Online Learning Offered In Centers To Keep Students Focused
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) - A public charter school affiliated with Douglas County School District offers families an online-based education for students paired with a physical location to keep them focused during the day. The model is built around Learning Centers, which leaders say are similar to the model of learning pods becoming increasingly popular since the pandemic.
"I think HOPE can work for all types of kids and I think that it's exciting that people are recognizing that there are different ways to learn," said Heather O'Mara, the founder and CEO of HOPE Online Learning Academy Co-Op. "There's many benefits out of online learning, but there's also lots of benefits of that physical connection and that social interaction."
Founded in 2005, the school hoped to give more families access to the technology needed for an online education. There are 14 Learning Centers located across the metro area including the Action Learning Center in Aurora. The average class size is 16 and most centers have 75 enrolled on site. Since the Coronavirus outbreak, they've alternated cohorts with in-person and remote learning every two days.
"One thing I loved about HOPE is the opportunity of technology so she can learn online as well as offline," said Starr Cooper, the parent of a seventh grader at the Action Learning Center location. "I just felt that this school was the best for my daughter, she's been here since she was in kindergarten, this is where her friends are and I trust and know the teachers."
The Learning Centers are created with the help of community nonprofits. The Aurora location opened when donors heard a student needed a different option for school because they were bullied. As a charter school, the cost for students is free. Free breakfast and lunch is provided on site and meals are packed for students to take home as well. Even with the concerns from the pandemic, Cooper likes that her daughter is still getting some interaction with adults and students on site.
"Face to face interaction not only with her friends and comrades but with the instructor, her teachers as well," she told CBS4. "Listen to your child, look at their behavior, see if it works for them."
In addition to alternating students, families given desktops before now have a laptop that each student takes with them to the Center and they can bring home. The change was made to help stop any potential spread by shared keyboards. Staff and students all wear masks inside as well.
"In the age of COVID, this is an advantage because we can control small groups of cohorts that stay together, we have small sites, with small groups," O'Mara told CBS4. "Our classrooms have never been more than 20 students per classroom, we can maintain social distancing."
Just as some parents could not keep their students home for online school before the pandemic, HOPE could be an alternative for families that cannot afford the new trend of learning pods with private instructors since Coronavirus changed education across the country.
"One of the biggest benefits of learning centers is a small community. So students that are struggling learners could be in a place that they're comfortable," She added. If students were bullied, they have a small environment that can be controlled, where they have a lot of supervision."
HOPE follows county and state guidelines as a public institution and leaders believe they could switch to remote without issue if ordered to by health officials. They have already reported 95 percent engagement when they had to make the switch in the spring because of COVID-19.
"We're all focused on making sure that students are safe and supported," O'Mara said.
LINK: HOPE Online
