On Tuesday, May 4, Superintendent Cheryl Jordan announced via email the creation of the MUSD EducatEverywhere v. 4.0 Virtual Learning Pathway Pilot program for students who thrive in a virtual learning environment. Even after the pandemic is over, this program will be implemented alongside normal in-person learning to serve as an alternative option for students. The program will consist of about 90% asynchronous learning via the Edgenuity platform and 10% in-person learning via weekly check-ins with a teacher, Aven Magana, the Virtual Pathways program coordinator, said at an informational meeting.
It is important to recognize that in contrast to the current form of online learning through MUSD EducatEverywhere, which incorporates large amounts of virtual synchronous learning with teachers and classmates, the new MUSD EducatEverywhere 4.0 Virtual Learning Pathway Program will largely consist of asynchronous learning. Thus, those that sign up for the new Virtual Learning Pathway Program will be adjusting to a drastically different learning experience, even if they have been accustomed to online schooling since March 2020.
Although the option of continuing virtual learning may seem intuitive, it is important to critically consider whether the MUSD EducatEverywhere v. 4.0 Virtual Learning Pathway will be as equally as engaging and educational as in-person school, largely due to the program’s reliance on Edgenuity, which lacks sufficient engagement, uses automatic grading, and makes it difficult for parents to be as involved in their children’s learning.
In particular, the use of the Edgenuity platform for 90% of the program’s learning may raise some concerns. Some students have recounted watching video after video on the Edgenuity platform to learn, without any live video, video conferencing, or interaction with teachers or classmates while on the platform. Without sufficient interaction with teachers and classmates during class time, it’s difficult to see how this form of asynchronous learning can be equally engaging and educational as in-person school, especially for students who have different learning styles or subjects in which class discussions are crucial to building a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the material.
More alarmingly, Edgenuity was found to be using an automatic grading system to grade certain written assignments. According to Edgenuity’s Help Center, “If activities include keywords that are used for determining a system-assigned score, the student will earn a 0% if none of the keywords are included in the response, and will earn 100% if at least one keyword is included in the response.” Although Edgenuity also states that keyword-graded assignments are low-stakes, and teachers can override the grades if needed, the fact that students can simply type certain keywords into assignments and earn 100% without actually learning the material to complete the assignment discourages them from truly learning. Even if the grade is overridden, this system fosters an attitude of treating learning as a mindless exercise rather than an engaging and involved process.In addition, Edgenuity’s structure makes it difficult for parents to be involved in their children’s learning. One parent wanted to look at a test her daughter got an unusually low grade on, but she contacted Edgenuity, and they refused to provide her with a copy. The same parent mentioned that the lack of a textbook and worksheets meant that she could only see what her daughter was studying if she logged into her account, but that would record that time as her daughter’s being “idle,” a metric that might not affect her grade but may be used by her school to measure perceived productivity.