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WHEELING -- Wheeling Park High School students are learning remotely this week, and today and Friday their classes will be live-streamed so they can interact with teachers from home.
Students will be sent links to log in and join their class for live instruction. WPHS will be following its two-hour delay class schedule plan, with first period starting at 9:15 a.m.
Ohio County Schools is classified as "orange" this week on the West Virginia Department of Education's COVID-19 reporting map. This means all instruction must be remote in the school district through the week, while students are provided with online lessons and education.
Typically, there isn’t much one-on-one interaction between students and teachers when remote learning takes place.
Ohio County Schools refers to having all students learning from home as "Level 3." The school district’s Level 3 plan requires that schools provide at least one live online engagement opportunity for students and teachers during the week, according to WPHS Principal Meredith Dailer.
Some teachers previously tried live-streaming of their classes, but this will be the first time all eight periods of classes will be live-streamed for an entire day, she said.
"There are a lot of moving parts to going live," Dailer said. “We hope students will take the opportunity to log on and receive instruction from their teachers.
"We think the best thing for our kids is our teachers, and we are trying to make that happen the best that we can for the full remote week we are in right now."
The classes also will be recorded and later uploaded to the school’s online instructional platform. This will permit those students who do not have the technology to later view their class if necessary.
"Technology is wonderful when it works," Dailer said. “The county itself has done a wonderful job of providing ‘hot spots’ to families in need. That is why we felt it was important to offer this to students not just on a schedule, but also to record and upload them so students have access later should they not be home, or have to go elsewhere to get internet."
Teachers also are continuing to hone their skills when it comes to online education, according to Dailer.
"It is challenging to continue to build and create for our kids, but we continue to get better at it everyday,” she said. "While in full virtual, we really felt we needed to make the effort to connect with our students, and we are hoping it is acceptable."
Live-streamed classes were a topic of conversation at Monday's Ohio County School Board meeting. Board member Mollie Aderholt commended the school district’s efforts to begin live-streaming classes, then asked if students are required to participate in the virtual classes as they would in their regular classes.
She also asked if there was a way to differentiate between students who don’t have the best technology to watch live-stream video, but still require those who do "to log in and show your face."
Superintendent Kim Miller said schools can't require students to participate in those activities, but those students are responsible for the work being done.
"We know we have a percentage of students who do not have accessibility, but who are still able to get the work done."
Counselors are working with those students who aren’t completing their assignments, she said.
"Online learning might not be for everyone," Miller said.
Board President David Croft said the school district “is learning as we go."
"As with everything else, there is room for improvement,” he said. "There will be those who like a plan, and those who don’t."