Second year of eLearning kicks off for Maconaquah
Maconaquah Middle and
High Schools were strangely
empty Sept. 10, but school
wasn’t canceled. Learning
took place from students’
homes, signaling the start of
eLearning days at Maco-
naquah School Corporation
for a second year.
Eighth grader Britney Smit-
ley, seventh grader Brianna
Smitley, and seventh grader
K’mia Bontrager were com-
pleting their school work
from the Smitley’s home Sept.
10.
The Smitley sisters took
part in eLearning days last
year, and both said they en-
joy them.
“You can learn at your own
pace,” Britney said. “I like it
because … I understand it
better if I teach myself,” Bri-
anna said.
Britney woke up early and
f i n i s h e d h e r wo r k b y
mid-morning. She completed
an interactive social studies
project, and she answered a
few questions regarding a re-
cent dam project in which
students learned about the
mechanics of dams that oper-
ate local reservoirs such as
Mississinewa and Salamonie.
Brianna was working on a
map for her social studies
class and also wrote about
recycling for her writing class.
K’mia is new to Maco-
naquah Schools, and al-
though she had a personal
device at her previous school,
Brianna was helping her
through the eLearning pro-
cess.
“I like it because I don’t
have to get up as early,” K’mia
said with a smile.
Maconaquah Superinten-
dent Dr. Doug Arnold said
the Indiana Department of
Education approved four
eLearning dates for this
school year due to “the suc-
cess that we had during the
2013-14 school year.”
In addition to last year’s
scheduled eLearning days,
Maconaquah was one of two
school corporations in Indi-
ana to be approved by the
IDOE to pilot the use of
eLearning days in place of
snow days.
Arnold said the IDOE has
already granted Maconaquah
advanced approval to use
eLearning days for grades
K-12 when school is cancelled
due to inclement weather for
the 2014-15 school year.
“eLearning days have al-
lowed Maconaquah teachers
to provide an educational ex-
perience to our students
while not being required to
‘make-up’ days missed due to
inclement weather,” Arnold
said. “If you believe the Far-
mer’s Almanac, we are look-
ing forward to another harsh
winter and eLearning days
will certainly come in handy
for Maconaquah students.”
Sandy Smitley, mother of
Britney and Brianna, said she
was in favor of eLearning
days not only because they
now take the place of snow
days, but also because it pre-
pares her daughters for their
future education.
“What they’re doing now is
going to be the wave of the
future for college,” she said,
adding colleges are increas-
ing the implementation of
eLearning. “This is training
now for a future in college …
It’s good discipline for them.”
Middle and high school
teachers were busy respond-
ing to student emails and
phone calls Wednesday, just
as they would answer ques-
tions in class, and there was
also an eLearning hotline set
up for technical problems.
Pipe Creek Elementary and
Maconaquah Elementary stu-
dents were in class as usual,
although they will take part
in eLearning days when they
are used in place of snow
days.
Britney, Brianna, and K’mia
said they were satisfied with
the accessibility of their
teachers, and an announce-
ment was made several days
before the eLearning day re-
minding students to make
sure their devices were able
to connect to their home WiFi
networks.
Sandy also said she was
happy with the availability of
the teachers as a resource.
“I think it’s good that
(teachers) are available,” she
said. “I as a parent, can’t al-
ways say, ‘Yeah, I understand
that. Here’s what you need to
do.’ I think it’s a wonderful
program. I think the school
has done well in implement-
ing this.”
FROM STAFF REPORTS
■
Mac schools
practice first of four
scheduled days
MC WEEKLY
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