How Online Learning Works at Pathfinder!
Personalized Online Learning
In addition to general education courses, students will enroll online in a career–focused academy that is aligned to their college and career goals. With multiple paths to success, students can gain a competitive advantage against their peers, whether that includes college, career or both. Within each academy, students will have the ability to specialize in a program of study that connects with their interests, skills, and talents. No matter which academy a student chooses, they will develop essential workplace skills and can gain industry recognized credentials related to their program concentration.
The Learning Team for Student Success
- Student
- Parent/Guardian/Learning Coach
- Success Coach
- Content Teacher
- Advisory Teacher
- School Counselor
- CTE Coordinator
- Head of School
Getting Started
Prior to the start of school, the School Counselor or Success Coach will meet with your student to understand his or her personal interests, aspirations, and previous course history to develop a personalized plan of study.
You and your student will have an opportunity to participate in orientation activities to best prepare for the start of school. During orientation Success Coaches will guide students through a series of walkthroughs and overviews to get acquainted with the educational tools they will be using everyday including the student dashboard, course access, calendars, email, and how to turn in assignments. There are live sessions for interactive discussion as well as ‘orientation courses’ to help set your student up for success.
A Typical School Day
It’s a Wednesday morning at 8:30am and John, an eigth grade student, sits down at the workspace tucked into a corner of his family’s living room. John logs onto his school-provided computer and is immediately viewing his course dashboard. He reviews the To-Do list for the day, as well as, the live conference class sessions scheduled for each course. His mom helps him plan for what tasks to tackle first and she heads to the other room to make a work call.
John begins his day by logging into a live Advisory session led by his Advisory teacher. His Success Coach and his Guidance Counselor often join his homeroom sessions to do activities. The last time his Success Coach joined they did a lesson on identifying your interests and passions to add to their career portfolios. On days when John’s teacher runs Advisory, she often uses the time to review the plan for the day/week, and to practice employability skills, or complete a community building activity.
After Homeroom, John gets started on an independent English Language Arts Activity in his ELA course. He clicks on his ELA course card and starts working on the modules for the day. John reads a short story, clicking on hyperlinked vocabulary words to hear definitions and pronunciation as he reads. He does some work on spelling and vocabulary words for the week, including a vocabulary quiz. Today, John also has a Short Cycle Assessment to complete in ELA. This is a brief test covering 1-2 specific standards and provides his teacher with standards level mastery data. These assessments are repeated. The teacher uses that data to inform small group live sessions.
After ELA wraps up John takes a quick snack break. When he returns to his computer John opens his Career Explorations Course Card and completes today’s activity, a lesson on researching his career interests. Today, John gets to sit in on a video call with a Cyber Security Analyst. During the call, John and his classmates will get the chance to interact by asking questions, listening to what a typical day in the life of an Analyst looks like, and deciding if it’s a pathway they have an interest in pursuing.
Once ELA and Career Exploration are complete, John takes a break for lunch. After lunch he returns to his dashboard for lab. During this open course, students will come together to collaborate on projects, talk through ideas, or practice presentations. This time is facilitated by a teacher, but is dedicated for students to experience real-life assignments through project based learning or practice their knowledge with work-based learning experiences at their own pace.
Now it’s time for Math. John clicks on his math course card, clicks on the Conferences tab, and clicks on the link to his session. He is soon in the web conference room with his classmates and his teacher. Today they will be working on division.
*Schedules will vary by student and teacher.
The Learning management System and Naviance
AMP (Accel Management Platform for Education)
Pathfinder Career Academy will utilize a full learning ecosystem called AMP. Within AMP, asynchronous and live instruction occur within the student’s course dashboard. Student dashboards contain a course card for each course. Within each course card students access live instruction through a secure web conferencing tool.
Web conferencing is used for one-on-one, small group, and whole group sessions between teacher and students as well as for collaboration among students. The web conferencing platform provides students and teachers with access to a virtual whiteboard, chat functionality, and microphone and webcam functionality to promote collaboration.
Additionally, share screen features are controlled by the teacher, and shared documents can be edited simultaneously. Within these meetings, teachers can create “breakout” rooms where collaborative groups can meet to discuss a project or work on content.
As part of the AMP package, students will have Naviance as their college and career planning tool. This program can be accessed directly in the student’s Canvas learning management system. Naviance will help students with career exploration and planning, college research and application, course planning, life skills, and self-discovery tools to make informed decisions about their future.
The student-centered instructional method used puts students’ needs at the forefront of the instructional design, allowing for them to take charge and be wholly involved in each aspect of their learning. Students can progress through their lessons at different paces based on their rate of mastery, yet the school has grading and progress expectations that all students must meet for each term.
Walkthrough Video: watch to see how you can access your coursework and lessons!
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