Hello, undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate students, and parents!
I hope this message finds you happy, joyful, safe, and healthy, as we are all adjusting to this new habitual circumstance. After the government-initiated ‘pause and limitation’ for an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), we have been busy meeting together virtually and planning, testing, and updating things out to keep up with programs thru online and distance learning methods. The learning curve has been steep for everyone involved, so please don’t feel like you are alone if you are feeling overwhelmed.
By now, we’ve made contact with all of our students to try and brief you as to how online supplemental learning is going to look, as well as to try and identify your needs to help focus our effective support. If something has changed, if there’s something else we need to know about, please don’t hesitate to contact your department by email.
For the time being, newly created Google Classroom and email-communication will be our primary method to contact students and parents, and it will be the primary method of students and parents reaching us. As students accept our invitation to the supplemental learning section of my Google Classroom, we will then issue an invitation to parents to join the class.
As a secondary method of communication, parents can reach me through either my email account (dean@sgsb.swiss) or through the Remind app (invitations previously sent out to all parents who provided the school with a cellphone number). I’m happy to set up a mutually convenient time in Google Meet (video conference) for any students and parents who want some 1-on-1 support.
As we are preparing to start online learning and distance for all programs, one thing that we will encourage students to do is to try to log into Google Classroom and join the class what we have set up, titled ‘Supplemental Learning’. Some of you have done that already. If you are having any issues joining the class, please let us know.
Students’ first course of action every day should be to check the daily morning messages, posted by 9:00am in your Google Classroom each day. These messages will outline what supplemental work is being assigned and the relative pace that students should be able to complete the work. Ideally, materials and assignments for each class will be organized into weekly workloads.
The plan for learning after the break is that we will post subject-specific learning paths to each degree program area in the Supplemental Learning Google Class, outlining the tasks. School board admin. has urged professors to modify, update and adjust purposefully, but gently, so please don’t be surprised if there isn’t a full slate of entire courses in all of the programs posted and waiting to begin working on right away. We will provide occasional secondary supports for some of the other subject areas.
Most weeks and months, our support will likely include an instructional video with examples, and the assignments for the week. There will be optional online tutorials (likely using Google Meet), time is yet to be determined. During this time, students or you can ask questions about anything from that week, or just join in to see your classmates. Check updated materials to follow and learn.
One thing that we want to highlight is that while we have a plan for how we want delivery of online supplemental learning to look, we can virtually assure you that components of our delivery and how we support our students and you will change throughout the process. As this new normal is so different for most of us, we don’t want to be married to a process that isn’t working or needs to be changed or tweaked. This is going to be a fluid process. We are sure we will try things that won’t work, so please be patient. Consistency will come, but first, we need to see what tools and methods best support teaching and learning, and often, that information will only come after practice. Just because something works for one teacher or class doesn’t mean that it will be a good fit for our class and my style. To keep abreast of any changes, it is crucial that you and your children are checking for my messages and regularly logging into my Google Classroom.
We can’t emphasize this enough; we don’t want this to be stressful, overwhelming, or frustrating for parents or students. We know that we all have a lot on our plates. If you don’t get to something one week, we just ask that you please reach out to the program department to let us know. There is a lot going on right now and we all need to be flexible and forgiving of ourselves and others. Together, we will figure it out. For students who are underwhelmed by their workload and wanting to do more, please let me know, and we can prepare optional work for those students. Alternatively, they can look to the subject-specific ‘Resources’ in our Google Classroom for enrichment activities.
We want to have a Google Meet with our students from time to time to see everything is running well. If students have headphones, they would come in handy, but they aren’t essential. If students want to see what’s going on in the video conference, they will need a video camera. If they don’t have one (though most tablets, laptops, etc. do), they should still be able to access the audio portion of the meeting. While attendance is not mandatory, participation will help me to maximize the opportunity to troubleshoot for the smooth operation of future Google Meet sessions.
Course materials will be supported as much as we can provide. We are looking forward to reconnecting with all our students following the break and whenever you may need our efficient and effective service.
We hope that you are looking forward to a challenging, busy, positive-mind and productive, and an exciting year of learning in our school. I enjoy contributing to the positive culture of SGSB Business School, and if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me thru my email.
Sending my warm hugs to all, encourage, and inspire!
Sincerely,
Dr. Johnny KIM
Academic Program Dean
