Educators from India, China and Montenegro were among the over 50 participants in the seminar.
School principals Amukta Mahapatra from India, Zao Ying from China and Nadezda Emilfarb from Montenegro shared the changes they made in their schools following the pandemic.
Emilfarb described the surprising advantages of teaching during the pandemic. "Teaching via Zoom allows us to expose students to experts that we could not expose them to before coronavirus," said Emilfarb.
Mahapatra described the system her school now employs that includes students' parents helping to teach some material. "The decision was made in cooperation with the parents, and we gave [parents] proper training," said Mahapatra of the successful new program.
Ying said that her school has utilized optional activities to energize students struggling under the new realities of the pandemic. Ying's students have a "sharing hour" in the evening where students volunteer to teach each other about topics of their choice. Ying said the school staff was amazed by the willingness of students to participate despite the activity not being mandatory.