As you may know, this year is split into virtual schooling and in-school schooling. Some people may say that online schooling is more complicated and dangerous for your grades. Teachers have trouble putting assignments out on Google Classroom or updating the stream. Students have trouble taking on the responsibility of logging into Google Classroom and completing assignments on time. Teachers and students both continually struggle with online schooling and in-school schooling. However, most of the assignments are on Edmentum Course-ware. On Edmentum each class is split into courses. Some students may still rely on Google Classroom, but all of their assignments go through this computer program.
Virtual Advisors are assigned teachers or counselors that look over the online school students. Each of these advisors is given a select group of students to look after. Mrs. Shelby Newlin looks over some senior classes this year.
The virtual students don’t have teachers. Instead, they are given a list of assignments online (Edmentum Course-ware) and given specific dates for when they need to be turned in. If they have any questions regarding the assignments they can email the teacher for that specific assignment and get help.
This can be complicated for virtual students as well. As the teachers have to look at their emails every day in case a virtual student emails them regarding a question for an assignment. Some students have a lot of trouble checking their email though. They have to remember to get on their email every so often so that they have a chance to look at anything new Virtual Advisors or teachers have sent them.
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For this article, I interviewed multiple Virtual Advisors and multiple virtual students. They gave me their personal opinion on schooling this year. I was able to personally email them and ask a variety of questions. These questions ranged from, “How are your studies going,” to, “Are you worried that this year's students' online grades may be struggling, if so why?”
The Virtual Advisors were given questions over how they became the virtual advisors and what their actual position in the school is. The virtual students were given questions over what they think about virtual schooling, what (if anything) would they change about this year, and if they ever miss in-school schooling.
For the first interview, I interviewed Megan Pontius. She is a senior, and she is under the Virtual Advisor Mrs. Shelby Newlin. When asked, “If things are to get better next year and everyone has to be in school would you want to do in school or still have the choice of doing online school,” Megan simply stated, “I'm graduating early but if I was to continue school for the next semester I'd still do it online.” Megan would then go on to say, “I don't miss being in school, it's filled with a bunch of childish people and I'd rather just learn on my own. My studies are going pretty good, I find it easier for me to learn online. It's also more convenient for me since I'm a senior and looking into schools and colleges.”
Megan is a senior, so a person would automatically assume that Megan is very busy this year. She is already looking into colleges and cracking down on her grades for this semester. When she was asked if there was anything else she would like to state, she added, “I'm super busy so working online gives me more free time to do other things.”
I was able to interview a couple of Virtual Advisors. I am going to include Mrs. Denise Rodgers in this section of the article because she was able to lead me to many students that would be willing to be interviewed.
Denise Rodgers is a Virtual Advisor for part of the 11th grade. She was the job coach for the special needs department. She took students to and from their jobs in the community and checked on them every week while at work. Denise was also able to help other students with jobs here in our very own building (Blackford Junior-Senior High School). When asked what happened this year, Denise stated, “However, due to COVID-19, I only have one student working outside the school now, and she leaves a half-day and those students who washed tables are not doing that this year. Recycling has also been put on hold due to COVID-19.”
It has been an issue in the past with grades struggling online. This mainly came from last year's struggle, as we were unexpectedly taken out of school for a whole semester. The teachers had trouble grading papers and putting in grades from Google Classroom. Google Classroom also continually struggled, as there was an overload of people on the site every day.
When I asked Mrs. Rogers if she was worried about the grades of the students continually struggling she stated, “No I am not worried about the students online and their grades. Although this is not the norm, I think, for the most part, the majority are doing well. There are many options for help and them to make the grade they are striving for. There are teachers in each subject that have offered help to the kids as well. The ones who seem to take advantage of the extra help available are the ones who seem to be successful in the program. You have to put forth the effort, work, and time just as if you were present for in-person schooling to make the grades. I am sure some will agree that virtual is not for everyone.”
During my interviews with each Virtual Advisor, I asked, “What does a virtual advisor personally do?” For many teachers this varies, some may be a math specialist and some may just look over the student's grades. The Virtual Advisors task varies among each person, so as you may expect I got many answers overlooking this question. Here are some responses to the last question asked the Virtual Advisors:
Denise Rogers states, “I can't speak for everyone's daily routines for the virtual advisors. As far as for me, I have a daily attendance question that the kids must answer in Google Classroom. I am constantly checking emails and Course-ware to make sure the students don't need something graded, unlocked, or reset. I email, phone, or set up google meets with students and parents on their progress and when extra help is needed. I send a weekly report to the administration on how each student is doing in each subject. A lot of times I am working in the evenings as well to either help students, grade, unlock, or reset items. I know this is not a normal situation, but I feel everyone is making the best out of it. I lean on my other advisors for their help as well and that is something that has been a huge help to me throughout this year. We are all in this together, and working together as a team is important.”
Karen Bergdoll (the Virtual Advisor overlooking parts of the senior class) states, “There are a few objectives we attempt to accomplish weekly with our students. First, we monitor their weekly progress in their courses. We have been charged with making contact a minimum of twice per week. I schedule a Google Meet session, and I email course progression numbers to my students. If/When it becomes necessary, I will occasionally call outside the other two forms of contact. We answer any questions students may have about their courses and serve as a liaison between the student and content-area teacher if necessary.”
Aaron Bagley states, “A virtual advisor is in charge of overseeing a group of students and their courses. We track student progress, offer guidance and technical support, grade student work, and provide instructional guidelines for students to succeed. Sometimes, we talk through issues students may be having with a particular course by meeting virtually on a weekly basis.”
Ashton Townsend, Jasmine Shultz, and Vincent Ussery are all overlooked by the Virtual Advisor Denise Rogers. Again, Denise Rogers overlooks parts of the 11th grade. Vincent, Jasmine, and Ashton are all juniors. Now, they aren't as busy as Megan Pontius, so they were able to respond fairly quickly to my interview questions. I asked each of them whether they missed school. Vincent and Jasmine both agreed that they miss school, but they each have their reasons as to why they miss in-school learning.
Jasmine replies, “I do miss school mainly because I miss being active and JROTC. I miss seeing my favorite teachers.” Jasmine misses school because she was able to be active and be in contact with her favorite teachers. Honestly, this may come as a shocker to you, but the students have their favorite teachers in school.
However, Vincent replies with something drastically different from Jasmine. Vincent states, “I miss going to actual school honestly because I miss seeing all of my friends, and the older/newer teachers as well. Don't miss the amount of work, but the rest is true.” Vincent is more about the friend aspect of school than the physical activity Jasmine likes.
All virtual students have their opinion over missing school and some are more opposed to the idea of missing it than others, Ashton Townsend being one of these people. Ashton Townsend simply states, “Not really.”
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For this part, I decided to interview multiple virtual students. I combined their answers for the next couple of questions to give you a range of how the students believe their grades are being affected and what else they would like to add to this article.
I asked multiple virtual students the same two questions, “Do you think that your grades are being greatly affected doing online school? Do you believe you would have better grades in school than online,” and, “Is there anything else you would like to state about online school?”
Sidney Funkhouser is a senior this year and when asked these questions she states, “Yes, I think my grades are being greatly affected in a good way, as of right now I have three A's and one B but I only have 4 classes (which is not typical; the majority of students have 7 courses they are taking on) which is another bonus to being online because you don't necessarily have to take classes that you don't need. And no I don't think that I would have better grades if I were in school but my grades are amazing right now.”
For the next part of the question, Sidney replies with, “All that I would like to say is I think online school is way better for my health I was always stressed in school and part of it was because I had to wake up so early for school every day and half the time I was so tired I felt like I had to get all my work done all at once, but now I feel that I have more time to get my work done and still have free time to do whatever. I also don't have to get ready every morning most of the time I do my work in comfy clothes. I just think this is way before for me then going to school and being at risk of getting COVID-19. Though I do miss walking the hallways and seeing my friends and it does stink that it's my last year but the online school was the best decision for me. “
When asked these two questions, Ashton Townsend replies, “Not at all, I’d probably be flunking my classes if I was in school, being at home makes it easier for me to focus.” Ashton goes on to state, “Overall, the online school has helped me tremendously, and I would recommend it.”
Vincent Ussery (you have heard from him before) is a junior in our high school. When asked these questions he replies with, “I used to be pretty lazy in actual school till my parents told me that it wouldn't get me very far. My grades were greatly (positively) affected by online, and if I go to real school again, I think my grades wouldn't falter that much,” and, “Online school, it's mostly just permanent Plato, so it's not that bad, or difficult, so if you were to switch or be forced to switch to it, it wouldn't be as bad as most would make it out to be.”
Jasmine Shultz is also a junior this year. When I asked her, “Do you think that your grades are being greatly affected doing online school? Do you believe you would have better grades in school than online,” her answer greatly varies from all the other answers. Jasmine states, “Yes I do believe my grades would be better if I was in school, But I have reached out to my advisor, and she has helped me a great deal to keep my grades in the up direction.”
Grades during virtual-schooling can be tricky to keep up. However, it seems that as long as the students can get a hold of their teachers and Virtual Advisors then their grades stand up. It seems that most of the replies were subjected to the fact that being online is better for them because they can focus better. Online, students don’t have the distraction of their friends, and they have no time limit to start and stop their assignments in one day. Instead, they can spend as much time as they may need on that assignment on one day before they go on to the next.
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If you don't already know, anyone that transfers from in-school learning to virtual learning has to redo the whole nine-weeks (or however long they were involved in in-school learning).
However, saying that students are “redoing” assignments would be the wrong thing to imply. A student starts their courses (classes) on Course-ware. If they have not taken that course yet then they will not be redoing anything in that class. Meaning, a student is in person for the first 9 weeks and then switches to virtual the second 9 weeks. Before students make the switch, they are informed of this to help in the decision. Also, once the new semester starts they start a new course in Course-ware. These courses are divided into semester A and semester B.
For my last interview, I was able to interview Dayton Hoover. Dayton is a sophomore, and he is also involved in multiple sports throughout each season. Last season, he was involved in soccer, and this season he is involved in basketball. He is new to virtual learning, as he just became a part of it about three weeks ago.
I asked Dayton, “What would he change if he was in charge of virtual learning,” and, “Do you think that your grades are being greatly affected doing online school? Do you believe you would have better grades in school than online?” Dayton responded with, “If I was in charge of online school, I wouldn’t require anyone that switched mid-school year to redo all the work that they have completed. Before switching, I had done 7 or 8 weeks worth of school, in the building, then had to redo it all.”
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As you can see, people have varying views when it comes to missing school and how their grades are being affected. Some people believe that being online is more practical for them because it gives them more free time, and they are allowed to have a flexible time frame for assignments. Others miss being in school as they have favorite teachers and their friends are in school, and they don't have free time to see each other.
As for the Virtual Advisors, they all have varying jobs and have varying responsibilities. Some look over seniors, and some look over juniors. The rest gets split between each Virtual Advisor. They make sure to check their email and help students with anything they need during the meeting time they get provided.
Virtual Advisors and virtual students are what make up this article. They come with a lot of opinions of different things, and this was just a small bite in a big pile of goodness.