Cyber-Courses - Expanding Opportunities!
Here at William Tennent High School we are excited by the expanded opportunities available through cyber-learning. The current generation of students are 'digital natives' born to a world where computers, the Internet and social media are largely inseparable from daily life. The digital curriculum of a cyber-learning course recognizes and capitalizes on this new reality.
Among its many advantages cyber-learning provides an individualized learning path where the pace of instruction is matched to the actual performance of each student. Because progress through the course requires students to complete learning tasks and an extensive series of assessments, cyber learning is highly accountable. Our cyber courses include detailed reports on how well the student has mastered the course content in individual lessons and chapters, as well as how much time they spent on each activity. With a digital curriculum effort is required for success, and tracking student effort/success is a snap.
We use digital curriculum in multiple ways.
- A series of cyber course will be routinely delivered as part of our Centennial Satellite School and Cyber Academy. Students at CSSCA will also have the advantage of a teacher in their classroom while they care completing their cyber learning.
- Over this past summer more than seventy-four students used cyber-learning to complete credit recovery. In lieu of traditional summer school these students were able to make-up credit for a failed course by completing a digital curriculum on-line at-home according to their own schedule.
- Within the math department this year we will be piloting a new course, Independent Progress Math, where each student will proceed through our math curriculum (geometry and algebra) at their own pace. Here too a math teacher will be in the classroom to supplement the digital curriculum with face-to-face instruction.
- Students who did not score proficient/advanced on the PSSA will also use a digital curriculum as part of our grade 9 and grade 12 PSSA math courses. In these classes students will complete a diagnostic assessment to determine which math standards they have not yet mastered. The program then develops a personalized learning path where the student focuses on the material they have not yet mastered.
We are excited to provide these new learning opportunities. These efforts provide a glimpse of how digital curriculum can serve the educational needs of our students. If you would like to learn more, the following links will provide you with more detailed information on the cyber courses available through Compass Learning or Apex Learning.
