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Local district still providing hands-on learning in a virtual environment

PITTSBURGH — The newly renovated hallways inside Dickson Preparatory STEAM Academy won’t be filled with students who are hurrying to get to class this year.

Instead, students will be logging onto their laptops from home to complete their assignments since the district decided to start the year fully virtual because of COVID-19.

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“We spoke to several medical experts over the last two to three months and realized in May and June that COVID isn’t going away,” Woodland Hills Director of Curriculum Eddie Willson said.

The district started planning early. It used funding to buy each student a new laptop, several internet hot spots across the community and purchased interactive programs for students and teachers.

“One of the concerns parents had was, ‘My child is just going to be staring at a computer screen.’ Not here at Dixon Preparatory STEAM Academy. We want to make sure they have an engaging high-quality experience,” Principal Kristina Peart told Channel 11.

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School officials are working on making sure each online class has an interactive component, especially for hands-on subjects like science and music.

For example, in a music class, the teacher would be able to record themselves performing, and the student would be able to watch and duplicate from home.

Then, students are able to break into virtual small groups and eventually one-on-one instruction via video.

“It’s very similar to what we would do in the classroom, just incorporated in that technology,” Willson said.

Their focus is providing the best education possible while protecting their students from the coronavirus.

“We, as human beings, work better when we are able to interact face to face. So we know there are drawbacks. We really want it to be like a high-quality classroom, just virtual.”

District officials say they are going to be reevaluating the learning plan every 30 days to determine if it’s safe enough for students to come back to the classroom.