In-service activities aid ICA faculty and staff in adjusting to ODL

By Stephanie Lai of 11-Wisdom

Graphic by Charlize See

ALTHOUGH THE COVID-19 pandemic has hindered face-to-face classes, education should never be compromised. Hence, ICA has switched to the Online Distance Learning (ODL) set-up and has conducted several in-service activities for its personnel to prepare them for this school year. All faculty and staff members are encouraged to attend these activities, which began in May. Through the activities, ICA hopes to ease the transition of the faculty and staff to the new mode of learning.

Each subject area in both the High School and Grade School departments has initiated and facilitated their own webinars that would train the faculty members on various tools used throughout ODL. These activities equip the teachers with the necessary skills that would allow them to better educate their students through the screen. Some topics that these seminars focus on include the new Learning Management System (LMS), Google Suite, and many more. These applications and websites will be utilized to deliver the lessons and administer assessments to the students. Aside from the teachers, both staff from the Grade School Source of Strength (SOS) and the High School Technical Support have undergone multiple training sessions, serving as ICA’s ODL technical team. Through these training sessions, the staff members of the technical team became more knowledgeable on possible ways to address any technical issues that may arise throughout the school year.

Through the in-service activities, ICA’s faculty and staff aim to continuously develop their skills to become more effective online educators; thus, the school administration unceasingly supports them by showing them their utmost utmost support, especially with the new learning set-up this school year.