Dear Readers,

As the world continues to tackle COVID 19, my thoughts go out to our children who are having to adapt to this new reality — a world of virtual classrooms. Schools the world over are resorting to teaching children online with a host of online teaching tools being made available to achieve this end. While this is a successful model in most parts of the world, in India we face a different reality. In the urban environment this is easy to implement, however, India has a large rural population. The challenge lies in reaching those children in whose homes internet is a luxury and the use of smartphones is limited.

Pallavan School in Jhalawar, Rajasthan, was founded in 2008 with the aim of providing quality education in rural India for children from pre- KG to Class XII. The school which began with 23 students has grown to 734. It is located in Jhalawar and most of the parents belong to Jhalawar town and the nearby villages. On a daily basis the school buses go as far as 30 to 35 kms to bring the children to school. When COVID 19 struck lives as they knew it changed. The children were forced to adjust to a new way of learning and the teachers were required to adapt their skills in order to engage children. With the video conferencing platform Zoom the teachers have successfully put a new way of teaching into place. Benu Khanna, the director of the school, writes about the successes and challenges they face.

We also have PLS team member Hemant S. writing about remote learning.

Happy Reading.

Warm Regards,

Pallavan Learning Systems Team

In times of COVID 19 when shutdowns seem to have become the order of the day, and life all around us seems to have come to a standstill, Pallavan was the first school in Jhalawar to come up with a novel idea to continue classes for their students.
At Pallavan School Jhalawar all the students from Nursery to grade 12 are attending virtual classes. Our teachers are able to connect with our students in far off areas like Asnawar, Ratlai, Bakani, (approximately 30 to 35 Kms from our school) Harigarh and Khanpur and conduct online classes successfully.

Click Here to read the full article.

Dear Readers,

As the lockdown is extended in India and other countries around the world, we should look at how we can learn from a crisis. A good crisis is one not just that we endure successfully but also a time for us to reflect and introspect about our systems and processes. In this issue we look at how we can make the most of learning whilst at home. What can we do now that will reap dividends in the many years to come? How can we not just endure but thrive?
PLS team member Hemant explores this in his article ‘Making the Most of Remote Learning.’
Concurrently, PLS has been conducting research on the Five Areas of Development, which is a wholistic approach to learning that strives to break down the silos in education and ensures the development of a learner in all five areas – Cerebral, Physical, Social, Emotional and Spiritual.

Enclosed is a booklet consisting of a list of online resources that may help your learners in their development journey in the Five Areas of Development, along with other relevant resources.

Making the Most of Remote Learning
by Hemant S

Depending on where you are in the world you will probably be in some form of a lockdown. ‘Normal’ life as we have experienced it no longer exists and for some, it may never exist again. It makes us realise how much of life’s simple pleasures we have been taking for granted. For most of us, there will be a ‘new normal’ that we will need to adjust to overtime. For parents of school-aged children, this is especially true. Most of us grasp that when a country’s lockdown ends, it cannot revert to business as usual! Covid-19 is still out there and according to some, it will be with us for the foreseeable future until a vaccine is available. But at some point, parents will have to go back to work, and children will go back to school. But as with many businesses and with other aspects of our lives, schools will also need to enforce social distancing. But what does social distancing at school look like? It is definitely not business as usual. There are a number of different experts and panels out there sharing their vision of what a social distancing school looks like and this may look different in different countries and across different school ages. But a common theme running through most of these models is that not all children will be in school at once. For schools, this means that classes will be smaller so that students can social distance while learning — but what happens to the children who have been told to stay at home for a day or a week? Remote learning seems like it is here to stay whether parents like it or not! So how can we as parents, educators, and learners make the most of it?
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Dear Readers,

A crisis should force us to reflect on our practices and ensure we learn from them, forming new best practices. Therein lies the value of a good crisis. Of course, a crisis has its downsides as well. It affects all of us in very different ways. Of the Covid 19, we are told that it is a great equaliser. We should not forget the adage some are more equal than others applies here too. For example, social distancing measures will have a significantly more devastating effect on the less fortunate who may struggle to enforce it, or suddenly find the cost of public transport increasing because capacity has been cut by more than half. In this edition of the newsletter, Arun Kapur would like to take a moment to reflect on how we can learn from this crisis to transact digital learning effectively.

Arun Kapur’s latest article published by Thrive Global ‘Transacting Digital Learning Effectively’ explores it further.
To Read More Click Here

Happy Reading!

Warm Regards,

Pallavan Learning Systems Team

Transacting Digital Learning Effectively
By Arun Kapur

As many countries enter their fifth or sixth week of lockdown it is imperative that we look at how learning has been happening and if there are any changes that need to be made. The closing of schools and initiation of online learning happened with little warning, and in many instances, overnight. Schools and educators have done their best to react to the situation to try and ensure the continuity of young people’s education. But after a few weeks of ‘schooling’ this way it is important for educators to step back and examine how they reacted and, now, take the time to respond in a thought out way. For this to happen we need to examine what might be the best practices for young people to continue their education during this time.
To Read More Click Here

Dear Readers,

On 24th of April 2020 Pallavan Learning Systems organised its first webinar on Nurturing Our Learners in the Time of Covid-19. At PLS we are concerned about how the online education is conducted so that it meets the needs of our learners. What should we be doing to nurture our learners so that we continue to support their wholistic growth and not simply focus on transaction of academic content?
The webinar participants were from Doon School, Dehradun; Pallavan School, Jhalawar, Rajasthan; Pallavanjali Institute for Actualisation of Individual Potential, Gurgaon; Paradise Valley Private School, Muscat, Oman; The Royal Academy, Paro, Bhutan; and The Scindia School, Gwalior. There was one panelist from each of the participating schools It was a closed webinar and in total we had about fifty participants.
There seems to be a consensus that teachers are heavily invested in the social-emotional and spiritual growth of the students. It is not just about curriculum and exams but there is a need for wholistic education ensuring growth in the Five Areas of Development. But we have to think deeply about how teachers, students and parents can achieve that via online platforms with limited time and access. Equally important is the fact that for students coming from economically marginalised families and in the rural areas, there are problems with connectivity, and access to devices. Teachers are constantly trying to innovate and see how they could reach out to each and every student.
The sudden onset of online learning forced teachers to learn so much in the past weeks. We need to see this crisis as an opportunity rather than just a stop gap arrangement. It is also important to collaborate in the use of existing online resources. But curation of variable and effective online resources is a challenge.
We cannot have one size fits all approach as far as learning is concerned and the way we assess learning and development that is taking place. Teachers are actively looking at ways assessment can be conducted at a time when the students are in different physical spaces through individualised assessment and seeking active collaboration with each other in trying to figure out ways to do it.
Parental involvement is important in online education and they have become partners with schools in this teaching and learning process, especially in the case of young students and those of the students with special needs.
We, at Pallavan Learning Systems, hope to continue this platform for sharing and learning as an active Learning Community of Educators committed to the wholistic growth of our learners in the Five Areas of Development.
The full report can be read here Click Here

Happy Reading.

Warm Regards,
Pallavan Learning Systems Team

Dear Readers,

We hope you and your loved ones are safe, well and learning!

Crises should force us to reflect on our practices and ensure we learn from them, forming new best practices. Therein lies the value of a good crisis. Of course, a crisis has its downsides as well. It affects all of us in very different ways and it will affect various sectors and industries in dynamic ways too. This is a great opportunity for us to reflect on how we want to shape the future of education. There are no established experts out there to guide us through this. Each educational system is situated in its unique context and we need to come with solutions for our context. This is our chance to lead.

In Arun Kapur’s next article ‘The Future of Learning’ published by Thrive Global he contemplates the need for a robust pedagogy that is geared toward the future of learning.

Click Here to read

Happy Reading!
Warm Regards,
Pallavan Learning Systems Team

Setting the context – Learning as a journey

The current pandemic has disrupted the process of learning in myriad ways. During this time, institutions and educators have come up with innovative ways to employ technology to impart learning. It would be unfortunate if things simply reverted to the way they were as soon as the pandemic subsided. It is imperative that we build on the learnings acquired and chart a new direction that learning can take.
I have always mentioned that I view learning as a journey. This statement is two-fold – first, individual learners have a journey of learning they are on throughout their lives. Secondly, the ‘process of learning’ itself is also on a journey. If we examine the trends within learning communities it will become evident that the journey of the ‘process of learning’ has been cyclical. Within learning communities, there is often new evidence that directs the most recent practices with some becoming embedded in the ongoing learning community while others are merely ‘fads’ that for some time make an impact but are not long-lived. What I feel is happening now is that there has been considerable movement to suggest that the process of learning is itself at a crossroad. And this is not just because of the pandemic. In fact, the movement was occurring prior to this. What the pandemic has done is brought this movement more to the forefront by acting as a catalyst. The pandemic has created an opportunity for educators to ask the question – what is the future of learning?

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