The Knox Community School Corporation is reporting good results from its recent eLearning practice. The system is designed to let students work on assignments from home, when school is closed due to weather. Knox schools tested it earlier this month, and then followed up by sending a survey to parents, teachers, and students.
Director of Curriculum and Instruction Peggy Shidaker presented the results to the school board Monday. “We asked them if they experienced any technology issues,” she said. “Fourteen percent out of all of the surveys said yes, but all of those who responded said they either resolved themselves the problem or they received help from our KCSC Tech Department. So thank you again to our tech department. It seems we worked out the problems.”
Most people were able to log on to the corporation’s learning management system and find assignments, but some had trouble following links teachers had posted to outside websites. Some parents also asked if teachers could let them know when they’ve received students’ work and verify that it was submitted correctly.
Shidaker added that some elementary school parents had concerns about printing out their children’s assignments. “I don’t believe that was really, at the elementary, the way we understood it, that they had to print off anything,” she explained. “So I think that was a misunderstanding.”
Additionally, parents and students reported spending more time on the assignments than teachers thought they did. “I found it interesting that one-fourth of our parents and 17 percent of our students said they spend more than three hours that day on assignments, and yet, none of our staff felt that their students spent more than one-and-a-half hours,” Shidaker said. “So quite a difference, and that’s exactly what the [State] Department of Ed said, that teachers think, ‘Oh, they didn’t spend as much time,’ versus what the parents saw.”
Shidaker said most of the students who responded to the survey liked the eLearning experience. “The middle school students said it was kind of fun. That was the overall feeling. They said it really wasn’t that hard to do, and they loved they could do it from home. And the high school students said that was great. They don’t have to make up snow days. The students said they sure like staying in their pajamas to do that.”
Most said they’d be ready, if another eLearning day is called.
