As schools close due to Covid-19, teachers and students at Orbital schools across the globe have moved seamlessly from the physical classroom to online learning overnight ensuring no gap in their student’s education.
Three years ago, Orbital invested in a state-of-the–art, robust Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) for their schools to enable smooth communication between teachers and students and to enhance learning by offering a powerful tool to implement blended learning. Today, in our quickly changed world, it has proven to a critical resource enabling all the Orbital schools to transition teaching and learning from the classroom to the online environment.
Zsófia Alibaux-Jakab, Orbital’s Group eLearning Manager said "Orbital’s VLE has been the ideal platform in this unprecedented situation and it was ready for us to deploy full time to our students immediately. As our teachers and students use it all the time it has made the transition even easier and ensured that our students are able to receive continuous education seamlessly.”
For the past two months, in China, Britannica International School, Shanghai has been using the VLE platform for distance learning receiving extremely positive feedback from parents and students alike. Principal David Goodwin said, “our students have been able to continue their education from the moment the schools in China closed. The platform is so versatile it has enabled students to be as engaged in their online learning as they are in the classroom and has brought a lot of relief to parents who were concerned that their children might miss out.”
As other schools in the Orbital group have then subsequently been forced to close, they have been able to easily follow the processes already deployed in Shanghai enabling them to deliver the best educational experience to their students.
Zsófia said “The Orbital VLE makes e-learning simple. It keeps everything in one place, enhances the learning experience and provides valuable tools for teachers to enable blended learning. Teachers can also gamify their courses with badges and give online lessons via the conferencing tool, which is invaluable in times of remote learning. For students, the Orbital VLE makes all materials available anywhere, they can quickly and easily access their grades, read and write comments, participate in discussions and use the calendar to get organized.
It also allows students to learn at their own pace, to review materials, presentations and videos at any time, to create content by editing class pages and recording videos. It puts the learning into the hands of the learner and allows for differentiation by choice and enhances leadership skills."
David Pottinger CEO of Orbital said ", from a group of bricks and mortar schools, Orbital has become, overnight, a global e-learning organisation. Our VLE, globally accessible to teachers and students wherever they are, gives us the unrivalled ability to share expertise and build collaboration as we move from the physical to the virtual classroom. Providing the best learning experience to our students is at the heart of what we do, and Orbital’s VLE has certainly supported that mission, particularly at this time.”
