Distance Learning

DISTANCE LEARNING IN EMERGENCY SITUATION

Dear Sir/Madam,

We inform you that the Government of the Republic of Serbia has decided to temporarily suspend direct educational work in primary and secondary schools on the territory of the Republic of Serbia due to the current epidemiological situation in the country. In order to realize students’ right to education, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development has prepared an operational plan for continuing school work under difficult conditions, through the implementation of educational work via distance learning, considering that the temporary suspension of direct teaching in schools does not mean the suspension of educational work with students

The beginning of the implementation of educational work through distance learning is March 17, 2020.

The operational plan of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development contains various forms of implementing educational activities. The realization of educational work is envisioned through different ways and approaches in establishing communication with students and parents/legal guardians (hereinafter: parents). In this way, different forms, methods and approaches in establishing communication will serve to provide necessary information and support in implementing educational work through distance learning, while taking into account the total human and technical resources of schools, as well as the technical capacities of student families.

In the organized distance learning provided by the Ministry, the focus is on program content of general education and professional subjects with the largest number of class hours. In addition, schools are obligated to, in accordance with their own resources for distance learning support and using available learning platforms, devise ways to implement content in all other subjects and programs, based on the prescribed curriculum and learning plan.

Monitoring student progress during distance learning

Based on materials that teachers provide to students and based on student feedback after following TV lessons (classes) and other educational content, teachers need to record data on student progress that they can obtain through various types of exchanges (homework, structured exercises and assessments, essays, projects, presentations, drawings, etc.). Students can submit their work and homework to teachers via email (images, files) or within the selected online platform.

Based on feedback from students, and through horizontal professional exchange of plans and experiences, teachers should take care of students’ daily workload and maintaining the necessary level of motivation for learning, which is achieved through good formative assessment plans. After conditions normalize and upon return to classrooms, all quality formative grades and teacher insights can be significantly utilized for summative assessment at the end of the school year.

Instructions and pedagogical recommendations for using these platforms will be available on the website www.rasporednastave.gov.rs and their use is free.

NOTICE FOR STUDENTS

Distance learning will begin on Monday, March 23, 2020, via Google Classroom. In addition, you can follow classes through the RTS Planeta platform and the My School portal.

Class teachers will provide you with access codes for subjects. You can access Google Classroom via the link https://classroom.google.com/. To use Google Classroom, you need to have a created Gmail address.

Students of primary and secondary schools in the Republic of Serbia are enabled to follow classes on internet pages as well. Besides the possibility to follow classes on the RTS 3 television channel and on the RTS Planeta internet platform (rtsplaneta.rs), teaching units for elementary and high school students are also available on the RTS website at www.rts.rs/page/school/sr.html (on the homepage, category “My School”), as well as on the specialized internet subsite https://mojaskola.rtsplaneta.rs.

Teachers and students have at their disposal a large number of online platforms (Viber, Zoom, Microsoft Teams), as well as the national platform for online learning My School. By using them, teachers and students will be in a position to achieve interaction and exchange of materials for mastering program content.

Communication and collaboration between students, parents and teachers has been established through online platforms. With Viber groups for each subject as well as e-classrooms, through Google Classroom service, the implementation of distance learning within our school organization has been enabled.