Nearing End of Pilot, Students Say Online Learning Offers Flexibiilty

Fox Lane High School senior Jessica Pucila is a busy teenager—she’s enrolled in six classes, is a member of  three clubs and has an job where she works ten hours per week after school.

But by taking one of those classes online, she's able to juggle her schedule by fitting in coursework whenever works for her—early morning, during a free period or after she gets home from work.

"Usually in school you have a teacher telling you what’s due the next day," said Pucila. "But [with online classes], the assignments are due at the end of the week—you decide what you'll do first and for how long." 

That flexibility has, not surprisingly, been a challenge for some students, said Fox Lane teacher Chris DeMattia, who designed and taught the course—Take Action! Support a Sustainable Community—to Pucila and students from three other school districts.

The course was one of four new virtual options available to students this fall through a regional consortium of eight school districts in partnership with Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES Curriculum Center. Participating districts include Bedford, Chappaqua, Katonah-Lewisboro, Lakeland, Mamaroneck, Ossining, Peekskill and Yorktown.

"There has to be a great deal of structure and we are always focusing on making sure every student participates," said DeMattia. This semester he helped student develop checklists for managing their online tasks like watching videos and taking part in online discussions.

was to expose students to skills needed in a 21st century learning environment—in high school, college and the workforce.

"This class definitely forced me to use technology I hadn't used before," said Pucila, who had to learn how to voice-record interviews and convert the memos to different types of usable files.

And though class meetings are virtual, students are sharpening interpersonal skills because their peer group extends beyond the confines of their home district, said Alice Cronin, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in Katonah Lewisboro schools. 

“It’s a great life skill for students in that someday they’ll be working in jobs with people they may not know personally,” said Cronin, who attended the symposium with Ellen Doherty, principal at John Jay High School.

Interacting in meaningful ways with students beyond the brick and mortar of their own high school can be a powerful experience, said DeMattia, who helped his kids identify projects to improve the environment.

"We had students from Ossining and Peekskill sharing with students from Bedford, using examples that were personal to them—sharing across geographic boundaries was experience," he said. 

A new crop of students comes in January, said Diana Cunningham, an educational consultant to BOCES, who worked with teachers over the summer to develop the curriculum and gathered feedback during the pilot.

She said teachers would focus on learning technology tools earlier. "We're learning how to do it better," she said, noting they were also considering opening up the program to new districts.

Cronin said she was pleased the district was participating and felt the online learning added value for students and teachers because of the course content and the staff development. The courses were designed by local teachers last summer—not “pre-packaged curricula”—and are taught using a blended model, where online learning is balanced with in-person field trips and meetings like Tuesday’s symposium.

“We really value the experience the students are getting, and the training the teachers receive transcends this project and impacts their other students at John Jay,” she said.

And, she noted, the real power of the technology is how it allows kids to learn and do new things in new ways unimaginable just a few years ago.

"We might look back at this pilot years from now, and see it as primitive.”