Our approach to online learning is designed to optimize every dimension of student academic achievement. Through our flexible class scheduling, one-to-one support, latest technology, and a wide variety of examination and testing options, students will embark on an educational journey which fully caters to their individual needs and drives them to achieve their full potential.
~ CGA uses the best in class technology to provide a rich online experience for our students and teachers. Our technology resources are unmatched by a brick-and-mortar secondary school due to our start as a technology company. Led by our Chief Technology Officer and a 25+ member team of developers and designers, we are constantly improving the experience for our students and teachers.
~ The authenticity of internal assessments and work will be verified through the latest anti-plagiarism tools as found in leading universities. All external exams are carried out in secure, physical examinations centers, pre-vetted, and registered with international awarding agencies.
~ Students and teachers have the ability to interact through live-polls and quizzes, break-out into smaller groups for collaboration, message and chat to provide input and feedback in real-time, and use the interactive white-boarding tool to animate, annotate, and collaborate with peers. All classes are recorded and transcribed to allow for easy study notes and catch-ups if required.
The biggest caveat about the pandemic-driven shift to online learning is that brick and mortar schools are not well-prepared for virtual teaching. Although many schools use technology in the classroom, few, if any, are equipped with the hardware and software needed to successfully run online classes. Furthermore, teachers at traditional schools aren’t specially trained to use virtual teaching tools or strategies that best aid with engagement online.
CGA was established on Crimson Education’s near-decade of expertise in the digital learning space and is purpose-built to provide an education on par with traditional, physical schools - with the added benefits of personalization unlocked by technology. Our platforms allow us to adapt our delivery methods to reflect students’ individual learning styles and needs.
CGA uses leading education software like Kami and ManageBac as well as proprietary software to provide immersive digital classrooms with interactive, multifunctional online whiteboards and efficient assignment tracking and management tools. These allow students to be more efficient with their note-taking, focusing their in-class time on enriching interactions with their instructors and peers, whilst also providing parents with deeper visibility over their child’s learning and academic progress. Though regular class attendance is mandatory, all CGA lessons are recorded and fully transcribed for future reference by students.
CGA teachers are not only some of the best high school teachers around the world but they are also expertly trained in online teaching so they can more effectively cater to the needs of individual students.
As an added bonus, CGA provides small, real-time classes built for interaction, addressing the complaint of many online learners that they feel like they lose out on quality instruction and care from teachers.
What are the benefits of online schools? On its surface, online schools can offer a whole host of strengths over traditional face to face high schools:
Besides these obvious benefits, there is an extensive body of research demonstrating the benefits of an online education. An IBM study found that participants learned five times more material in online learning courses using multimedia content than in traditional face to face courses.
At CGA we intersperse multimedia content and learning materials with frequently administered “mini-tests.” These tests can be informal – like answering a series of questions from the teacher – or formal – like an online quiz or assignment. Research from Harvard showed that the kinds of regular testing and recall demanded by online learning halved student distraction, tripled note-taking, and students’ overall retention of content drastically improved.
This research, among many others, has resulted in a US Department of Education meta-analysis concluding that “students in online learning conditions performed modestly better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.” As more research is published on the growing phenomena of online education, we will see more concrete examples where online schools like CGA can provide a better educational experience for students at every age and ability level.