Spring semester classes at Holmes Community College started back today in an online format as Holmes does its part to help fight the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

The College has moved 788 academic and career technical classes to an online format which includes 3,555 traditional students. Currently, 5,210 Holmes students are being taught and are receiving instructional support. Plans are being made to host individual training for career and technical students in addition to their online content.

Holmes Community College President Dr. Jim Haffey is proud of the effort his instructors and administrators have made to keep students on track to finishing the spring semester in a timely manner.

We take a lot of pride at Holmes at being flexible and responding to our communities needs quickly, Haffey said. That is a culture that our instructors and employees embrace.

Holmes has invested in the Canvas Learning Management Platform, which has become the most widely adopted LMS in North America, benefitting millions of students and teachers globally across 70 countries. The eLearning Department at Holmes embraced the use of Canvas and many other innovative activities to enhance online education.

We were fortunate to have invested heavily in online learning over the last decade, Haffey said. A large percentage of our classes are usually delivered online to students across the state and country. I would not say that it has been an easy process to convert everything to online, but most of our classes already had a lot of online resources tied to them, so we have been able to expand those. I am extremely proud of our instructors for jumping in with both feet to help get our state and country back going.

Director of eLearning Tish Stewart said her staff was eager to help the on campus instructors convert their classes to online.

Since our eLearning program has 20 years of experience, we have a wealth of information that we are able to share with instructors and students, including basic instructions, training manuals, and tips for the online classroom, Stewart said. We are doing all we can to help all those involved with this transition to be prepped and ready for what the weeks ahead may entail.

Vice President for Academic Programs Dr. Jenny Jones said once she knew a transition from on-campus to online, her staff and instructors went to work getting this accomplished.

Our instructors were able to take their face-to-face courses and start converting them to fully online within days, Jones said. Of course none of this would have been possible without the outstanding support from the eLearning Department, they have been the backbone to this massive undertaking. We want to ensure that our Holmes students to know that we are all here for them and will support them in the days ahead. No Place Like Holmes! has never been more evident than now.

Vice President of Career Technical Education Dr. Amy Whittington said her classes have made a move to online as well which has made her instructors embrace new technologies along the way.

I am proud to say that our face-to-face CTE courses went live today with online content to ensure that we are continuing to provide those skills necessary to gain employment upon completion of a CTE program, Whittington said. The eLearning Department has been vital in the success of our push to online with program content. Our highly-skilled instructors are continually searching for new technologies to train remotely.

Collaboration and team work across divisions have been key in this transition, she added. While these may be challenging times, I am confident that our CTE team will use this time to find ways to make our programs even stronger.

As schools and universities close or otherwise prepare for coronavirus (COVID-19), the Instructure (Canvas) team is here for you, according to the Canvas website. Were committed to the health, safety, and success of students, educators and administrators everywhere. And we want to make sure you can continue to teach, learn, and succeed from anywhere.

Holmes has also identified several areas at each location where students can park and work on their assignments in their vehicle if they have limited access at their homes.

Wifi is available to students in the following areas of our campuses: Goodman Campus, along Montague Street; Ridgeland Campus, parking lot in front of Adcock Library; Grenada Campus, parking lot on Avent Drive near the Phillips Building; and the Attala Center, in the big parking lot.

Hours available will be 8 a.m.-7 p.m.

Students need to be aware that signal strength is determined by the numbers of users so the strength may fluctuate as more people take advantage of the service.

Continued here:
HCC starts online education due to virus - Kosciusko Star Herald

DERBY Members of the Derby Board of Education are scheduled to meet 6:30 p.m. tonight (Thursday, March 19) using Zoom, a videoconferencing center.

The public will be able to join the meeting.

Here is a link to the Zoom meeting:

zoom.us/j/348011559

The image below contains the meeting ID, and the numbers needed to dial-in if you choose to join in that matter.

The meetings agenda is posted at the bottom of this post. It is also available as a PDF from the Derby city website. Click here to download it. https://evogov.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/meetings/79/agendas/13299.pdf

The school board is scheduled to review the district distance-learning plan since students are out of school due to the COVID-19 virus until the end of March (as of this writing). The school board is also scheduled to receive an update regarding the virus, presumably with information coming down from the state. If youve never used the Zoom videoconferencingservice, here are some short instructional videos that could help.

This YouTube video is from a third party. It explains how to join a Zoom meeting from your smart phone.

In addition to checking the Derby City website, meeting notifications are also being posted on Derby Town/City Clerk Marc Garofalos Facebook page.

Here is a supporting documentation included in an agenda packed for this evenings meeting.

Derby BOE Info 1 by The Valley Indy on Scribd

Derby BOE March 19 2020 Meeting Agenda by The Valley Indy on Scribd

Excerpt from:
Derby Board Of Education To Meet Online Tonight - Valley Independent Sentinel

Melissa Wall and Stacey Wood, teachers at Julia A. Stark School in Stamford, Connecticut, collaborate on Friday on their Virtual Lesson plans that students will use while the schools are closed for the next two weeks. Wall and Wood, along with fellow teacher Alex Frattaroli are preparing a Read Aloud, where they as part of their lessons, read a book via a video presentation for their students.

Melissa Wall and Stacey Wood, teachers at Julia A. Stark School in Stamford, Connecticut, collaborate on Friday on their Virtual Lesson plans that students will use while the schools are closed for the next two

Photo: Matthew Brown / Hearst Connecticut Media

Melissa Wall and Stacey Wood, teachers at Julia A. Stark School in Stamford, Connecticut, collaborate on Friday on their Virtual Lesson plans that students will use while the schools are closed for the next two weeks. Wall and Wood, along with fellow teacher Alex Frattaroli are preparing a Read Aloud, where they as part of their lessons, read a book via a video presentation for their students.

Melissa Wall and Stacey Wood, teachers at Julia A. Stark School in Stamford, Connecticut, collaborate on Friday on their Virtual Lesson plans that students will use while the schools are closed for the next two

Stamford schools head into unknown world of online education

STAMFORD Online education may be common at universities, but at public schools in Stamford, that is not the case.

This is very new territory for all of us, said Amy Beldotti, associate superintendent of teaching and learning for Stamford schools speaking of preparations ongoing Friday for the distance learning approach the district will employ for the next two weeks at least. School buildings were closed this week due to the spread of COVID-19, the coronavirus.

A general shape of digital school days is taking form. Students will begin their day with a message from their teacher with an assignment for the morning, using Google Classroom. Depending on the teacher, the message could be a video or just text. Students after receiving assignments will be able to interact with teachers through the online tool or on Google Hangouts, a free online product used commonly in professional settings for coworkers to communicate with one another.

With the teacher and students connected on the platform, students can ask questions and the teacher, in turn, can have students answer problems essentially leading lessons digitally.

Thats how everything should work, in theory, but school officials wont know how the initiative will go until the beginning of next week, when distance learning kicks off.

Beldotti is expecting some technological glitches and unforeseen issues to arise at the beginning of the week, but shes hopeful the online plan will be a success.

We are ready, she said. Well just keep getting better at it as the week goes on.

Central office staff has been working on the plan for the last couple of weeks in preparation for a potential school closing, Beldotti said, but no one was expecting that day to come so quickly.

It was coming, and no one knew how much time we would have, she said.

Part of that plan was making sure all students could get online from their homes.

She said the district sent many students home with Chromebooks and some of the younger students were loaned iPads. While she didnt have a hard number of how many laptops were handed out to students, she said in some elementary schools, it was about 300.

Overall, she guessed the number is around 5,000 for the entire district.

We wanted to make sure that everyone had what they need, she said.

Alex Frattaroli, a third grade teacher at Julia A. Stark Elementary School, was collaborating with other third grade teachers on Friday, in preparation for the coming week.

She said she was excited about the possibilities of distance learning.

I really enjoy technology, so I think this will be a great way to get the kids into it, she said.

Frattaroli said students were sent home with packets that included assignments in case some do not have access to internet or cannot get to the online curriculum for whatever reason.

Students will have a list of tasks to complete every day, she said.

Frattaroli said each student must check in with her every day, as well as complete assignments in math and science, read a story, and submit written responses to prompts, among other assignments.

Administrators have told teachers to be flexible with students during the two-week period, perhaps allowing students to turn in an assignment late as everyone gets used to the new system. A number of issues could arise, such as students dealing with spotty Wi-Fi, or using a shared device, for example.

The key for all of this is flexibility and understanding and a teamwork approach, Beldotti said.

The state has waived the 180-day school year requirement, but Beldotti said the school system is treating the next two weeks as regular classroom days, and will attempt to keep pace with regular curriculum.

Were going to do our best to make sure kids dont fall behind with where we are in the curriculum, she said.

She said she wants to dispel any belief that students are merely being sent home with assignments and being left on their own.

Weve been very clear that this is not busy work, Beldotti said. Its not just a packet of crossword puzzles and Sudoku.

ignacio.laguarda@stamfordadvocate.com

Read the original:
Stamford schools head into unknown world of online education - The Advocate

The majority of universities in South Korea started to provide online classes. This comes as social distancing is the most effective way to prevent the cluster infections of COVID-19. Professors are notified that they should conduct their classes via online solutions through the end of March, but the online-only class might be extended further if COVID-19 infections persist.

Many professors and university students, however, are finding it hard to teach and learn remotely, mostly through a range of online lecture programs, video chat software and even KakaoTalk messenger app.

Experts say that a drastic swift toward online lectures poses a massive challenge for both students and educators. Universities are having a hard time coping with technical problems, such as checking attendance and sudden shutdown of programs that disrupt lectures.

In many universities, servers for handling online lectures crashed, failing to accommodate the surge in traffic, while students struggled to connect to school websites. Yet professors across the nation are searching for better ways to conduct their classes online. Please check out the video to see how one university professor in Seoul is preparing online lectures.

Originally posted here:
[Video] Online education now the new normal due to coronavirus pandemic - The Korea Herald

Two weeks. Five weeks. Five months. The truth is nobody including the Department of Education really knows how long the schools and colleges will close for. This is an evolving situation, and the WhatsApp rumours are just that: rumours.

Its a stressful time for parents, particularly for those who have to work from home while trying to keep children amused and educated.

For however long this goes on, The Irish Times education team will be helping parents and students access the best resources to learn from home.

We will highlight online resources, as well as work that can be done without internet access, and we want to hear from parents, teachers and students about how theyre coping, what theyre learning and their top tips for each other.

Weve already had a great response to our online callout to teachers, and its clear the education community is pulling together to support learners and each other.

Please share your top tips via Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #EdShareIE, and well do our best to highlight as many as possible.

The good news is there are tonnes of resources out there to meet the needs of children of all ages and stages. Here are some of the better ones as recommended by teachers and parents.

Literacy / numeracy:

Twinkl.ie

Created by teachers, ideal for home education, it has lots of appealing games, stories, worksheets, etc. It is offering a free months subscription (enter offer code: IRLTWINKLHELPS)

Khan Academy (khanacademy.org): Nonprofit site that provides free video tutorials in maths and reading

IXL.com (ie.ixl.com):

Subscription-based learning experience that provides curriculum-aligned maths and English content from junior infants up to sixth year

Storyberries.com

This is a free, online collection of easy-to-read and beautifully illiustrated stories, comics and poems for kids. You can select stories by theme

handwritingpractice.netWhatever happened to the art of handwriting. This site lets you create custom handwriting practice worksheets.

Over the Moon English resources(GillExplore.ie)

Gill Education have provided Over the Moon English resources for junior infants to second class children on their site GillExplore.ie

Gaeilge:

Cla4 (cula4.com)

This free Irish app from TG4 is aimed at two groups: Cla4 na ng is aimed at under-sixes, while Cla4 is aimed at older children. As well as TV shows, there are games and creativity sections.

Selection of primary resourcesCiara Reilly is a former primary teacher and now a lecturer in education with expertise in ICT and digital education at Marino Institute of Education. She has compiled an outstanding bank of resources at padlet.com/ciarareillymarino/primarydistancelearning, including Irish resources.

Physical education:

Go Noodle (gonoodle.com):

Movement and mindfulness videos created by child development experts and used widely by teachers who say it is a great opportunity for kids to wake up their bodies, engage their minds and be their best.

Super Troopers (supertroopers.ie)

Super Troopers offers a health homework programme that encourages children and their families to live happier and more active lifestyles.

Stem (science, tech, engineering and maths):

Scratch (scratch.mit.edu):

Learn to program interactive games, stories and animations

Maths, Gaeilge and reading lessonsTeacher Michael OConnor is posting daily Maths, Gaeilge and reading lessons on YouTube for the kids in his class, which might be useful to other 4th, 5th and 6th class kids and their parents: youtu.be/bt4rFdbpGkY

Geography:

National Geographic Kids (kids.nationalgeographic.com):

Learn about science, geography and history.

Nasa Kids Club (nasa.gov/kidsclub/):

Child-friendly resource where kids can learn about science and space.

History, Geography and Science (@RangOrlaith)

rlaith N Fhoghl is a third class teacher and she has put together activities and resources relating to the history, geography and science curriculum on padlet.com/orlaithnifhoghlu/wqeiqvodvbl4

Games/tests:

Kahoot.com

Search from millions of existing games on any topic such as brain teasers, trivia of all sorts, news quizzes and science.

Sarah Webbs writing games (@MoLI_Museum)Award-winning childrens writer Sarah Webb is posting fun writing games and story prompts over on Twitter.

SmartycatgamesGames to help children learn Irish and French in a fun and exciting manner.

Special needs:

SEN Teacher (senteacher.org/)

This site has free special-needs teaching resources and learning materials. Its print tools allow you to create, adapt and share resources.

Revision:

Dublin Academy (dublinacademy.ie)

The Dublin-based grind school is posting free-to-access classes on YouTube over the coming days.

iRevise (irevise.com)

This Irish revision website is providing students with free study resources for a month due to the school closures.

Studyclix (Studyclix.ie)

One of the most popular of Irelands study websites, it offers notes, videos and a forum for students preparing for the Junior and Leaving Cert.

Protutor (protutor.ie)

It is running a series of free webinars on Leaving Cert accounting topics aimed at fifth and sixth years next week.

Studynotes (studynotes.ie)

Students and teachers can use the free platform to share their notes and resources.

ExamLearn.ie

Founded by three recent school-leavers, who between them got 30 As in the Junior Cert and over 1800 points in the Leaving Cert. Homeschool.ie provides an online grinds service for Leaving and Junior Cycle students.

Individual subjects

Spanish

Susan Leahy (pancomido.wordpress.com/)

Spanish teacher Susan Leahy has a free website for Spanish teachers and students, with lots of resources for the now-cancelled Leaving Cert orals and the higher-level essay questions.

Gaeilge

Stephen Heffernan (@shffnn)

Leaving Cert students can keep themselves fresh by using the Vifax resources from NUI Maynooth where they take a story or two from Nuacht TG4 each week and prepare worksheets on them. vifax.maynoothuniversity.ie

Leavingcertirish.com

Teacher John Gavin has hosted this website since 2001; it provides a host of updated learning resources relating to Leaving Cert Irish orals and the written exam. There are free daily webinars that anyone can watch live or look back on.

History

Dr Eoin Donnchadha(@eoinodonnchadha)

History teacher Dr Eoin Donnchadha has compiled a twitter thread on how Junior Cert history students can compile their family tree.

WaterfordMemories.comThe lives and experiences of women in Waterfords Magdalene Laundry can be a great case study for history and CSPE students, @AnBurcach (Stephen Bourke) suggests.

Geography

Eoin Hughes(@_ehughes_)

Geography teacher Eoin Hughes (@_ehughes_) has compiled Leaving Cert Geography resources here: bit.ly/2TKWCMu and Junior Cert resources here: http://bit.ly/2TR4GeZ

Politics and Society

PolSocPodcast.com

PolSocPodcast.com covers all things and is presented by Dr Jerome Devitt, a teacher of Politics & Society, History, and English.

Maths

Joyce MahonMaths teacher Joyce Mahon has compiled Leaving Cert suggestions on jmmaths.weebly.com/

French

EssentialFrench.ieStudents of French should check out teacher Natasha Lynchs excellent resources, which are available on EssentialFrench.ie. Her Snapchat account is particularly popular.

Physics

SophiaPhysics.ie

SophiaPhysics.ie has a resources section and is covering topics for Junior and Leaving Cert physics while telling the story of related physicists.

English

SCCEnglish.ie

Run by Julian Girdham at St Columbas College in Rathfarnham, SCCEnglish.ie has lots of resources for post-primary English, and more resources and ideas on JulianGirdham.com

AoifesNotes.com

English teacher Aoife ODriscoll has a free website and has been uploading notes for Junior Cycle and Leaving Cert English on it for over ten years now.

Graphics

Irish Graphic Teacher

Will Nolan is sharing graphics videos on the IrishGraphicsTeacher channel.

youtube.com/channel/UCanBKZVzCbgzO-LomL-gp4w

Art

Sheila Flahertys art tutorialsTeacher Sheila Flaherty has posted online art tutorials for children at youtu.be/3hSWT86uyxk.

Teacher Support

PDST (pdst.ie/DistanceLearning):

The Professional Development Service for Teachers linked to the Departmenbt of Education has an updated section on supporting online learning during school closures with links to resources like Scoilnet and Webwise. It also features video to help guide teachers around online teaching.

Cogg.ie (cogg.ie/bunchar-aiseanna/)

See original here:
Home tuition: Our guide to the best teaching and learning resources online - The Irish Times

Okanagan College is located at 1000 K. L. O. Road in Kelowna B.C. (Contributed)

Okanagan College has announced it is canceling any remaining in-person classes as it transitions to virtual forms of education as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 90 per cent of academic classes have already made the switch to an online format this week. Classes still being delivered in a face-to-face format will be canceled for March 19 and 20 in order to provide instructors and professors more time to complete plans to move fully to alternative forms of delivery.

The vast majority of our classes have already transitioned to alternative forms of classroom delivery. As you can imagine, given the diversity of programs we offer, this was no easy task for our faculty and staff, said Okanagan College president Jim Hamilton.

We continue to work on creative ways to deliver trades training programming, especially shops, following guidance from the Provincial Health Officer. We have already postponed more than 20 planned intakes of trades programs that were to start in the next few weeks.

READ MORE: B.C. declares state of emergency, recalling legislature for COVID-19

Okanagan College students currently on practicum placements will be able to continue their placements unless advised by the college. The college is working with practicum providers to carefully assess each situation on a case-by-case basis.

In addition to changing class styles to an online fashion, the college is also providing an abundance of services online for students to continue their education.

Many of our student services are already available online and others are transitioning to ensure students feel supported while not on campus, such as counselling and accessibility services, says Hamilton. We know this is a stressful and uncertain time for students, as it is for all, and so were going to be taking a look at every way we can provide support and help students face whatever challenges theyre encountering as the situation unfolds.

The college is also allowing faculty to work from home while maintaining support to students and other services to keep the college running at full capacity.

Campuses will remain open for students who want to access services in person.

The college will continue to communicate directly with students, and updates will also be posted to the colleges COVID-19 information page http://www.okanagan.bc.ca/covid.

READ MORE: Ethical consumerism important through the COVID-19 pandemic: expert

Daniel Taylor

Reporter, Kelowna Capital News

Coronavirus

View post:
Okanagan College cancels face-to-face classes while transitioning to online education - Sicamous Eagle Valley News

Oregon schools will not replace the weeks of traditional classroom instruction students are missing with online classes or another substitute while schools are shuttered until April 28.

The reasons why boil down to two words: Access and equity.

Protecting student rights has to be front and center during the conversation about distance learning, Marc Siegel, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Education, told The Oregonian/OregonLive in an email. You cannot open a brick-and-mortar school in Oregon unless it is accessible to every student in their school district. The same rules apply to an online school.

The states public schools are not equipped to do that for special education students, those who speak English as a second language, students who lack computers or internet access and others with special circumstances during the shutdown, he noted.

Our students with disabilities and specialized needs, by law, require specially designed instruction, Siegel said. If a school opens to serve its communitys students, it must be able to provide those specialized instruction services.

Early in the states coronavirus outbreak, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown ordered all the states public schools to cancel seven school days bracketing spring break. Five days later, she extended the closure by four weeks, citing a need to slow the spread of the virus and minimize deaths.

Schools can, and in most cases will, offer suggestions for optional learning activities that students and families can engage in during the nearly six-week stretch until classes are scheduled to resume.

Districts across the state have adopted their own approaches.

Officials in the Salem-Keizer district will have an online portal for students and parents to download supplemental lessons that wont be graded, according to The Salem Reporter. In Tigard, Tualatin and Portland, district officials are distributing homework packets at meal sites.

Portland Public Schools, the states largest district, also has a patchwork of online lessons meant to keep kids engaged while school is out. Beaverton district officials are updating their recommendations for learning in each grade on a daily basis.

Portland Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero stressed the online lessons his district suggests wont be graded, nor will they replace classroom instruction. That appears to be the case statewide.

We need to do some additional thinking on how we might support engagement between students and teachers, Guerrero said. But distance learning is never going to be a substitute for the in-person relationship that really makes for a school community.

Many Oregon students lack a computer or tablet at home.

To help Portland families, Guerrero said the district will make available some of the 45,000 devices at its disposal. And on Tuesday, Portland school officials set up a form that allows families to request a computer to access its online resources.

When St. Marys Academy announced its own closure in an effort to stem the spread of coronavirus, the private high school both noted each of students is assigned an iPad at the start of their freshman year.

None of the lessons that school districts are posting on web sites or emailing to families are expect to advance students through the normal learning tracks their teachers would have led them through if school were in session. Neither the state nor individual school districts have the infrastructure to ensure students are progressing as normal.

What happens in our classrooms every day cannot be stood-up in a few days and be expected to replicate the learning and care that is delivered in our schools, Siegel said.

Guerrero noted that not all of his teachers, particularly educators who historically havent used technology in the classroom, are trained in running online courses.

Were about 10 years behind everyone else, he said.

Guerrero also said hes more worried about feeding kids and keeping them engaged than preparing them for state and national standardized tests.

How can you expect a student to perform on a test if they return to the classroom a day or a week before its administered? he said.

State education chief Colt Gill told The Oregonian/OregonLive his department is looking under every rock to seek federal waivers and flexibility.

In the meantime, the agency has assured districts that Browns order will not affect their funding so long as they continue providing meals to students, provide supplemental learning materials and pay their employees.

Gill also said his agency will work with the state school board and the governors office to adjust rules and seek statutory changes, although he did not specify what those will be.

We will not and cannot waive any individual students rights, Gill said. Every student in Oregon deserves equal and equitable access to their education.

Do you have a tip about Portland Public Schools? Email Eder at ecampuzano@oregonian.com or message either of the social accounts below.

--Eder Campuzano | 503-221-4344 | @edercampuzano

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.

Oregon's education reporters are looking for parents who would like to speak with a journalist about the effects coronavirus is having on families across the state. Would you like to chat with one of us? Fill out this form.

The rest is here:
Coronavirus closure wont lead to online classes in Oregon public schools. This is why - OregonLive

Microsoft Teams is down for many users across Europe. The Microsoft 365 Status Twitter account posted about the outage early this morning, stating that Microsoft is investigating messaging-related functionality problems. According to Downdetector the issues are primarily in Europe, though there are are few areas in North America, Africa, and Asia with issues.

No outage is good for an online service, but this one has particularly bad timing because many people will work from home this week due to coronavirus (COVID-19). Many people plan to work from home this week to reduce the risk of spreading the virus, including online workers, educators, and students. The Verge points out that some schools in the Netherlands asked students to use Microsoft Teams today to ask digital questions.

Microsoft Teams will likely receive heavy usage this week due to remote working and education, so Microsoft will have to make sure the service can handle the increased workload. There's a chance that the current outage is caused by increased demand for the service, though Microsoft has not stated the cause of the outage at this time. We'll update this article with any details Microsoft reveals on the current outage.

This is the second major outage for Microsoft Teams this year, though the first one happened because Microsoft forgot to renew an SSL security certificate.

Three more countries are getting in on the ECG fun when watchOS 6.2 arrives next week.

Logitech's new Combo Touch Keyboard Case with Trackpad for iPad is now available from Apple.

Apple's Afterburner Card for Mac Pro is now available as a standalone purchase from its website.

These fitness trackers are the cream of the crop when it comes to health and fitness tracking for triathlon training. Which tracker will you need? Here's what our research shows.

Read the original here:
Microsoft Teams is down, affecting remote workers and online education - iMore

BEIJING, March 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- China Online Education Group ("51 Talk" or the "Company") (NYSE: COE), a leading online education platform in China, with core expertise in English education, today announced its participation in the following investor conferences:

These will be live, interactive online events where investors are invited to ask the company management questions in real-time. For additional information, please contact your respective institutional sales representative at each sponsoring bank.

About China Online Education Group

51Talk, or China Online Education Group (NYSE: COE), is a leading online education platform inChina, with core expertise in English education. The Company's mission is to make quality education accessible and affordable. The Company's online and mobile education platforms enable students acrossChinato take live one-on-one interactive English lessons with overseas foreign teachers, on demand. The Company connects its students with a large pool of highly qualified foreign teachers that it assembled using a shared economy approach, and employs student and teacher feedback and data analytics to deliver a personalized learning experience to its students.

For more information, please visit http://ir.51talk.com.

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/china-online-education-group-to-participate-in-upcoming-investor-conferences-301022929.html

SOURCE China Online Education Group

Follow this link:
China Online Education Group to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences - Yahoo Finance

Last week, with students scattered throughout Europe during spring break, administrators of Lithuania-based LCC International University scrambled. The week began with leaders hoping the 600 or so students on campus72 percent of whom are from outside Lithuaniawould stay out of Italy, a coronavirus hot zone. By weeks end, with coronavirus spreading and much of Europe locking down, they feared what would happen when students returned from places like Germany, France, Spain, and the Netherlands.

What are we bringing back to campus now? asked LCC International President Dr. Marlene Wall.

The Christian liberal arts schools coronavirus task force had already decided to move to online-only education because of the pandemic. But leaders needed more action if returning students brought coronavirus back to campus, situated near the Baltic Sea in Klaipda, Lithuania. On Saturday LCC International staff turned the universitys gymnasium into a quarantine zone. They carried in mattresses, partitioned off parts of the gym, and prepared food bags for anyone needing isolation.

No one has needed the quarantine zone yet. But its there if they do. About half of LCC Internationals students were able to go home or self-isolate elsewhere, but the rest are still on campus, holed up in dorms. LCC staff have removed couches in common areas to discourage students from gathering. Most have access to dorm kitchens to cook. But faculty and staff keep helping. On Monday night they prepared soup for students left on campus. Instead of eating all at once in a common area, students retrieved the food in small groups. The most important thing for us is to express our Christian identity as we care for students on campus, Wall said.

With borders closed, those students are likely stuck on campus until the end of the semester. LCC International transitioned to online-only classes fairly easily, Wall said. But the coronavirus pandemic forced colleges and universities to make flash decisions about educating students while containing the spread of COVID-19, the respiratory disease the coronavirus causes. In some cases studentsand their parentshad to decide how to act too.

Colleges began making decisions quickly. On March 10, three members of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) hadtransitioned to online-only classes. By March 13, that number grew to 30 members. As of March 16, that number spiked to 85 of CCCUs 180 members.

One of the highest-profile Christian universities decided Monday to move to online-only education for the rest of the semester. Located in Lynchburg, Va., Liberty University (which is not a CCCU member) made the decision after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam banned gatherings of 100 or more students. But the move came after other institutions announced their own changes. In a series of tweets Sunday, Liberty President Jerry Falwell Jr. announced the schools stance, saying he didnt want to send studentswho can better withstand COVID-19into homes with older adults who might have more complications. One man on Twitter questioned the move and said he is the father of three Liberty students. Falwell tweeted back at him with an explanation and called him a dummy.

By Monday, more than 9,000 people had signed an online petition urging Liberty to transition to online-only classes.

At least one parent didnt wait for Liberty to shift online before getting his daughter home. David Cortwright said his daughter, a sophomore at Liberty, flew home to Austin, Texas, Sunday morning. When other campuses across the country began canceling in-person classes, he and his family expected Libertys announcement to come soon. But it didnt.

His daughter quickly packed one suitcase, a backpack, and a carry-on bag and flew home. She spent one night in the Orlando airport so she could make an early-morning connection. The rest of her belongings are still in her dorm room.

Libertys online education program is one of the most robust in the country. Cortwright didnt understand why the school waited so long to announce the transition, especially when other Virginia schools were: Why would Virginia Tech take that step and not the premiere Christian university, who has the industry-leading online program?

Many colleges had monitored the COVID-19 spread. But the wave of closures last week forced colleges to act fast.

The Kings College, a Christian liberal arts school in New York City, acted faster than its leaders had originally planned. Emergency management is part of my background, President Tim Gibson said. And Ive seen some real parallels coming into higher education.

Gibson had a career in the Air Force before entering higher education in 2016 and becoming president of The Kings College in 2017. Administrators there sent their first communication to students about coronavirus on Feb. 6. As COVID-19 spread, they decided to take spring breakthis week,begin online-only classes for a week, then come back to campus on March 30.

But they shelved that plan on March 11, when they began three days of online-only classes heading into spring break. Then on Friday, President Donald Trump addressed the country with an update, and Kingsshifted all classes online the rest of the semester.

We had mentally already committed to the idea that we were going to be teaching online the week after spring break, Gibson said. So we had already considered the possibility that we would be doing this for a long time.

Kings was able to move quickly because administrators adapted an inclement weather plan to the coronavirus situation, Gibson said: The pacing just really accelerated.

He also said leaders of other Christian colleges and universities communicate constantly about how each schoolresponds to similar situations. And the CCCU encourages members to share resources and best practices with each other.

Christian colleges and universities tend to really work together, Gibson said. We realize its not just about the individual purpose of our institution.

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