Suggestions welcome for online schooling

Shanghai Education Commission said on Wednesday it will be adjusting its online schooling scheme to improve user experience based on the first test lesson broadcast on Tuesday. 

It is welcoming comments or suggestions from teachers, students and parents via its website (http://edu.sh.gov.cn), its hotline 23116647 and the city government’s hotline 12345.

The commission announced last week that all schools in Shanghai would remain closed indefinitely and offer online classes from March to ensure the safety of students and teachers during the coronavirus outbreak.

The commission said about 1.4 million primary and secondary students in Shanghai, 120,000 local teachers and more than 600,000 students and teachers outside the city watched the test lesson on Tuesday. Some took part in online discussions after the class.

“All the students and parents were active in attending, showing great support to this new explorative project,” the commission said. “We are grateful to them and all the government departments and companies which have jointly ensured the successful broadcast of the lesson. We will further optimize the online schooling scheme to better serve the students.”

The commission said it will reduce the requirement for students of low grades in primary schools to take part in after-class interaction and will not require students to clock in every day.

The class schedule for formal classes from March 2 will be released soon. 

For those unable to watch lessons on TV or the Internet, the commission will ask schools to provide learning plans so they won’t be left behind. 

A second test lesson will be broadcast on Friday morning and both lessons will be repeated at the weekend.