Online learning environment thriving in school district

  • By Sharon Haught
  • November 27, 2010
  • 273
                        
An online learning environment offered to students in the Wooster City School District may hold the key to academic success for a broad range of students. That’s what Mark Stefanik, Wooster City School District director of educational services and interventions, told the board of education during its Oct. 26 meeting. “PLATO is a self-paced learning alternative to traditional classroom courses,” said Stefanik. “We have found that a variety of students are achieving success by using the online learning environment as opposed to some of the lack of success they were achieving in traditional classroom environments.” Like two million of their peers across the country do on similar systems, students in the district can access the Web-based system from any computer 24 hours a day, seven days a week. According to Stefanik, “PLATO offers over 50 courses in all four major content areas – language arts, math, science and social studies” along with a small number of electives. He noted that online programs got their start in the district in the alternative sites and has been used for several years at the Opportunity School and Boys Village for credit recovery for students that had trouble taking a class the first time around and found themselves behind on credits. As the availability of the system has expanded to Wooster High School and Edgewood Middle School, so have the practical applications for the system. At the high school, PLATO is also used for the flex scheduling program where students leave school before the end of the traditional school day for work or other responsibilities. “With flex scheduling some students may not be in typical classes for the entire school day. They have some live face-to-face classes but they’ll have some classes online,” said Stefanik, noting that those students can access online coursework later in the day. Currently 73 students at Wooster High School and 21 students at Boys Village are taking some type of online course. “That does not mean they are strictly online for all of their high school education. Some will be online for a majority of their high school programming. Some will be on for just one class and some students are using it as support for their regular classes that they are taking at the high school,” noted Stefanik. “At Edgewood we have some students who were not having success in their content area classes so we are trying them with the same class online to see if they are going to be more successful.” The use of PLATO is already starting to expand beyond those who need a little extra help in order to be successful. Some middle school students are preparing for ninth grade using PLATO as a way to preview some of the courses that will show up on their freshman schedule. The district is also looking into the possibility of offering some credit class work to the ninth-graders through “some online opportunities over the summer so students then have some credits when they hit the doorway in August at Wooster High School,” said Stefanik. PLATO is also moving into the Advanced Placement classes for advanced level students at the high school level. Stefanik noted that the district will “continue to look for ways to extend online learning opportunities so that all the students in the Wooster schools can achieve academic success.” Superintendent Michael Tefs is enthusiastic about PLATO’s potential. “I really believe that potentially this will be a great opportunity for the Wooster City School District to help students prepare themselves for the rigor of the next curriculum that they are going to be experiencing,” said Tefs.


Loading next article...

End of content

No more pages to load