Learning Over the Internet

Online classes have come to Thomas Edison and students are feeling the difference between a traditional class and online courses.

Edison wanted to bring more technology to classes within the school. According to the senior guidance counselor, Ms. Jackson, ̈They wanted to have a different way of incorporating technology into the classroom while still having course level work.̈ The course would also allow for more independence with the way students do their work, which Ms. Jackson explained as students will “do more independent work for college readiness.¨

Online classes are courses where students go on a website to access work and talk to their teacher through a video chat. Some of the online courses in the school include AP Statistics and AP Psychology. Most students have not taken an online course before this one which made for them to have many opinions about these classes.

A student taking the AP Psychology course, Yzer Degula, explained that, “people can use resources the teacher provides them because it is easily accessible due to it being an online course.” With this it can be understood that within the class most resources are easily accessible compared to a traditional class where you may have to ask for other resources or have textbooks not with you.

Being in a class with no teacher present is different for other reasons besides online accessibility. As Yzer Degula continued to explain “What I can say is it encourages responsibility. In this class you have to look at the online resources available to see what needs to be done as well as using those materials to move ahead on your own.”

Being able to view all the content taught in the class online allows for you to learn when you are ready as well as making you a more responsible student.

While on the topic of difference between types of classes a student from AP statistics, Ryan Singh, explained “they mainly rely on videos and articles while teachers in class teach us most of the things instead of using those resources.”

This student brought up the point that in these classes learning is mainly done through videos and articles while in a traditional type of classroom teachers teach students through examples and their own lessons they make up.

An online class is very different type of experience from a normal class. The decision to take an online class is a large one as you must understand how you will be learning. Students will have an opportunity to take on a new challenge and new responsibilities when taking an online course.