In what could be called a ‘the future is now’ presentation, Algoma District School Board administrators and trustees were given an overview at their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday of what the board has to offer students in terms of online learning.
Under Ontario law, starting with students who started Grade 9 in the 2020-21 school year, all students must earn at least two online learning credits as they work toward their high school diploma unless they have opted out or been exempted.
The board is working with current Grade 11 students in ensuring they get that minimum of two online learning credits by the time they graduate from Grade 12 at the end of the 2023-24 school year, said Marcy Bell, ADSB superintendent.
Unlike online learning that students experienced as a result of COVID lockdowns, Bell said the ADSB’s e-Learning program is different.
“E-Learning is not ‘Pandemic Learning 2.0,’” Bell said.
“It existed before the pandemic and e-learning continues to exist and is a really important mode of learning,” Bell said, pointing to the fact that all sectors are engaging in online learning in today’s world.
According to one survey, 94 per cent of students say they use technology to do their homework.
Originally a part of the Northern e-Learning Consortium, the ADSB is now a partner in the province-wide Ontario e-Learning Consortium.
As such, there is a growing number and variety of courses for ADSB students to choose from.
Currently, there are over 500 e-learning courses available, with students from across Ontario able to access courses available from other school boards.
“What’s interesting is that students are getting exposure to other students in other parts of the province, who live in different areas and who have different experiences,” Bell said.
ADSB’s e-learning program is taught in an asynchronous manner, in which students can learn at their own pace and interact with each other over longer periods of time as compared to synchronous learning in which students and teachers meet at the same time, virtually or physically and in real time.
The courses are taught by certified Ontario teachers and are official Ontario Ministry of Education curriculum.
“ADSB offers 26 courses as part of the Ontario eLearning Consortium. When you look at our eLearning program as part of this consortium, there are 248 registrations for courses. 185, or 75 per cent of these are ADSB students taking courses offered by ADSB teachers, and 63, or 25 per cent are students from other boards accessing our courses. We have 41 ADSB registrations where our students are accessing courses offered by other boards across the province,” Bell told SooToday.
Some of those courses taken by ADSB students are offered through eLearning by Peel District School Board, Toronto District School Board, Waterloo Region District School Board and others.
There are 13 to 15 students in each course, Bell told the board.
Currently, there is a greater choice of courses in the senior high school grades, students able to choose courses as far apart as accounting to photography and 15th century history.
While Ontario law has laid down that minimum of two online credits, Bell said “there is an opt out option for parents and familes who want to opt out.”
Bell said e-learning provides flexibility and autonomy for students.
“We want to make sure that parents and students are informed about all the options and that there is no penalty for opting out, but we also need to prepare for rapid expansion of the program as we are going to very quickly see that all graduating students will be required to take two courses.”
ADSB trustee Elaine Johnston, the board’s vice chair and First Nation trustee, questioned if there will be an evaluation of parents and students who opt out and why they’re opting out.
“I know there have been some concerns from students who do not do well in e-learning,” Johnston said.
Bell said those questions will be asked and students will receive additional support if needed.
As reported earlier by SooToday, as the possibility of a CUPE-represented education workers’ strike loomed in November, not all students enjoy being away from the classroom, teachers, friends, sports and other activities.
In contrast, two of the ADSB’s student trustees seem to have embraced e-learning.
“I took the introduction to kinesiology last year and it went pretty well. I think everything was really easy to find and everything was laid out well. I did well,” said Teagan Britten, a Michipicoten High School student in Wawa, addressing the board on Tuesday.
Ava Engel, from Korah Collegiate, switched from accounting to music in her e-learning experience.
“I have lots of friends who’ve taken them and I haven't really heard of any issues with them. They all seemed to have good experiences with them.”
“I think this is exactly where we need to be going,” said ADSB trustee Marie Murphy-Foran of Elliot Lake.
“We have teachers that are qualified in our board that may never get a chance to teach in their subject area and I think that this provides an opportunity for them to teach while still living in and teaching other programs in northern Ontario and I think that goes a long way in retaining people,” Murphy-Foran said.
Trustee Russell Reid, representing Michipicoten, Chapleau and Hornepayne, said “we’ve come a long way from the old Contact North and the telephone and the white board.”
“Those days were terrible but it did evolve into that Northern e-Learning Consortium that served us very well for decades. I’m glad to hear we are part of the Ontario e-Learning Consortium now.”
“Everybody’s moving forward together. Southern Ontario can learn from northern Ontario teachers in a northern Ontario environment. This is a win-win I think,” Reid said.
“I think it allows students and parents a choice. We certainly heard through the pandemic there are kids who do thrive (in online learning). It does cater to different learning styles of students,” said Lucia Reece, ADSB director of education.