Nick Vukorepa used to be a like a lot of high school students — overstressed and overscheduled.
"I had the mentality that if you didn't go to university you won't make it," he says, and he struggled to manage a full course-load on top of his part-time job. "It was so overwhelming."
The fact that he didn't like his teachers didn't help. Then his sister told him to try distance learning. Now, as he heads back to school to upgrade, the 20-year-old St. Albert resident learns what he wants when he wants by taking his courses online.
"It's so much more convenient for students," he says.
Distance learners like Vukorepa used to be the exception in local schools, say teachers, but with the rise of online technology they've become the rule. Hundreds of local students now take courses online to fit more learning into their daily lives.
Online courses give students the flexibility to take school when, where and how they want, Vukorepa says. "It's like the next level of learning."
From books to laptops
Léo Beaudry has seen much of this evolution first-hand as co-ordinator of distributed learning for the St. Albert Catholic School district.
Distance (or distributed) learning was all about home-schooling and coil-bound books when he started the job 17 years ago, Beaudry says.
"Now those students are rare," he says, and most students today take a mix of in-school and distance-learning courses. Roughly 75 per cent of St. Albert students will take at least one distance-learning course before graduation, he estimates, and the Catholic board encourages all its students to try at least one.
Many of those courses are run through the Alberta Distance Learning Centre, says Bryan Frechette, the group's Edmonton-area education co-ordinator. They teach about 40,000 students in Alberta, about 85 per cent of who also attend a regular school.
Distance learning used to be seen as second rate, Frechette says, as it would take weeks to get your results back once you put your work in the mail. It's exploded in popularity in recent years, though, with his group seeing a 20-per-cent jump in its student population each of the last three years.
The main reason is flexibility, says Donna Chanasyk, who manages distance-learning courses at Paul Kane High School where the number of students has increased to about 700 from the 100 she had 20 years ago.
"Not everybody likes being in a classroom setting," she says, and many students want to cram more courses into their schedule. Distance learning also lets them take courses that aren't always available in school, such as workplace safety or fashion studies.
Another reason is technology. New technologies have solved many of the bandwidth problems distance learners used to have, Beaudry says. Instead of learning by mail or phone, students can now use video, Skype and iChat.
Distance learning lets students take courses at their own pace and on their own time, Beaudry says. A hockey player might take courses while on tour in Washington, for example, while another might want to plow through a whole course in a month.
While Vukorepa says he comes into St. Gabriel Storefront School in St. Albert to do his lessons, others finish them in the field. "It's all tailored to the person."
Each student has a teacher that they can reach almost any time by phone, text or email, says Frechette, allowing for instant feedback. Students can also replay lessons and get information in different forms, such as sound clips and videos.
"We have virtual science labs that will knock your socks off."
It's a big help to visual learners like Vukorepa, who fires up an animated diagram of a battery on his computer to demonstrate.
"What would have taken me two to three days to understand [normally] took me two to three minutes to figure out."
Not for everyone
But it takes discipline to take courses without a teacher looking over your shoulder, says Vukorepa, who knew of some students who got into trouble with distance learning because they slacked off and missed their deadlines.
Distance learning can be disastrous for students who need the structure and supervision of the classroom, Beaudry says. Teachers need to screen students carefully before letting them take this option, he says, and keep them engaged with timely, specific feedback.
Teachers also have to take care not to burn themselves out, he continues. They are their own worst enemies, he says, as they can work with students 24 hours a day. It can also be a challenge to give students effective feedback without a face-to-face conversation.
Distance learning is just another way to meet student needs, Beaudry says. "This isn't the best way to go to school. It's just a way to go to school."
