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What the Nation is Doing Today is NOT Online School

What the Nation is Doing Today is NOT Online School

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

This is not online schooling, distance learning, or home schooling. Nothing about this is normal. What we are experiencing now is some new type of teaching and learning in a worldwide pandemic. Let’s call it what it really is – Pandemic Schooling.

As an online school leader for more than a decade, I have observed online education evolve over time. Online education for K-12 students involves relationship building between teachers and students, robust online curriculum that was designed and intended to be utilized in an online setting, virtual clubs, and even some in-person field trips.

 

Online schooling is a choice millions of families have willingly made and is starkly different to the current reality forced upon the families of all K-12 students in the United States. We are living in a time where anxiety is high, loved ones are sick, parents are working – either from home or as an essential worker (often times at risk to their own health), or have found themselves unemployed due to the millions of job cuts occurring each week. The activities schools and districts have sent home were created in a matter of days or weeks are were intended to be taught in a traditional brick and mortar school environment. While educators are doing their best to learn new platforms and instructional methods, there is little time to acclimate and even less time for training. The challenges faced are the fault of no-one; schools are doing the best they can to ensure learning still occurs even though the school’s doors are locked but make no mistake – this thing we are doing today is not online schooling, distance learning, or home schooling. This is pandemic schooling.

Online schools, like Ignite Learning Academy, can help create stability and intentional education for students and families alike. The curriculum is designed to occur online and has been built to engage students of all learning abilities and preferred learning styles in order to ensure student mastery. Our online teachers have been well-trained in methods to engage and instruct students in a virtual environment and our school days look similar to the days before COVID-19.

If you’d like to learn more about how ILA can provide stability to your child’s education, call 888.660.0557 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We are equipped and ready to partner with families, schools, and districts to assist in this unprecedented time.