A dazed student sitting at home attempting to navigate their way through what seems to be countless websites is not an uncommon one this year at Edina High School.
Even this early in the school year, students have been noting all of the new technology they are being asked—or required—to use in their classes. Director of Media and Technology Services, Steve Buettner, explained the switch from Edline to SchoolView. “The district had to pay extra for Edline, where the SchoolView feature is included in the district’s student information system,” he said.
Some students, on the other hand, have had very little technological interaction so far this year. Senior Julia Hill has a website in only one class, and it’s not even a Moodle or Edina Apps page. “Mr. Sanger has his own website,” said Hill, “and it’s really easy to access from home.”
Senior Michael Gratz also has a relatively small amount of technology in his classes. “I only have two websites. I have a Moodle for calculus and a Comcast page for human anatomy.”
It may seem like a good thing to have online resources for students, but not everyone has responded positively. Edina “already had Edline, and the online stuff gets confusing,” said sophomore Lydia Pineault, who has online resources in three of her classes. AP World Literature teacher Whitney Gonzales said her students “feel overwhelmed,” but believes that these differences are “more in-line with the real world and colleges.”
The most well known site is Moodle, which teachers use to communicate information and to assign online homework. “It’s not that we have a problem to fix, it’s that we need to keep up with the times,” said Gonzales.