However, this also opens up many doors for opportunities to grow. It allows students to learn in different settings, the time that works for them, and possibly even take on other opportunities to volunteer, intern or work.
We all know in this day and age, simply getting a high school diploma, a degree or even high marks is not enough. We’ve worked with hundreds of students, recruiters, employers, and we’re employers as well. There’s only so much of a resume or CV you can fill up with your degree and the name of the school you attended. In order to succeed in today’s progressing world, you need to be more well rounded in order to succeed.
This is where completing your Ontario secondary school diploma with an online high school might be the answer to this conundrum.
Ontario online private schools such as Profectus Academy allow for you to complete more courses, work from the setting that fits you and finally earn your high school diploma like any other student.
Will it be accepted by Universities? Will I have the same opportunities? And for this, our answer has always been – yes. Ontario online private schools are accredited by the Ministry of Education and provided with a BSID or Mident number. The same is done for day schools, public schools and any school really in Ontario. This is what you want to look for when enrolling in an online private school.
In terms of being recognized by [c]Universities – they work with all the high schools in Ontario – both private and public. One such thing they do look for is if the school “hands out” marks and is effectively preparing their students for success. If a school – whether private or public – gets a track record for being “easy” with their marks and not preparing their students for post secondary success, then the school’s reputation may be at risk. This does not mean your marks will not be accepted, but more so that they may not be valued as much when being compared to other schools. In this case, make sure you do your research into the school you’re enrolling in and ask them how they assess students, etc.
The next question many students have when it comes to online Ontario high school courses, is if all the courses needed for an Ontario Secondary School Diploma are being offered. To better answer this question, it’s important to first understand courses are needed to earn the diploma. Refer to the chart below to review the requirements to earn an Ontario high school diploma:
04.
Credits in English (1 per grade)
03.
Credits in Math (Grade 9, 10 & 11 or 12)
02.
Credits in Science
01.
Credit in Canadian History
01.
Credit in Canadian Geography
01.
Credit in Arts
01.
Credit in Health and Physical Education
01.
Credit in French as a Second Language
0.5
Credit in Career Studies
0.5
Credit in Civics
01.
Group 1 Credit*
01.
Group 2 Credit**
01.
Group 3 Credit***
12.
optional/elective Credits
40.
Hours of Community Involvement
00.
Provincial Literacy Requirement
*a Group 1 Credit consists Of the following: additional English or French, or Native language, or a classical oran international language, or social sciences and humanities, or Canadian and world studies, or guidance and career education, or cooperative education (maximum of 2 overall)
**a Group 2 Credit consists of the following: additional health and physical education, the arts, or business studies, or French as a second language, or cooperative education (maximum of 2overall)
***a Group 3 Credit consists of the following: additional credit in science (grade 11 or 12), or technological education, or French as a second language, or computer studies, or cooperative education (maximum of 2 overall)
When looking for an Ontario online private high school, the goal is to obviously enroll in one of the best online schools in Ontario. One way to check to see if a school meets all your needs is to ensure they offer all the needed courses for an Ontario Secondary School Diploma. Below are some ways the following compulsory courses are taught in an online setting:
Courses are usually taught online via a Learning Management tool with work posted and completed online. Student reading and learning resources are usually linked in as a PDF or video and made easily accessible to student learning. English is the ideal course to complete an online high school credit because it allows for more effective one on one support, monitoring of student progress and eventual student success!
Math courses in an online setting integrate various tools to accommodate students who may prefer to write out their work rather than type out an answer. It’s not always the same. In response to this specific learning need, we utilize an online whiteboard where students can write directly on it via a tablet, as well as allow students to simply write on paper and scan and upload their work. One benefit of the online class is the opportunity it provides to record our lessons with the teacher’s permission and make it accessible for future student reference. Many students go home from school and realize they’ve forgotten the concepts taught for the day. However, with a recorded lesson, this need not be a challenge.
Science in the intermediate years of grades 9 and 10 are concept based and usually the years students build important foundational knowledge to set them up for the senior chemistry, physics and biology courses. With this in mind, the online environment is highly conducive to learning concepts because it allows teachers to share resources of various natures, such as videos, online manipulatives, and recorded lessons for review.
With the level of computing needed for a course like physics, we ensure to provide students with as much flexibility as possible with online whiteboards, screen sharing and collaboration boards. These tools allow students to engage actively with learning and effectively grasp concepts. A question many students do ask for is, how to make up for the hands on learning. This is done online via various education programs that allow for the same level of experimentation and learning engagement.
One of the main challenges with courses like Chemistry being done online and why some schools don’t offer it, is the hands on aspect. Chemistry requires a certain level of experimentation and this may pose a challenge for some. However, with the development of online learning tools, we provide our students access to specific learning platforms that allow for online experiments, simulations, and so forth to replicate the learning that takes place in the classroom.
Learning French online has been available well in advance of the current shift to online learning and this ensures that students will receive quality french instruction. Learning a different language requires a certain level of immersion and interaction. This is made possible in the online environment with video calls, breakout rooms and the very easy way of communicating and presenting information. Online platforms have grown a great deal in the last little bit to allow for seamless communication. So, with a course like French online, where communication is key – it’s almost as if the class was made to learn online!
Last but not least, these social studies courses get overlooked, however as you can see on the chart above, they are a must if you want to earn your Ontario Secondary School Diploma. One of the challenges here is to ensure students have opportunities to collaborate as a lot of learning in these courses take place via group conversations, socratic discussions and lessons. However with the online setting these methods of learning have become more fine-tuned with online whiteboards, breakout rooms and various online collaboration tools such as Google Jamboard and so on.
Online learning as seen here is adaptable and allows for a certain level of creativity. It’s up to us to grow with it and see the various opportunities it provides. Some of these being, the ability to learn in different settings and at the time that best fits your needs.
