Blair Yats
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Online and blended classes allow time to work from home when I’m sick and I never have to miss days from class.”
– Blair Yats
Blended and online learning opportunities allow students to take more control of their own education. This type of control empowers students to become more involved by expanding their choices of courses, learning environments, and schedules. With access to these types of options I believe more students have a higher chance of success as these non-traditional classroom settings have truly bridged several gaps for students. There are so many students out there who may not be performing at grade level for any number of reasons. It could be extended illness, difficulty with transportation, language barriers, or safety issues. Some students may just have a hard time keeping up due to learning and behavior disabilities like ADHD or auditory processing issues. Blended and online classes can be an answered prayer for these students and their families as they can now learn at their own pace, have access to all the resources and notes, and be comfortable communicating with the teacher by email or phone. For those that need to work, they can take classes at night. For those that need a quieter setting, they now have a perfect situation. These students may now be able to keep up with the pace where they could not in a traditional classroom. Being able to go at his or her own pace in class would help eliminate students being left behind during class, helping close
learning gaps.
In my own personal experience, non-traditional classes have been a huge blessing for me because I have a disorder called eosinophilia that has caused me to be sick often and attend many doctor’s appointments. Online and blended classes allow time to work from home when I’m sick and I never have to miss days from class. I can do the work at any time of day and I can schedule my class time and appointments with no interference. Before taking online and blended classes I was absent frequently and I would get left behind in class. It was hard for me to catch up. This affected my grades and I had a dream of going to a top college. Online classes have helped keep me in the competitive college game.
I also have a 504 plan with accommodations. I was in speech therapy for 5 years and now sometimes need headphones when I take a test. This can occasionally cause way too much of a scene at school, where at home I can wear my own headphones and not worry about others. I have ADHD, which I generally consider a gift, but in a structured classroom with a teacher that doesn’t really believe in ADHD, and there are still some, this gift can be a curse. I sometimes feel like I get behind during lectures but if I ask a teacher to repeat themselves they will embarrass me and make me feel like I have disrupted the classroom. Online classes have presentations and notes available on demand.
I have been taking online and blended classes along with traditional classes throughout high school. Some reasons that I chose online and blended classes were that a class I wanted to take wasn’t offered at my school, I wanted to take a class to prepare for the SAT, I wanted to take college courses, but didn’t have transportation, and I was starting a new biologic treatment and we weren’t sure how I would react so I only needed to be at school for 1⁄2 days. I was also interested in taking Spanish, but it was not offered at my school.
When choosing online and blended classes, I usually look for classes that do not have too many definitive deadlines so I can complete most assignments on my own time. I also look for classes that have instructors that are easily available and check to see if the live classes are recorded so I can watch and re-watch whenever I need to. I feel this has helped prepare me for college by teaching me to work with the technology that many professors utilize in their classes and by teaching me how to communicate with instructors. I will be ahead of the game when I get to my dream school, Georgia Tech, and already know how to communicate with my instructors and am comfortable with the learning management system they use. Not to mention the college credit I received from online and blended courses! It has truly been a win-win!