awaiting provincial regulations for what busing will look like for the fall.
“Students of the same family can of course sit in the same seat, and students from other families will probably need to have distancing requirements on the bus,” Rempel said. “We may also want to encourage families to provide their own transportation when the means are available.”
