How egm students learn online with mebis in corona times

Many parents are currently worried about the further development of their children at school in the wake of the corona crisis. The school is closed – how does learning work there?? The egbert-gymnasium was well prepared for this situation, according to a press release. The digital learning platform "mebis" was introduced successively in the years before "corona. "We didn’t let ourselves be irritated," says principal markus binzenhofer. "Even after initial teething problems, we have stuck with communication via mebis in order to avoid creating legally problematic or too many different variants of digital communication.Experience proves the school right, the press report continues: "mebis is now working reliably and the teachers are coming up with a lot of ideas to provide their students with good material. The students work conscientiously and sometimes even more intensively than in normal mode: "respect to both groups!", said binzenhofer.

According to the hotline principle, four mebis coordinators as well as the secretary’s office and school management are available by telephone eight hours a day to answer questions and deal with problems. Teacher kerstin stablein is one of them. She explains the concept as follows: "every student learns at his own pace and rhythm. That’s why we create weekly schedules that the students can arrange themselves and work on at their own time. So they can meet their own needs and don’t have to follow the strict pace of the timetable."

Group work is also possible

Mebis coordinator martin pohl, a member of the school administration, also sees the advantages in the interactive collaboration: "teachers and students can exchange information via the platform, even if no school contact is possible. But there is also room for cooperation in the form of group work, which requires the students to work together, and the day center is also integrated into the e-learning concept at EGM."And for the spiritual break in between, father jesaja and the team of the school chaplaincy have a benedictine stop ready for body, mind and soul to draw strength from faith together and to give orientation in a time of uncertainty.

The feedback culture is also being strengthened by the e-learning concept at the egm: "we are gathering experience: is the daily workload right for the students?? How do you cope with the time schedule? Will you be able to access learning materials in all core subjects??"Questions like these will be asked in a survey at the end of the second week of the school closure. In this way, elearning is being developed step by step," says principal markus binzenhofer, who also ventures a look into the future: "in view of the new media equipment and the spatial possibilities after the general renovation, new digital possibilities are opening up for us at egbert-gymnasium, which we want to take advantage of."