Dear Members of the School Community

With the staggered reopening of the School, a phase of unprecedented, intense discussion of digitizing schools is settling down for now. All teachers and students had to get used to a new form of teaching and learning that had previously seemed like a far-off vision. Today we call this the "new normal". But how "normal" is this reality and how much do we want to accept it as the new normal going forward?

The above question was addressed by principals and media coordinators of German schools abroad in the Asia and Pacific regions in an online training this week. In a Zoom conference of the title “Die digitale Transformation gestalten”  (Shaping the Digital Transformation), the principals and media coordinators of German schools in Sydney, Jakarta, Singapore, Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Changchun, Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, Taipei, Tokyo and Hong Kong discussed questions of individualised learning as well as pedagogical perspectives of digital learning culture in the digital transformation.

The training course shows that the new online experiences have many positive aspects which now need to be filtered and evaluated. In the weeks of school closure and intensive online learning, I believe that the new reality has already preceded the vision. I am sure that with the knowledge and experience gained, teachers and students alike will have many new tools and methods at their disposal in the future to profitably integrate digital elements into subject lessons.

The question of whether online teaching can replace classroom teaching is largely answered by the strong need of our students and teachers to see each other live on campus. Even with all the advanced refinements, the teachers' personal interaction with their students cannot be replaced by screen presence.

I am therefore delighted that our school resumption plan has been fully approved by EDB and that, after a long absence, we can welcome our students back on campus in a phased return.

Ulrich Weghoff
Principal
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