PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The coronavirus pandemic is presenting some new challenges to the classroom that schools are being forced to tackle head on. And for one Philadelphia charter school, making sure students all have computers is one of those challenges.
Like many schools around the state, COVID-19 is forcing Universal Audenried Charter High School in South Philadelphia to move their classes online.
“We're using Zoom for teachers to present live, their PowerPoints, their whiteboard application. On the back-end, we're recording those sessions so they can be uploaded at a later time,” explained principal Blanchard Diavua.
Diavua said about half of their 500 students needed computers to keep up with their work, so they're providing them with Chromebooks and free internet.
“They can face-to-face interact with those scholars, because the scholars are really missing those connections,” Diavua added.
“I don't have a laptop, so I was doing all my work on the phone, when they said we were actually getting Chromebooks from the school it helped a lot, because now I can actually do my work,” senior Channing Jackson said.
Jackson said the computers are great, but they're no match for the classroom and for students like her, who are taking nursing courses and working towards a certification.
“We're not actually getting the hands-on how to do CPR or how to change a gown to the patient, so it's a difficult challenge not having that hands-on experience with this online learning,” she said.
But one of the pros of learning online, she said, is being able to go to school in her pajamas.
Breton Sheridan, a teacher at Universal, said these computers are key in making sure their students can still get a solid education to stay on pace with their peers from more affluent households.
And while there’s a learning curve in moving online, they’re making the best of it.
“I think our school is making a lot of progress in transitioning to virtual education. I think we're doing a pretty good job of getting things up and running so we can kind of bring back some sense of normalcy for the students,” he said.
Diavua said classes are set up to limit students’ screen time, and these online classes count as school days for the students.
But Jackson is just hoping she can get back in the classroom by the end of the school year.