The Online Switch

Freddy Beck Staff Reporter and Donna AbouNasr Assistant Website Manager, The Pawprint 

Due to the increase in the Covid-19 outbreak in the UAE, schools are being shut down and switching to an online format of teaching. 

Here is what a day will look like:

• Each morning students will be expected to sign in with their homeroom teachers between 7:40 and 8:40. 
• Teachers will post assignments and resources for their classes on google classroom for their students, and will be available to offer any help needed online during normal school hours. 
• Most classes will have online video calls with their teacher at least once a week depending on the class. 
• This leaves a lot of responsibility to the students to work on their own education, however there will be assignments and small assessments to test understanding of students which will count as a minor grade. 

The teachers have assured the students that the minors would not be majorly difficult and will minimally affect their grades. It is just there to make sure they are understanding the concepts being taught and will be shorter than most minors because they have now become weekly. 

This is not only extra work for students, however, a few teachers have said that they would record themselves going over presentations to explain each section in more depth and to help the students learn the materials. 

Spring break is now from the 8th of March to the 21st of March 2020 and the online learning will start on the 22nd of March 2020.

Update Day two of online learning March 23 2020:

Today is the second day of online learning at DAA. Students are following their regular schedules and are expected to do work during class time, and most classes are doing online video classes with students using Zoom. 

Some students are finding this new arrangement preferable to traditional schooling, while others prefer going to school. 

So far online schooling seems to be overall successful.