In the latest national lockdown of January 2021, asphaleia is following government guidance and continuing to provide face to face learning for our vulnerable students. All other students are being supported to learn remotely until restrictions are lifted.
asphaleia’s remote learning (or distance learning) offer is designed to ensure all students can continue to access their studies if they can no longer attend in person due to lockdown restrictions. This applies to those on our On Track to Work and ESOL FE programmes and our Make Trax and Future Focus projects, which are part-funded by the European Social Fund.
We know many students face challenges to participating in remote learning, for example because they don’t have a suitable device or wi-fi connection. We therefore collect basic information from all students during enrolment about their home environment and their access to devices and the internet. This means we can quickly identify any barriers to accessing remote learning and agree an individual approach with each student.
asphaleia’s remote learning offer
All students being supported by remote learning during lockdown can expect a full timetable of classes, which are organised and supervised by their tutors. Remote learning will take place on our Google Classroom virtual learning platform. Access to the classroom is secure and students have their own log-in enabling them to access classes and communicate with tutors and classmates.
Remote classes run in lots of different ways, including pre-recorded classes and live lessons, online resources, tasks or assignments, giving feedback and holding video calls and text chats. All online classes are supervised by tutors, and students are expected to log-in during their timetabled hours. Attendance is recorded and a lack of participation is followed up.
Staying in touch with students who are learning remotely
asphaleia is keeping in touch with remote students via:
1:1 check-in call from a staff member at least weekly.
Remote timetabled tutorials and reviews.
Timetabled and supervised online lessons.
Important text updates sent to mobile phones.
Individual asphaleia email account to communicate with tutors.
Student bulletin sharing information and celebrating students’ work and achievements.
Safeguarding remains paramount to all asphaleia delivery. We will continue to ensure high safeguarding standards are applied to our remote learning provision and to our classroom-based provision. All remote learning is offered within the parameters set out in our latest Distance Teaching and Support Policy.