Edgenuity Community

This is only my second year teaching on Edgenuity and the latest topic of conversation at our school is regarding Electives.  Although Edgenuity reflects a long list of possible electives, not all of them seem to be feasible for our environment or would serve our student population well. For example, all of our students use Chromebooks so having them take Microsoft Office Specialist, for example, would be quite challenging without having access to Microsoft Office.  There are also numerous CTE courses that seem to have a project for every lesson and most of my students are in Credit Recovery courses and just want an elective to finish quickly. The projects, especially in a virtual environment, seem to just frustrate them more than anything. Many times, it results in us teachers having to bypass them because the students do not have the materials needed, or they require group work (when all of our students work independently).  Yes, I do make modifications to many of those projects when possible, but juggling 20+ classes in a school year makes it difficult to keep up with when the topics range so drastically.  I would appreciate input on what electives you have found to work best for your students that demand enough from them to be beneficial, but not so much that they lead to tears.  Your experience in this area is certainly appreciated! :) 

Added bonus: If you can explain to me how to interpret the series column under Manage courses. 2000 vs. 3000; 3000 vs. 3000 Common Core vs. 3000 Career Pathways; etc.

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Amanda Ortiz
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Hi Amanda! 

While I won't be good help with the "best" electives, I can help you navigate the difference between the course series. Anything 3000 are the courses with the most recent content. The Common Core courses are base courses created to meet the Common Core standards- with 3000 Common Core being Common Core courses with our newest content. This is similar with the 3000 Career Pathways, which are the newest content courses that relate to career paths for students. 

I hope this helps!


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Amber Woodward
Edgenuity
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-10-2021 14:22
From: Amanda Ortiz
Subject: Best Electives and Why??

This is only my second year teaching on Edgenuity and the latest topic of conversation at our school is regarding Electives.  Although Edgenuity reflects a long list of possible electives, not all of them seem to be feasible for our environment or would serve our student population well. For example, all of our students use Chromebooks so having them take Microsoft Office Specialist, for example, would be quite challenging without having access to Microsoft Office.  There are also numerous CTE courses that seem to have a project for every lesson and most of my students are in Credit Recovery courses and just want an elective to finish quickly. The projects, especially in a virtual environment, seem to just frustrate them more than anything. Many times, it results in us teachers having to bypass them because the students do not have the materials needed, or they require group work (when all of our students work independently).  Yes, I do make modifications to many of those projects when possible, but juggling 20+ classes in a school year makes it difficult to keep up with when the topics range so drastically.  I would appreciate input on what electives you have found to work best for your students that demand enough from them to be beneficial, but not so much that they lead to tears.  Your experience in this area is certainly appreciated! :) 

Added bonus: If you can explain to me how to interpret the series column under Manage courses. 2000 vs. 3000; 3000 vs. 3000 Common Core vs. 3000 Career Pathways; etc.

------------------------------
Amanda Ortiz
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 2/17/2021 3:33:00 PM
From: Amber Woodward
Subject: RE: Best Electives and Why??

Hi Amanda! 

While I won't be good help with the "best" electives, I can help you navigate the difference between the course series. Anything 3000 are the courses with the most recent content. The Common Core courses are base courses created to meet the Common Core standards- with 3000 Common Core being Common Core courses with our newest content. This is similar with the 3000 Career Pathways, which are the newest content courses that relate to career paths for students. 

I hope this helps!


------------------------------
Amber Woodward
Edgenuity
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-10-2021 14:22
From: Amanda Ortiz
Subject: Best Electives and Why??

This is only my second year teaching on Edgenuity and the latest topic of conversation at our school is regarding Electives.  Although Edgenuity reflects a long list of possible electives, not all of them seem to be feasible for our environment or would serve our student population well. For example, all of our students use Chromebooks so having them take Microsoft Office Specialist, for example, would be quite challenging without having access to Microsoft Office.  There are also numerous CTE courses that seem to have a project for every lesson and most of my students are in Credit Recovery courses and just want an elective to finish quickly. The projects, especially in a virtual environment, seem to just frustrate them more than anything. Many times, it results in us teachers having to bypass them because the students do not have the materials needed, or they require group work (when all of our students work independently).  Yes, I do make modifications to many of those projects when possible, but juggling 20+ classes in a school year makes it difficult to keep up with when the topics range so drastically.  I would appreciate input on what electives you have found to work best for your students that demand enough from them to be beneficial, but not so much that they lead to tears.  Your experience in this area is certainly appreciated! :) 

Added bonus: If you can explain to me how to interpret the series column under Manage courses. 2000 vs. 3000; 3000 vs. 3000 Common Core vs. 3000 Career Pathways; etc.

------------------------------
Amanda Ortiz
------------------------------

Hi Amanda

Depending on your access, you can customize any course to remove the "projects", "labs", etc.. I have customized all of the Credit Recovery courses that my students use.  YOu can remove all of the excess items and only provide the critical content. This can be done on the course level or the student level.  Edgenuity has step-by-step guides for customizing courses. I can also help you if you are interested in going this route.

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Marcelle McGhee
Berks County Intermediate Unit
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-10-2021 14:22
From: Amanda Ortiz
Subject: Best Electives and Why??

This is only my second year teaching on Edgenuity and the latest topic of conversation at our school is regarding Electives.  Although Edgenuity reflects a long list of possible electives, not all of them seem to be feasible for our environment or would serve our student population well. For example, all of our students use Chromebooks so having them take Microsoft Office Specialist, for example, would be quite challenging without having access to Microsoft Office.  There are also numerous CTE courses that seem to have a project for every lesson and most of my students are in Credit Recovery courses and just want an elective to finish quickly. The projects, especially in a virtual environment, seem to just frustrate them more than anything. Many times, it results in us teachers having to bypass them because the students do not have the materials needed, or they require group work (when all of our students work independently).  Yes, I do make modifications to many of those projects when possible, but juggling 20+ classes in a school year makes it difficult to keep up with when the topics range so drastically.  I would appreciate input on what electives you have found to work best for your students that demand enough from them to be beneficial, but not so much that they lead to tears.  Your experience in this area is certainly appreciated! :) 

Added bonus: If you can explain to me how to interpret the series column under Manage courses. 2000 vs. 3000; 3000 vs. 3000 Common Core vs. 3000 Career Pathways; etc.

------------------------------
Amanda Ortiz
------------------------------

I agree with Amanda - my district has over 50 customized courses and trying to figure out those projects and labs are the most challenging part. She is exactly right, many have groupwork that cannot be done the way we use Edgenuity, and many have materials lists that students are not aware of and have to buy things and it puts them behind.
Yes, they can certainly be customized, but we don't have full-time Edgenuity teachers - facilitating these courses is essentially a duty for our teachers, so they don't have time to look through every course at every project.
I'm trying to keep a list of problematic projects and somehow fix them over the summer.
But.....Amanda is also right that when the course is updated, I have to do the process over again.
I really like students doing projects, I just want to have a virtual version available to them (looking at you "Earth-Moon-Sun project"!!) and nothing that involves groupwork (looking at you "Modeling the Movement of Matter and Energy in an Ecosystem").

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stephanie reilly
fox chapel area school district
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-19-2021 07:01
From: Marcelle McGhee
Subject: Best Electives and Why??

Hi Amanda

Depending on your access, you can customize any course to remove the "projects", "labs", etc.. I have customized all of the Credit Recovery courses that my students use.  YOu can remove all of the excess items and only provide the critical content. This can be done on the course level or the student level.  Edgenuity has step-by-step guides for customizing courses. I can also help you if you are interested in going this route.

------------------------------
Marcelle McGhee
Berks County Intermediate Unit

Original Message:
Sent: 02-10-2021 14:22
From: Amanda Ortiz
Subject: Best Electives and Why??

This is only my second year teaching on Edgenuity and the latest topic of conversation at our school is regarding Electives.  Although Edgenuity reflects a long list of possible electives, not all of them seem to be feasible for our environment or would serve our student population well. For example, all of our students use Chromebooks so having them take Microsoft Office Specialist, for example, would be quite challenging without having access to Microsoft Office.  There are also numerous CTE courses that seem to have a project for every lesson and most of my students are in Credit Recovery courses and just want an elective to finish quickly. The projects, especially in a virtual environment, seem to just frustrate them more than anything. Many times, it results in us teachers having to bypass them because the students do not have the materials needed, or they require group work (when all of our students work independently).  Yes, I do make modifications to many of those projects when possible, but juggling 20+ classes in a school year makes it difficult to keep up with when the topics range so drastically.  I would appreciate input on what electives you have found to work best for your students that demand enough from them to be beneficial, but not so much that they lead to tears.  Your experience in this area is certainly appreciated! :) 

Added bonus: If you can explain to me how to interpret the series column under Manage courses. 2000 vs. 3000; 3000 vs. 3000 Common Core vs. 3000 Career Pathways; etc.

------------------------------
Amanda Ortiz
------------------------------

I agree. I have been trying to replace projects that can't be done individually and remotely with a Flipgrid of Edpuzzle, but sometimes it's not workable. I also feel like I'm playing whack a mole, because with multiple grades and subjects I don't always catch the projects before students email me asking what to do. My students are remote even in non-COVID times, so the ability to add my own assignments (which I learned on an Edgenuity webinar this year) and all the tech tools I've learned about this year we be impactful for still meeting standards that I feel like we're shortchanging.

I know it's hard though to have the time, and I do not know if you have the customization ability. To answer your question, my students really like the Business Math class, which can serve as a math elective (my students need 10 credits of math elective) or a general elective is they do the normal common core three-year math sequence. It teaches great life skills that education is lacking. The Art 1A/1B class works. There are no projects in it that require supplies. I don't think my district has access to the CTE courses, but the veterinary one someone mentioned sounds super cool!

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Dana Stibor
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-10-2021 14:22
From: Amanda Ortiz
Subject: Best Electives and Why??

This is only my second year teaching on Edgenuity and the latest topic of conversation at our school is regarding Electives.  Although Edgenuity reflects a long list of possible electives, not all of them seem to be feasible for our environment or would serve our student population well. For example, all of our students use Chromebooks so having them take Microsoft Office Specialist, for example, would be quite challenging without having access to Microsoft Office.  There are also numerous CTE courses that seem to have a project for every lesson and most of my students are in Credit Recovery courses and just want an elective to finish quickly. The projects, especially in a virtual environment, seem to just frustrate them more than anything. Many times, it results in us teachers having to bypass them because the students do not have the materials needed, or they require group work (when all of our students work independently).  Yes, I do make modifications to many of those projects when possible, but juggling 20+ classes in a school year makes it difficult to keep up with when the topics range so drastically.  I would appreciate input on what electives you have found to work best for your students that demand enough from them to be beneficial, but not so much that they lead to tears.  Your experience in this area is certainly appreciated! :) 

Added bonus: If you can explain to me how to interpret the series column under Manage courses. 2000 vs. 3000; 3000 vs. 3000 Common Core vs. 3000 Career Pathways; etc.

------------------------------
Amanda Ortiz
------------------------------