Director’s message 24

International School of Ouagadougou,

RE: Distance Learning “Drill” Breakdown

Yesterday, the International School of Ouagadougou suspended physical classes as there was a potential political event that could have made access to Zone de Bois unfeasible. As a result, we used this potential event as an opportunity for students, teachers and parents to “learn how to learn”, using our new and improved online learning protocols.

As Director, I felt this vital piece of planning should be in place prior to commencing Winter Break, in less than four weeks.

To ensure coordination between the home and school on “virtual school days”, we need your help. Please fill out this brief survey to assist our team in better understanding how we can best support each other when it comes to using our Updated Online Protocol, if the need arises for virtual learning days in the future.

From a review of “who logged in”:

  • Most students in Grades 4 and higher worked independently and they may help you answer the survey questions.
  • If work was done entirely by a student, they are welcome to fill this survey.
  • For Upper School, the survey will be sent to students, so they can answer directly.

I can also highlight that from the Administration side, we did have some important lessons learned in terms of trying to communicate our message to you. We understand that we sent multiple messages via many different platforms.

Going forward, to reach our goal of quick and effective communication, we will follow this process:

  • An email is sent to all parents (and Upper School students), detailing any potential events that may prevent us from holding school physically on campus.
  • This will be followed by a quick SMS message asking parents to check their email, as school will be held in a virtual format. (Please make sure the school has your newest contact information: send to cro@iso.bf)
  • Finally, a quick note will be sent via WhatsApp with the same information in both French and English. To join the WhatsApp group, if you haven’t done so already, please use the link sent.

Thanks for all your help and support, and for working with us, so we could both practice distance learning, and, hopefully with your feedback, get quality information to help improve our processes at the International School of Ouagadougou.

Looking forward to seeing all you on campus tomorrow.

Jeff