Using eDynamic Learning Courses at Mat-Su Borough School District

Mat-Su iTech, the online learning program for the Matanuska Susitna Borough School District in Alaska has been using eDynamic Learning courses for the past 3 years. We currently have about 300 students taking various eDynamic courses at any one time. Student response to the courses has been very positive, and we have excellent completion rates for the eDynamic online courses. Below is a fairly typical student response to the end of the course questionnaire:

I liked the format of the course. I think that dividing everything out into sections was smart so that we are able to absorb one topic or topics alike at a time. I thought that the content was well thought out and that it was easy for me to learn from. I learned a lot about certain aspects that I did not expect to get to learn. The assessments were reasonable, the labs were a little bit long but they were interesting and I enjoyed the TED talks and videos that I was assigned. I think that the text questions helped me look more deeply into the sections/units that I was studying and that helped me get a better score on my quizzes and my mid-term and final. I really enjoyed this class.

As a program, we really love the amount of course options that eDynamic offers. We are working with our districtwide CTE program to align the CTE content for courses so students will be able to receive CTE credit instead of elective credits for their online course work. As an instructor, the courses are easy to score, with clear rubrics and guidelines. As a student, there are many interesting opportunities to get some real-life applications out of the courses, and the courses are interest driven, interesting, and fun. One of our students in the Fashion Design course contacted a well-known YouTube personality and asked for an interview as part of an eDynamic assignment…it was done via Skype the very next day! This student was so excited and motivated that she was able to reach out to someone that was working in the field she was interested in, and they took the time to respond back and answer her questions. This was an online designer that does video for HGTV and has a regular YouTube Channel (OMG) with millions of followers (Mr.Kate). It was really such a fantastic opportunity for our student, who is now even more excited to really look into home design and remodelling as a career, all because of a short school assignment!

Another student, after completing the Entrepreneurship course, said:

“It was the most useful course I have had taken in my high school career, because it taught me things I can take right out and use for a real life business.”

In other real life applications, a student used her final grade/completion report from the Early Childhood course to get a raise at her job with a childcare center, they considered it professional development! We are happy to partner with eDynamic, they have courses with real value, good customer support, and work on a constant improvement business model.

Heather Pelletier
District Coordinator—Mat-Su iTech eLearning Team
Matanuska Susitna Borough School District
Palmer, Alaska, 99645