Students have picked up and mastered technological skills in the last two years of online classes. Now, they are not only making their own digital projects for class submissions but in some cases, also helping the schools with their technology needs.
Schools are tapping into the students’ expertise to move more work online.
A few Class XII students at The Heritage School are working to make changes to the school website.
At South City International School, students have designed the school magazine online like a flipbook.
“Their own projects are professional and they have integrated the use of various apps,” said a teacher of a city school.
From e-magazines to making a platform for conducting online voting for school elections, the students’ tech knowledge has come in handy for schools, too.
In several schools, teachers are working with tech assistance from students.
“The students are digital natives who are at home in an online zone. It is much easier for them to migrate to new platforms and try out various things. Teachers are still trying to cope with the
different platforms where they now conduct lessons,” said John Bagul, principal of South City International School.
The school had planned an e-magazine and the students came up with the idea of the flipbook, where they can digitally turn the pages.
Teachers said that two years of online classes gave students time to explore new platforms.
“It is not that the students were wasting their time navigating sites they shouldn’t, like parents suspected. They were learning,” said Bagul.
Some students did free courses on web designing and graphic designing.
“They are coming up with many ideas now. We are asking them to make presentations and some of the ideas are being taken up by the school,” said Seema Sapru, principal, The Heritage School.
Sapru said some students were also giving online training to their peers.
It is not only the senior students who have gained online expertise but junior students, too, teachers said.
“If they are reading a book and have to give a presentation on it, they are using apps to make a character come alive on the screen,” said D.K. Chadda, principal, South Point School.
Lakshmipat Singhania Academy has asked students of Classes I to X to make presentations on the Digital World for a school project.
“The skills that they have acquired now will stand them in good stead in the future. We have told our teachers to take the help of the students because they are far better equipped,” said Meena Kak, director of Lakshmipat Singhania Academy.