You might think Gregg Sharman unlucky for taking a principal’s job just before one of the most challenging and disruptive periods in the education sector in recent history. But the new acting principal of Marist Regional College doesn’t view the coronavirus pandemic with pessimism, but rather a chance to use “creativity and innovation to create better futures”. “So in relation to the approach of staff, their mindset has been all around opportunity as opposed to getting caught up in being resistant to change,” he said. “We have an opportunity to reimagine our approaches. This isn’t confined to coronavirus but I’d invite every member of our community to continually reimagine what is possible for our students and college community.” MORE ON COVID 19: Mr Sharman hopes a stronger and more innovative educational environment will emerge from the obstacles imposed by the coronavirus. And while implementing new, digital learning models hasn’t been without challenges, Marist Regional College had advantage: an existing e-learning platform. Marist E-Learning (MEL) was launched three years ago and enables teachers to upload “learning opportunities” and students to submit work and receive feedback. Mr Sharman said the usage of MEL was significantly ramped up because of COVID-19 and it needed to be supplemented by an external video conferencing platform, Microsoft Teams. “But the way staff responded has us asking the question: what is it now that we are going to retain from this experience?” he said. “Although COVID-19 has been incredibly disruptive of our community … what are the opportunities we can take forward?” Marist student Abi Wilson said the college “had done a great job at making the switch to online learning” and wondered if Microsoft Teams could be used in the future for online study sessions. “This way students could get some extra help if they are struggling,” she said. Mr Sharman hoped by looking for new opportunities for learning the school could find “a way forward we thought was never possible”. “Innovation, creativity, risk: these are all core concepts that will take the college forward,” he said. We have removed our paywall from our stories about the coronavirus. This is a rapidly changing situation and we want to make sure our readers are as informed as possible. If you would like to support our journalists you can subscribe here.
‘Innovation, creativity, risk’: Marist Regional College’s optimistic outlook to COVID-19 challenges
You might think Gregg Sharman unlucky for taking a principal’s job just before one of the most challenging and disruptive periods in the education sector in recent history.
But the new acting principal of Marist Regional College doesn’t view the coronavirus pandemic with pessimism, but rather a chance to use “creativity and innovation to create better futures”.
“We have an opportunity to reimagine our approaches. This isn’t confined to coronavirus but I’d invite every member of our community to continually reimagine what is possible for our students and college community.”
Mr Sharman hopes a stronger and more innovative educational environment will emerge from the obstacles imposed by the coronavirus.
FINDING SOLUTIONS: Marist Regional College acting principal Gregg Sharman and IT manager Hal Douglas. Picture: Brodie Weeding
“But the way staff responded has us asking the question: what is it now that we are going to retain from this experience?” he said.
“Although COVID-19 has been incredibly disruptive of our community … what are the opportunities we can take forward?”
“This way students could get some extra help if they are struggling,” she said.
“Innovation, creativity, risk: these are all core concepts that will take the college forward,” he said.
We have removed our paywall from our stories about the coronavirus. This is a rapidly changing situation and we want to make sure our readers are as informed as possible. If you would like to support our journalists .
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. AcceptRead More
Privacy Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.