Studia Nova delivers all its curriculum through our online platform. In about three hours a day, most students are able to complete all their subjects. This approach leaves time for other activities, like P.E., art projects, or just regular family fun. I have heard many parents say that they do not want their kids sitting in front of the computer all day. They do not want screen time.
At Studia Nova, computers are useful tools. Students are presented the same math problems we all did when we were kids. But they also benefit from the very best math explainer videos; their future will not depend on the luck of the draw in teachers. Students read the classics, but they also benefit from audio which makes the stories come alive and improvement in vocabulary pronunciation.
Computers make the delivery of curriculum systematic, they assist in grading, and they help deliver fresh and new content to students. Computers also make it extremely easy to manage a one-room schoolhouse, where every student is working at a different level. But computers do not fundamentally change the learning processes. Students still do long division on paper, read stories, write essays, and solve word problems. When students are solving math on paper, they are not doing ‘screen time,’ they are just doing math.
Where does computer-based learning go wrong? A teacher would not walk away from her students after she handed out a worksheet, she would keep a watchful eye on all her students and help those who asked. When students are accessing their problems online, the same is true. We can not walk away from students working online, we need to keep a watchful eye and help them as they go.
The other way for computer-based learning to go wrong is with excessive gamification. There are many advertisements by various online curriculum providers that show exciting games for students to play, visually exciting interactive games that make us feel that learning will be just plain fun. Gamification is mostly a distraction from learning processes. Games take time away from students really thinking and digging into their work. A little is great and motivational, to many games are counter productive.
Studia Nova students make excellent academic progress because we take all the non-sense out of their work. This is being respectful of students and families.