by Grey Burrell | staff writer
For some students, it’s easier to take a time consuming course such as P.E or speech online, but sometimes it can prove to be difficult to finish.
The students that take these classes testify that it’s really difficult to stay focused and really finish the class, which is easy to understand due to the fact you aren’t in a classroom or getting lectured by a teacher.
“It’s a course portal more or less, it’s similar to parent portal if you’re familiar with that,” senior Maria Andrade said. “You take lessons, then quizzes. You then request a test from the counselor.”
Most seniors take the usual online – gym and speech – though these classes may sound like they’re a straight shot and easy A, they later prove to be difficult to some students who take this class.
“Online gym was really hard, believe it or not. I took bowling and tennis, and what surprised me was how hard it was, you had to know each individual move for both sports,” Andrade said. “It was really rough in that sense.”
Most people take these courses if they find themselves lacking in the credits department come senior year, and others may take it if they don’t have the time in their schedule.
“I would just try to get them out over the summer,” Andrade said. “It’s just a lot of money that you’re spending on something that can actually be super time consuming. If you do have other classes that you need to take, or if you need to double up on a math, I really recommend taking it online,” Andrade said.
Counselor Rebecca Hudkins talked about the Texas Tech online courses regarding the various classes and people that take the classes.
“We mainly see seniors that are trying to take care of things that they don’t necessarily want to take in school, such as online gym, health or speech,” Hudkins said. “We also see a lot of kids that want to open up their schedules to focus more on electives.”
Another worry for counselors and students is the 6 month time period that is given to students to finish their course, which may sound like a lot, which it is, but that also causes problems.
“Some kids delay working on the course, and they end up getting bunched up at the end of the 6 months and fly through it and get a bad grade, or even fail,” Hudkins said.