Why COVID-19 isn't the only reason many Sask. students will stick with online learning when classes resume
While school students continue to enjoy their summer vacation, many won’t be returning to the classroom in a month’s time.
That's because the pandemic has led some families to choose permanent online learning, something Saskatchewan’s Flex Ed online virtual school is seeing the results of that firsthand according to principal Ann Cook.
“When COVID came, we grew by more than triple our student population,” Cook told CTV News.
Since numbers surged to almost a thousand enrolled students, administrators of the homegrown Saskatchewan school started hiring more staff and expanding their programs to accommodate the increased interest.
The numbers are anticipated to stay the same for the coming school year with a few extras expected to enroll over the next month. Cook says they have students and teachers from all across the province with two-thirds made up of Kindergarten through Grade 9 students and one-third in grades 10 to 12.
Teachers at the virtual school follow the Saskatchewan curriculum.
Before COVID-19, people came to the school for a variety of reasons.
“They came to us because they travel, or they’re training to be professional athletes, they have long bus rides or they live in a remote area, or they’ve been bullied, or they have anxiety or different challenges," Cook said.
"They’ve come for all different sorts of reasons and this year we are finding people are saying, 'we came because of COVID, but we’re staying for the great education.'”
In 2012, the program became funded by the province and while there is an enrollment or registration fee of around $300, sometimes the charge is waived if a student qualifies or if a family has more than three children.
The courses are designed to be flexible to accommodate different student personalities and learning styles.
Camdyn Leverick is a Grade 8 student and started Flex Ed last school year and says she likes the program because teachers give the assignments, sometimes in a group online lesson or sometimes individually and the students work through them at their own time.
“It helps a lot with learning time management skills and focusing on your work when you’re supposed to be working,” Leverick told CTV News.
Leverick says she wanted to try Flex Ed because working online is a completely different environment where you can focus on your own work rather than worry about other students in the class.
The Leverick family is opting to stick with online learning heading into the school year.
She says initially she wanted to focus on the schoolwork, but about four months into the program she joined the school’s theatre club, one of many extracurricular clubs offered and met friends with similar interests.
She also, found her marks improved since joining Flex Ed which is similar to what her brother Koehn saw also.
“Mine have definitely improved by a lot. I was probably a 75% student, now all of my assignments were over 90%,” Koehn Leverick told CTV News.
He plays competitive hockey and golf and is able to fit high-level sports training into his day.
The Grade 6 student says, he can usually finish his school work in three hours then the rest of the day is open.
Their mom, Kristy Novak Leverick says, she put her younger son, into the program because of some issues he was having in a regular school then as a teacher herself she bought into the program so much she was hired as a teacher with Flex Ed.
She is now the vice-principal and enrolled all four of her children in the program.
Her son is especially flourishing in the program, because he struggles with written responses to assignments, but has the option of using voice to text when handing in work, she says.
“Having that verbal option gives him the ability to put it all on paper, where if you asked him to handwrite that, you’d get a fraction of his knowledge because the challenge was too great,” Novak Leverick said.
In this case, the individualized program allows her son to get all of his work translated and then, his teachers spend more time showing him how to edit his work and ensure proper punctuation and grammar as being used.
The family plans to head to their cottage at Emma Lake in September while kicking off the 2021-2022 school year.
As for the Saskatoon Public Schools, a spokesperson tells CTV News the division won't know definitive enrollment numbers until September, but that its online learning centre was overwhelmingly popular during the 2020-21 school year with enrollment hitting 3886 students by March.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
How quietly promised law changes in the 2024 federal budget could impact your day-to-day life
The 2024 federal budget released last week includes numerous big spending promises that have garnered headlines. But, tucked into the 416-page document are also series of smaller items, such as promising to amend the law regarding infant formula and to force banks to label government rebates, that you may have missed.
Which foods have the most plastics? You may be surprised
'How much plastic will you have for dinner, sir? And you, ma'am?' While that may seem like a line from a satirical skit on Saturday Night Live, research is showing it's much too close to reality.
opinion I've been a criminal attorney for decades. Here's what I think about the case against Trump
Joey Jackson, a criminal defence attorney and a legal analyst for CNN, outlines what he thinks about the criminal case against Donald Trump in the 'hush money trial.'
$3.8M home in B.C.'s Okanagan has steel shell for extra wildfire protection
A home in B.C.'s Okanagan that features a weathering steel shell designed to provide some protection against wildfires has been listed for sale at $3.8 million.
Diver pinned under water by an alligator figured he had choice. Lose his arm or lose his life
An alligator attacked a diver on April 15 as he surfaced from his dive, nearly out of air. His tank emptied with the gator's jaws crushing the arm he put up in defence.
Psychologist becomes first person in Peru to die by euthanasia after fighting in court for years
A Peruvian psychologist who suffered from an incurable disease that weakened her muscles and had her confined to her bed for several years, died by euthanasia, her lawyer said Monday, becoming the first person in the country to obtain the right to die with medical assistance.
Mystery surrounds giant custom Canucks jerseys worn by Lions Gate Bridge statues
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
Celebrity designer sentenced to 18 months in prison for smuggling crocodile handbags
A leading fashion designer whose accessories were used by celebrities from Britney Spears to the cast of the 'Sex and the City' TV series was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty in Miami federal court on charges of smuggling crocodile handbags from her native Colombia.
Wildfire leads to evacuation order issued for northeast Alberta community
An evacuation order was issued on Monday afternoon for homes in the area of Cold Lake First Nation.