Light on the road to learning

Exclusive interview with online teaching expert Tina. Tina Piper

Interview/Gao Lili‧Photo courtesy/Tina Piper Translation and editing/Wu Xinhui

K: Luma means "light" in Latin. What is the special significance of the original name Luma Learn?

Jesus is the light of the world. We hope that this learning platform will be centered on Jesus. This is our original intention.

K: Please introduce the Luma Learn online platform and its target users.

Luma Learn is a unique online learning platform that allows teachers and students to flexibly obtain the maximum benefits of mutual teaching and learning. This healthy market trend model ensures that teachers and students get twice the result with half the effort. One of the unique features of the platform is that students and parents taking courses can provide feedback, allowing students who want to take courses to get reference information so that they can make the best choice.

Students range from kindergarten to adults, with the largest number of students in the age group from first grade to high school. Due to the epidemic, everyone generally studies online, so many teachers have been invited to join and more courses have been opened. Some of these courses are semester-based and some are academic-year.

The biggest advantage of Luma Learn is that the platform is designed by home education members, and most of the teachers have teaching and learning experience in home education. Technically, the learning management system is also very sophisticated; the system has a variety of tools that allow teachers to design courses that are highly interactive with students.

Traditional online teaching mostly involves teachers teaching online, or students watching videos and studying on their own at a pace, plus online exams and similar learning assessments. In addition to traditional courses, Luma Learn's system also allows teachers to use different learning tools, and has advanced integration with books and videos such as Quizlet, TED-Ed, SchoolTube, etc., allowing students studying at home to seamlessly integrate with various learning platforms. .

Luma Learn is a course management system that uses Moodle. Students have access to the most common learning system. They use text messages, images, and videos to familiarize themselves with the system’s functions such as chats, group discussions, quizzes, and homework submissions. It is ideal for college students. The online learning model is deployed in advance.

▲Luma Learn’s website has many courses for students to choose from based on age and level. The picture shows one of the course selection pages on the website.

K: There are many online learning platforms, and many people use Zoom or WebEx. How is Luma Learn different from these websites?

Many people are confused about what an online platform is and think that as long as it can provide a live broadcast or online conference system, it is a platform. In fact, the real online platform is a software design that has the teaching function of teachers and students interacting online during synchronous or asynchronous time periods.

If students and teachers use Zoom to hold online meetings during a certain period, interaction and sharing with each other are limited to that period, and they can only interact via email or other social media after offline. If you use Luma Learn at the same time during an online meeting, the teacher can easily continue the interaction between teachers and students on the designed webpage after class, and there will be less problems with "not seeing" or "not receiving" emails. .

In addition, students upload their assignments to the Luma Learn webpage, and teachers can comment or annotate them without downloading. They can also log in to their results immediately, allowing students to view results or submit assignments immediately. Teachers can design various types of exams on the web page according to the students' learning status, and they can collaborate whether they are online with the students or not. Currently, some teachers also link to other teaching websites and resources, which are not limited to tools on web pages. Luma Learn's teaching platform is full of unlimited creativity and space, which is not available in online conference platforms.

K: Please talk about what Luma Learn can do for the Christian community?

As we were building our online platform, we realized there was also an opportunity to help Christian organizations. God leads us to use open source applications and build our own servers with customizable passwords. If you choose to use the listed application equation at that time, you cannot use it freely.

Not only can we customize the Luma Learn website, we can also customize another layout on the same platform for use by other organizations. For example, we helped a university in Haiti design an exclusive online learning platform, which is also an applied Learning Management System (LMS) system and can be converted into French in just one click. We have also assisted a nearby small private school to customize a version of its learning platform and are currently designing features that suit the school’s needs. When the platforms of these organizations enter our system, we can make appropriate adjustments according to the changes and growth of the organization.

A platform with customized functions is a rare asset for many organizations or ministries. It is hoped that through the use of this platform, the kingdom of God can be expanded globally.

▲Luma Learn has students ranging from elementary school to adults, and the courses are suitable for all ages.

K: What challenges are you currently facing? What are your plans for the future?

Entering 2020, the “new normal” is shaping the future of Luma Learn. Due to the epidemic, the current challenge in education is that more parents are choosing home education, online courses, or a mixture of physical and online teaching. Our teaching platform already has the resources of small schools, small teaching pods or cooperative education, and can also move forward to private or charter schools, because the flexible teaching of the platform can meet the learning needs of various places. We found that physical schools can also use Luma Learn’s resources to conduct exams, do homework, and refer to supplementary teaching materials in class.

What excites us most is the ability to use the platform to develop international teaching outreach ministries. Technology is developing rapidly and the Internet is spread all over the world. Many organizations are able to use Luma Learn's resources to educate children in remote villages. As long as there is an Internet connection, students anywhere can log in to Luma Learn's teaching platform and learn various subjects such as English and science. This is one of our main corporate actions, and we continue to give back to the global community, so we are inspired to participate in providing the resources that are most needed in the community. We are grateful for the opportunity to provide high-quality education, scholarships and grants.

Imagine lives being transformed - students in a community in Haiti can learn how to prevent rabies online; imagine that most medical staff can spread medical knowledge and disease prevention around the world without going out; imagine that churches can plan online learning , outreach to their communities. I believe that 2020 is a new beginning, and we are eagerly looking forward to the follow-up development.

Sincere respect and management

A few years ago, the website where I taught suddenly closed down, leaving a group of stunned teachers and students wondering what to do. It is really difficult to find a high-quality teaching platform, and Luma Learn is like a platform rising from the ashes. It is a real honor to cooperate with such a high-quality teaching platform, especially since the founder has a sincere attitude and is committed to maintaining standards consistent with the Bible, including love, compassion, and upholding Godly values.

What I appreciate most is the clear division of the relationship between teachers and operators, which gives teachers the freedom to arrange their time and the space to design teaching materials, as long as the designed teaching materials conform to the platform's vision, philosophy, and the standards required by the platform. Not every platform operator can divide the relationship so clearly. Most operators are ambiguous about the boundaries and interfere and manage teachers as if they are employees.

Because Luma Learn is small, the response time when contacting us is very fast. If we encounter unclear problems, they will quickly find answers and solutions. As a teacher, I feel very valued and supported by Luma Learn. The working atmosphere is unpretentious and teachers, parents, students and operators respect each other. I believe that such an atmosphere is generated from the biblical values of integrity, respect, kindness, kindness and compassion, not just in words, but in daily actions.

Marjorie McIlvaine (Teacher)

Return to the teaching platform from a distance

I originally taught at the University of Haiti, but due to the political unrest, the university was forced to close and I had to move to the Dominican Republic. Then COVID-19 spread, and my husband and I were in a really embarrassing situation.

Then, we came across Luma Learn. At first, I mainly taught music and social subjects from kindergarten to high school online. I have extensive experience in online teaching and am also a PhD candidate in online courses. I think the LMS system used by Luma Learn is quite sophisticated. To be honest, I have not yet fully used the tools on the platform. Every time I design a course, I discover new features. These tools attract students to practice, review, and interact with teachers online, which is a great help in teaching.

I introduced Luma Learn to the director of the University of Haiti. The school is struggling due to political factors and COVID-19. With the Luma Learn platform, the school has been able to resume classes online. Professors hold classes online in real time, and students also use the platform to hand in homework, so professors are better able to take care of students. Although there are frequent power outages in Haiti, the Luma Learn platform can automatically record lessons so that students can rewatch them online when power is available.

Luma Learn brings Haitian university students back to classrooms. Although I currently live in the United States, I am very excited to be teaching at the University of Haiti again.

Priscilla Previl (Teacher)

I choose "Shi Guang"

When choosing an LMS system, you will find that the Internet is flooded with different learning management systems. Not every system is built the same, here are the reasons I chose Luma Learn:

1. The teachers at Luma Learn are all Christians and have a Christian vision;

2. Luma Learn attaches great importance to the advancement of teachers and produces videos to guide teachers in using different equipment in the system, so teachers can quickly set up teaching web pages;

3. The platform interface is easy to use and can be operated by students and parents;

4. The LMS is very durable and comes with a variety of high-quality equipment. Videos, audios, various homework templates, etc. can be embedded on the subject homepage. Luma Learn is a "one-stop" usage platform.

Cathy Beaver (Teacher)

Efficiency ‧ Creativity ‧ Choose what you like

Luma Learn allows students to learn at their own pace, and also allows parents to contact teachers directly and get responses quickly. This is an efficiency that is difficult to obtain on ordinary learning websites.

The creativity and multiple subject options of the Luma Learn platform allow students of different ages to choose what they like, including our daughter learning baking, and our little one learning how big the feet of the Statue of Liberty are!

Kelly Stitzel (parent)

The highest point of learning

Since the outbreak, children have started using different online conferencing platforms. Since using Luma Learn, I have found that this platform has a great interface. The function of the round table helps students fully develop critical thinking, which is the highest point of learning. Luma Learn makes online learning close to the physical classroom experience, which is difficult to achieve in an online learning environment. I highly recommend this learning site.

Jeneene Stokarski (parent)