Laura Le (’18) finishes her online assignments. Photo by Isabella Purdy. By Laura Le, Staff Writer & Celine Hoang, Social Media Editor
This year, the Huntington Beach Union High School District introduced two new hybrid-online courses, U.S. History and CP English 3, to Fountain Valley High School.
In the years before, the only hybrid-online course available to students at the school was Health. This year, History teacher Bryan Walker and English teacher David Theriault have each been selected to teach a hybrid-online class of their specialty. Both teachers are newcomers when it comes to teaching an online course.
Some differences between a hybrid-online class and a regular class is that hybrid-online classes are more project based instead of teacher-directed learning that is shown in classrooms. Students have more control over the decisions that they make, such as how they want to learn the material.
There are many advantages to taking a hybrid-online class rather than taking a typical class online. For instance, students can complete their schoolwork for the course ahead of time if they have any extracurriculars that may prevent them from doing so.
Gina Sheeks (‘18), is taking U.S. History online this year along with two Advanced Placement (AP) classes, is a track and field athlete and a volunteer at her local church. Sheeks said, “An online class has benefitted me in many ways. Our teacher posts all assignments at the beginning of each chapter, which allows us to finish them in advance if need be. I can choose to learn the material in the way that best suits my needs, whether it is reading the textbook and taking notes or researching it online and participating in discussions”.
Asia Newell (‘18), also a hybrid-online U.S. History student, said “Taking an online class has benefitted me by helping me to manage my time more and giving me more time to work on my homework so by the time my golf match, track and field meet, or practice is over, I won’t have that much [schoolwork] left to finish”.
Despite the benefits of a hybrid-online class, there are also disadvantages to students who have made the decision to take a class online. For example, students and teachers don’t have the chance to get to know each other better. English teacher David Theriault said, “I definitely don’t know the students as well because I’m not seeing them face-to-face everyday.”
Students typically meet once a week in their class to discuss with their teachers. Since students don’t have a teacher to guide them as much as an in-class teacher would, taking an online course requires a student to be self-motivated.
When asked about how an online course affects a student, Walker said, “If kids are self directed, then yeah, I encourage them to take the classes but the biggest thing is that if they aren’t, they should not be in there. Don’t take it, it’ll only make you miserable and you may not be able to transfer out in the next semester.”.
