Minnetonka High School students can now turn in an assignment or discuss a lecture between Snapchats and tweets, thanks to online courses available through the district. In its second year, the Tonka Online program will offer 20 courses in the 2015-16 school year, all taught by Minnetonka teachers and designed with flexibility in mind.
James Donald of Shakopee is the lead teacher in the online program. Teaching math at Minnetonka, he had noticed that students were only able to take one math class per year, and weren’t able to stretch out lessons if they needed more time. “With just six periods, it’s hard to take electives,” he says. “How can students do the classes they want and still meet state requirements?”
The faculty’s 2013 “innovation hunt”—regular faculty ideation sessions with votes à la American Idol—yielded an out-of-the-box and out-of-the-classroom solution to the school’s six-class schedule. Noting the national trend toward state-run and even for-profit online courses marketed to high school students, the district set out to develop its own online program. Classes are held on Schoology—a Facebook-like online platform—and mirror brick-and-mortar curricula; students can drop by a teacher’s classroom to ask questions or even transition seamlessly into or from the face-to-face version of a course in the case of illness or an extended absence.
Principal Mark McIlmoyle began developing courses and strategy with his team in December 2013. Six classes launched in 2014-15, with attendance of about 165 students; 54 students participated in the first summer semester and 300 in the second summer semester, which occurred after school let out in June 2015. The most popular class was physical education, where students used a FitBit to track physical activity. They got credit for being on sports teams or pursuing active hobbies, instead of requiring classroom workouts.
Says McIlmoyle, “One of the things that makes Minnetonka unique is the number of opportunities that students have.” Online courses allow students to fully take part in sports, the arts and other activities and still keep up with—and even advance—their studies. But the courses aren’t just for top-achieving, highly involved students. Online classes also allow students to take more time to complete difficult lessons or ask questions discreetly if they don’t understand something. “We’re wanting to offer things that work for all students in all situations,” says Donald. He says that even in a single course, the “unit design” features benchmarks that allow students to work at their own pace. One student could breeze through a lesson while another can linger, listen to the lecture again or ask questions—it’s flexibility that simply isn’t possible in the classroom.
McIlmoyle agrees, though he notes that virtual learning isn’t for everyone. “This is not limited to kids at the top of the class; we can serve any student on the learning spectrum. [But] online learning takes discipline and good work habits, good time management and a degree of independence.” Students work with counselors to ensure a good fit, and according to McIlmoyle, the goal is not to have students transition to having classes exclusively online, but to continue to use online courses to add rigor and flexibility to their classroom studies. Students are able to “do more in four” and also develop digital communication—an increasingly important life skill—within a network of trusted adults.
Donald notes that the attrition/drop-out rate is much lower at Tonka Online than the national average for online classes. He also says that the program monitors engagement, progress in classes and student GPAs to make sure that all participants continue to be a good fit for the opportunity.
Senior Alexa Bussman says, “I decided to take AP psychology online so that I could fit another advanced course into my schedule without taking up a semester in the classroom.” The ability to take classes online has allowed her to take more challenging courses and line up her schedule to fit her interests and activities. She’s a National Honor Society member, Class of 2016 Legacy Project co-chair and volunteers at a memory care home and at her church.
Bussman took her first online class in fall 2014, a “seventh course” on top of a full face-to-face class schedule. Says Bussman, “Because I find psychology to be an interesting and engaging topic, it wasn't difficult to complete the coursework on my own. Taking a course through Tonka Online required me to be responsible for my own work.”
Others use online courses to branch out and prepare for college within Minnetonka’s six-course schedule. When we talked with Jon Kleist, a 2015 graduate, he was “taking a wide variety of classes to try and narrow my interests.” He used online classes to hone his interest in political and life sciences while taking part in student government. He took AP biology online as a junior and AP environmental science as a senior when the in-person class didn’t fill.
“I love the flexibility it provides, especially since I have a busy life outside of school,” says Kleist. “Being able to work at my own pace has been a huge advantage. Additionally, I like the interactive online experience. In my class, we have weekly assignments, and many of these involve connecting and discussing topics with other students.”
Anna Rice will be taking online physics and speech on top of two Advanced Placement (AP) and two International Baccalaureate (IB) classes in the 2015-16 school year. She volunteers for the Pinky Swear Foundation, plays Minnetonka softball and coaches a 12U team on the side. Her transition to online learning happened when she got thrown a curveball when senior-year English requirements changed. So she augmented her already jam-packed social and academic schedule with an online version of a required course.
“I was planning on taking speech and AP composition each semester, so I was able to utilize Tonka Online to take English 12 over the summer to get the requirement and still take the classes I was interested in,” says Rice. “It’s a great way to manipulate your schedule to get your credits and have the best academic experience.”
FOR MORE INFO
Students can register for Tonka Online courses with their school counselor. An online course—if taken as part of a normal, six-class course load—is free of charge to the student. Find out more at the website here.
