You must pay special attention to your student’s* workstation, workplace environment in order for us to all achieve success together. In addition, you must be able to have back-up plans for eventual distractions that might occur during the day. See our guide below on how you can best prepare yourself for online school.
This is the most important facet to schooling at home. If you do not have a dedicated workspace for your student*, the homework will end up in the spice drawer.
Set up a dedicated workspace for your student*; a separate room, corner or space dedicated to only work. No play and eating should happen in this dedicated area. Furnish it with basics to hold their stationery and books.
A bonus would be if it is near a window or natural light but away from the daily activities of the home and other family members.
Aside from the obvious equipment like a computer, internet, desk and a chair; you must also have the following equipment on hand:
Headphones will help your student* to cover their ears and zone out the surrounding sound so they can focus on their class. The microphone will be essential for him/her to be heard clearly by everyone else in the classroom.
Please see the Online Study section which details the essential school materials needed by your student* for a successful class session.
Improper computer ergonomics is a leading cause of neck and back pain, eye strain, carpal tunnel and shoulder fatigue. You must ensure safe and healthy computer usage for your student*.
Please look at the image for how to correctly set up your workstation. At the very least, if you do not have a separate monitor, you can buy an external keyboard and mouse for your laptop. You can then raise the laptop by sitting it on some books or a box.
The School Routine has put in place frequent breaks during and after lessons. Please adhere to the guidelines and ensure that your student* moves away from the device for the specified time period.
For families that have younger siblings who are not in school, we encourage you to put them on the same routine as your student’s*. However, if possible, we also encourage that they work in a different space, away from your student* to avoid distractions.
We have developed a list of resources and workable schedule for your younger ones that can be found here in the Young Learners’ section.
Unfortunately, in Uganda, this will be a common occurence that you will have to mitigate. We wish we could offer more concrete solutions but this is something you will have to manage based on your location, network strength etc.
However, we recommend that you have a WiFi connection in your house. You should also install the Classter and Microsoft Teams apps on your phone as a backup.
Oh UMEME! We share your frustration with power blackouts. However, you can prepare for that eventuality by:
We have endeavoured to make our transition to online schooling as smooth as possible. We even dedicated the first week of school to onboarding and getting used to the routine and new platforms.
However, there may be times when you or your student* feels overwhelmed by this process. When that happens, for the sake of your student’s* progress, we beg that you do not give up but that you will reach out to us for help and support. We are here for you! Feel free to contact us at any time.