Agape Love in E-learning Mode
“Students won’t remember your PowerPoint slides but they will remember your kindness, empathy, care and concern.”
Urbon Teacher
Introduction
Every year brings new surprises, some pleasant and some otherwise. This year, the entire world was unfortunately struck by a pandemic, one which we are totally unprepared for. As COVID-19 struck and spread globally, many countries were on lockdown down mode, including the current Singapore situation.
Agape Children – An IT-Savvy Lot!
Technology has become an integral part of our society, including preschools. According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (2012), the use of technology in preschools “provides one more outlet for them (children) to demonstrate their creativity and learning.”
In Agape Little Uni, technological tools, interactive media and applications are no strangers to our children. Thanks to the teachers who have embraced technology in their teaching and engagement of children in the classroom. Our children have been reading digital stories from the “getepic” application, which provides a wide range of storybooks and audiobooks. Our children research on the termly inquiry topics using the web. They create their own puppet shows using an application called “Play Theater”, where they record their voices as they move the “puppets” on screen. The appropriate use of technology and media enhance our teachers’ daily instructions for children’s learning and engagement.
In retrospect, the above background work has enabled us to plunge safely into E-Learning for our children during this Circuit Breaker period, without which, would have rendered us in a state of paralysis.
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Vision, Foresight of our CEO and Directors
Fortunately, with the foresight of our capable CEO and Directors, Agape was well prepared for the Home-based Learning Programme, way before the implementation of the Circuit Breaker. It all began in January 2020, when our CEO, Dr Connie Seah-Lim, sensed the impending lockdown in Singapore. She spearheaded the creation of home-based learning kits and E-learning videos. Currently, armed with 550 E-Learning videos and home-based learning kits, we are fortified against the school closure.
Our scheduled lessons are streamed through “ZOOM”, a video conferencing platform, where our children continue with their lessons on-line. By the same means, our class teachers connect face-to-face with each child and his/her family on a weekly basis to address possible concerns.
Feedback from the Parents
Parents are appreciative towards the management’s effort for providing, within such short notice, good educational, and entertaining videos for their children. Parents have enjoyed watching the videos with their children. They are positive and supportive of our online learning programme. In view of the fact that most of them are working from home, they make time to help their children connect online for learning with their friends and teachers. They treasure such moments where their children could interact with friends and teachers and be engaged in active learning, simultaneously
A Thunderous Round of Applause for Agape Teachers
We wish to record a note of heartfelt gratitude to the many Agape principal and teachers who had sacrificed their afterschool hours and precious weekends, from January this year, to create the above-said videos and home learning kits. Upon receiving the urgent “prophetic” vision from our CEO and Directors, they immediately took to action without hesitation, putting their heart, soul, and mind to the tasks. Considering they are non-professionals in this field of acting, filming, and editing, they have done tremendously well. They deserve our thunderous applause!
The question remains: How did they succeed in this humongous task within such short notice? It is beyond human comprehension, if not for the fact that it stems from Agape’s core foundation, which is LOVE, SACRIFICIAL LOVE. The power of love for the children, for one another, and for Agape Little Uni has enabled Agape teachers to wrought such commendable results! Love is a commitment. We aspire for parents and children to believe in us, and trust that we are here for them. Hence, we cannot fail them in this crisis.
