Should Two Online Courses Per Year Be Required for the OSSD?

Ontario students already have an online learning component within the requirements for the Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD). I believe it may be time to go further and consider requiring students to complete at least two online courses in each year of high school, for a minimum of eight online credits from Grades 9 to 12.

The key word is minimum. This proposal should not limit students who prefer online education. Some students may choose to take more than two online courses each year, and by Grade 12, some may even prefer to complete all of their courses online. Students learn differently, and families should continue to have choices. The purpose of requiring two courses per year would simply be to make sure every student develops meaningful experience with online learning before graduating.

Learning Online Is a Skill

Young people use phones, computers, social media, apps, and other technology every day. Because of this, we sometimes assume that they automatically know how to learn online.

I do not believe these are the same thing.

Using technology for entertainment and communication is very different from managing an online course. Students need to learn how to organize their time, follow instructions, meet deadlines, communicate appropriately with teachers, research information, evaluate sources, submit assignments through an online platform, and ask for assistance when they need it.

These skills develop through experience.

A Grade 9 student may initially need considerable guidance. Teachers and parents may need to remind the student to check the learning platform, organize assignments, or manage deadlines. By Grade 10, that same student may become more comfortable and independent. In Grades 11 and 12, we can gradually expect a greater level of responsibility.

This is why I believe two online courses every year could be more beneficial than completing only a small number of online courses at some point during high school. The goal is not simply to collect online credits. The goal is to develop the skills gradually over four years.

By graduation, learning online should feel normal and familiar.

Preparing Students for College and University

The transition from high school to postsecondary education can be challenging because students suddenly have much more responsibility for managing their own education. University and college students regularly use online portals to access readings, submit assignments, communicate with professors, review grades, attend virtual meetings, and complete parts of their courses independently. Even programs that are primarily taught in person now depend heavily on technology.

A student who has completed online courses throughout Grades 9 to 12 would already have several years of experience working in this type of environment. There is another lesson that online education can teach: how to find an answer independently.

When students have a question, they should not always expect someone to immediately give them the answer. Sometimes they need to go back through the lesson, read the instructions again, research reliable information, compare sources, and use the resources available to them. The teacher is still there to teach, guide, and support the student. However, students gradually develop the confidence to think, “Let me see if I can figure this out first.”

That confidence can be useful far beyond one high school course.

Preparing for a Changing Workplace

The workplace has changed considerably as well.

Many jobs now involve virtual meetings, online training, shared documents, digital communication, cloud-based systems, and collaboration with people in different locations. Some employees work completely remotely, while others work in hybrid environments. Even people who work in an office, hospital, school, business, or other physical workplace often use digital systems throughout their day. For today’s students, digital independence is becoming a basic workplace skill. Schools should therefore teach students not only how to use technology, but also how to work responsibly and independently through technology.

Online courses provide regular opportunities to practice these skills. Students learn to manage digital deadlines, organize electronic files, communicate professionally, solve basic technical problems, and become comfortable learning new systems. The programs and technology students use today will probably change many times during their careers. What matters is developing the confidence to adapt when something new comes along.

Online Learning Does Not Mean Learning Alone

Online education should never mean putting a student in front of a computer and expecting that student to teach themselves. A successful online course still requires a qualified teacher who teaches, monitors progress, answers questions, provides feedback, evaluates student work, and recognizes when a student is falling behind. Students also have different needs. Some students may become comfortable with independent learning very quickly. Others may require more structure, more frequent communication, accessibility supports, or additional assistance with organization and time management.

Independence does not mean isolation.

Part of becoming an independent learner is knowing when you can solve a problem yourself and when it is time to ask a teacher for help.

Education Has Always Changed

For some parents and members of older generations, the idea of students completing more of their education online may be difficult to accept. Many of us grew up with a very different educational system and sometimes in a very different cultural environment. Naturally, we compare today’s schools with the schools we remember from our childhood.

I remember something very simple from my own childhood: calculators were prohibited in the classroom.

At that time, allowing a student to use a calculator could be viewed as making the work too easy or preventing the student from learning mathematics properly. Today, things are very different. In many mathematics courses, calculators are normal educational tools. A student who arrives without the required calculator for a class or an examination may actually have a problem. The calculator did not destroy education. It became another tool for learning.

This makes me think about how we respond to online education and new technology today.

Things change. Technology changes. Universities change. Workplaces change. The way we communicate, research information, do business, and solve problems changes. Education cannot remain exactly as it was when we were children while everything around it moves forward. This does not mean we should automatically accept every new technology or educational idea. We should still ask whether it benefits students and supports learning. At the same time, we should be careful not to reject something simply because it is different from the education we experienced ourselves.

As parents and educators, part of preparing the next generation for change may require us to change some of our own expectations as well.

Two Courses Should Be a Minimum, Not a Maximum

It is also important that expanding online learning does not reduce student choice.

Some students learn best in a traditional classroom. They enjoy being physically present with their teachers and classmates and benefit from school activities, sports, arts, laboratories, discussions, and face-to-face interaction. These students could complete two online courses each year while continuing most of their education in the classroom. Other students may discover that they learn extremely well online. They may appreciate the flexibility, independence, pace, or learning environment. Those students should be able to take additional online courses if they choose.

By Grade 11 or 12, a student may be experienced enough to complete several courses online or perhaps all Grade 12 courses online. If online education works well for that student and the courses meet the appropriate educational requirements, I do not believe we should discourage that choice. Some students may graduate with eight online credits. Others may graduate with considerably more. The purpose of this proposal is not to create a maximum. It is to establish a minimum level of online learning experience while allowing students and families to decide what works best beyond that point.

Four Years to Build Confidence

For me, the strongest part of the idea is the continuity: two courses in Grade 9, two in Grade 10, two in Grade 11, and two in Grade 12.

Students would have four years to practice, make mistakes, receive guidance, improve their study habits, and gradually take greater responsibility for their own education. We should not wait until students enter university, college, or their first job before expecting them to know how to manage themselves in a digital environment.

High school gives us the opportunity to teach these skills while students still have teachers, parents, and schools available to support them. By graduation, I would like students to leave high school with more than an OSSD. I would like them to have the confidence to say: I know how to learn independently. I know how to use technology responsibly. I know how to find reliable information. I know when to solve a problem myself, and I know when to ask for help.

Education has always changed with society. Online learning is another part of that change. The question may no longer be whether technology belongs in education, but how we can use it wisely to better prepare students for the world they will enter after high school.