I'm a high school principal in Hong Kong — this is what US families can expect distance learning to look like in a few months

David Lovelin welcoming students to campus.Courtesy photo

• Dr. David Lovelin is the high school principal of Hong Kong International School. He's been a school administrator for 15 years throughout South Korea and the US.
• After their school was forced to close in early January due to COVID-19, Lovelin and his faculty were faced with creating a remote learning plan for their 2,800 students of 40 different nationalities.
• What he and his team are seeing from students and educators today is likely what US schools can expect as their closures continue.
• It's important to have centralized communication, develop a daily routine, and meet weekly expectations, Lovelin says, to keep students on track and make them feel supported.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

As the COVID-19 virus hit our city, the leadership here at Hong Kong International began creating a blueprint for distance learning that K-12 schools around the world can hopefully learn from.

The government in Hong Kong closed schools in early January, meaning we're a solid couple of months further along in this journey than most American schools.

Over this time our school, an American-style preparatory school serving 2,800 students of 40 nationalities, has enacted the distance learning experiences from previous school closures to enable students to thrive, even if they could not be inside our buildings.

For Hong Kong International, distance learning is not entirely unprecedented. We had an initial period of distance learning days in the fall of 2019 due to protests in Hong Kong. Once we returned, we started planning what we needed for future remote-learning situations, much as many schools in the US are now doing.

What we're seeing from our students and educators today is likely what US schools can expect as their closures continue.