WEST COLUMBIA, SC -- Lexington Two will hold its first eLearning weather makeup day on November 11.
District schools held a practice run in September, with teachers showing students how to access documents, slides, videos and more.
(Parents: Find English and Spanish language flyers about how the eLearning will work on November 11 at the bottom of this story)
November 11 is an eLearning makeup day for September 5, when schools were closed due to expected inclement weather.
Lexington Two is one of 10 districts statewide to be selected for the second phase of the eLearning program, which allows districts to continue lessons at home when classes on regularly scheduled school days are cancelled for inclement weather. A total of 15 districts are now part of the program.
“As a district with 1-to-1 mobile devices, our students and teachers are familiar with working remotely,” said Dr. Dixon Brooks, the district’s chief instructional officer. “That is a definite plus as we get ready to launch our eLearning program for weather make-up days. The eLearning program gives our students an opportunity to keep learning during inclement weather and hopefully keeps our families from having to change their plans on weather make-up days.”
Here are other things to know about eLearning:
- With Lexington Two’s launch of the eLearning program in November, future eLearning days may take place on the missed day itself -- for example, if Midlands districts are closed to accommodate coastal evacuations for a hurricane, but the weather here is fine. In cases like this, we can have an eLearning day on the missed day itself. However, if there is inclement weather expected on a given day -- high winds, storms, threat of tornadoes -- the eLearning day can be deferred to a previously scheduled weather make-up day already on the district calendar.
- Lexington Two's first eLearning day is Nov. 11, which was previously scheduled as a student/staff holiday. Now this will be a remote learning day, in which students and teachers will work remotely. Elementary students will be required to have 200 minutes of independent work, middle/high school 240 minutes of independent work on that day. Teachers will be available during the day as well to assist students with assignments. One of the advantages for families who already have made plans for that holiday is that the work can be done remotely, from anywhere.
- Kids in K-2nd grade will have paper-based eLearning assignments and activities; no electronic devices will be going home with them. Third- through 12th-graders will have their electronic devices (iPads/Google Chromebooks) to take home.
- Third- through 12th-graders will be able to use Google Docs (create and edit documents), Google Sheets (create and edit spreadsheets), Google Slides (create and edit presentations), and Google Drawings (create and edit diagrams) offline. There will be some lessons that will have videos or other media. Teachers will work with the students to have this information downloaded to their Chromebooks/iPads, prior to leaving the school for the day, so a lack of internet access will not be significant to all parts of an assignment.
- Elementary and middle school students will have five days once they return to school to turn in the completed eLearning assignments. High school students will have three days once they return to turn in the completed work. Students who complete assignments will be counted “Present.” These assignments may also count as a grade if the assignment would have been counted in a normal school day.
COMMON CONCERNS
- No internet access - We will be listing free wifi sites in the community for students and teachers. We also will work with students before the actual eLearning day to download required materials onto their Chromebooks/iPads, so they may work offline. Internet access will not be required to access/complete all assignments. In addition, students will have 3-5 days, depending on grade level, to turn in completed assignments once they return to school.
- Help - We will be publishing both paper and online resources for eLearning days to help students find assignments, get in touch with teachers and more.