By Angela Brown

Light of Christ offers students option to set own schedule

Aug 9, 2017 | 10:00 AM

Not available for that 9 a.m. class? Not a problem.

Light of Christ Catholic School Division will soon offer students the opportunity to set their own schedules for the new school year so they can work their studies around their own timetables without worrying about falling behind.

The PACE program will be available at John Paul II Collegiate in North Battleford for students in Grades 10 to 12 in English Language Arts, who register to take part.

Through the new program, students can access course information online, via audio or video, and in the classroom – on their own time and at their own pace.

”Our real push isn’t towards a pure online course,” Tom Hawboldt, superintendent of learning, said. “Our goal is to allow our classrooms to be more flexible.”

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He said when students are in class they are learning; if they can’t attend class for some reason, “they also have the ability to learn.”

Light of Christ hopes by offering students more flexibility in how and when they can access course material to complete their assignments, more students will have better grade results, and more will graduate.

Students in the new school year will be able to access material through a software program known as Moodle Learning Management System (LMS), so they can also control their pace of learning.

Teachers will also be available to help the students for group and individual instruction when required. 

“It will allow the students at John Paul to have a more personalized learning experience that is more in-tune with their abilities and strengths,” Hawboldt said.    

Hawboldt describes the process as “blended” learning – since students will participate in traditional classroom instruction for part of their course, and will cover other areas online, for example.

“As many different ways as we can approach the students’ learning, that`s what we are trying to do,” he said. “Instead of trying to make the student fit to the classroom, we’re trying to make the learning fit to the student.

“What we’re trying to do is remove as many barriers to graduation as possible,” he added.  

Hawboldt said the PACE program is particularly helpful for students who have other life commitments outside of school – such as single parents or students who have recently moved to the area who will be starting school late in the year.

The program was first made available informally in the 2016-17 school year and is being expanded for the upcoming school year.

Hawboldt said the school division estimates about up to 70 students at John Paul II might be taking part in the PACE program for the new school year.

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW