10 Valuable Skills that Students Develop in Online Courses
- Posted by Mark Beadle
- Categories Online Learning
- Date March 11, 2024
This blog post has been adapted from a previous blog post written by the founder of Sevenstar, Dr. R. Mark Beadle.
Have you considered adding online courses to your summer or fall schedules?
Students can instantly benefit from the increased flexibility, breadth, and depth that is available online to pursue passions and strengthen academic resumes. Online learners can also cultivate skills for the future that will help them succeed in college, career, ministry, and the military.
10 Relevant Skills that Students Can Develop As Online Learners:
Online Communication and Collaboration Skills
These are developed as your child interacts with their teacher and other students in the course through electronic means to successfully complete assignments, assessments and participate in threaded discussions. If your child is used to face-to-face communication, they will have to learn how to effectively communicate needs and emotions through electronic mediums including email, threaded discussions, phone and Skype. Effective communication skills using electronic means are critical in all walks of life.
Critical Thinking Skills
As your child has to engage with course content outside of the traditional classroom setting, they will begin to develop strong critical thinking skills. Working in online courses from Sevenstar, your child will be called upon to weigh concepts in light of Scripture to formulate and communicate their thoughts and ideas. As your child strengthens their critical thinking skills, they become more grounded in who they are in Christ.
Independent Learning Skills
These skills are developed as your child engages with their online course. Your child can devise their own work schedule to consistently work in their online course towards successful completion by the end date you set as a parent. Meeting project deadlines demonstrates the responsibility that will help your child succeed in college and beyond.
“As your child strengthens their critical thinking skills, they become more grounded in who they are in Christ.”
Initiative, Self-Direction and Motivation
Because your child has the freedom to engage with their online course on their terms, they are able to grow in the areas of initiative, self-direction, and motivation. Success as an online learner is a direct function of your child’s willingness to engage with the course content, which entails mapping out a “plan of attack” to complete the course successfully in the allotted time.
Problem Solving and Adaptability Skills
These skills are developed as your child works through technical difficulties that arise periodically with any online-oriented work. Learning how to be a successful online learner, itself, requires that your child adapts to a new way to learn. Independent learning inherently forces a student to problem solve and adapt in order to keep moving past challenging content and/or technical issues that can easily stall progress.
“Success as an online learner is a direct function of your child’s willingness to engage with the course content…”
Productivity and Accountability
Productivity and accountability are developed as your child strives to consistently progress through their course to avoid penalties for late work. The nice thing about your child learning how to be a successful online learner while under your roof in middle or high school is that you can still oversee their growth, holding them accountable to developing productive habits as an independent learner. Parents and online teachers have a front-row seat to clearly know when it makes sense to intervene as a catalyst to spur students on in developing a strong work ethic as an online learner.
Resourcefulness
Your child will gain the skill of resourcefulness when they are called upon to gather materials required to successfully complete assignments and labs. Your child will also have to adjust plans to stay on/get back on track in their course. They will also be challenged to create new content as they progress in their online course.
Technology Proficiency
This skill is developed as your child must learn how to effectively operate a wide variety of technologies such as: Learning Management Systems; Student Information Systems; Networks/Wi-Fi; Word Processors; Spreadsheets; Skype; Web Browsers; etc. Successfully operating and navigating such technology is a skill required in all walks of life.
Time Management
Time management is extremely important in online learning, and this skill is developed as your child strives to stay on track towards successful completion by the end date of the online course. Working in online courses from Sevenstar, your child will learn how a large project (a two-semester course) is broken down into a schedule of sub-projects (assignments) with target due dates. Your child will have to plan for time off from the course by either working ahead or feverishly working after the break to catch up. They will be learning the real-world time management strategies that are required to succeed in life.
Global Classroom Participation
This skill benefits your child as they get to hear ideas from other students around the world who are in the same section of the online course. Working in Sevenstar online courses, they can build relationships and discuss important topics with other Christian students from anywhere in the world. For example, how would you like your child to hear the realities of following Christ from missionary kids in China who are in their online US History course? Participating in a secure, global classroom with Christian students from around the world can help your child’s view of the Kingdom of God grow beyond your community.
“Participating in a secure, global classroom with Christian students from around the world can help your child’s view of the Kingdom of God grow beyond your community.”
You have an opportunity to help develop valuable skills in students by enrolling them in online courses while they are under your academic oversight. The skills they learn will serve them for the rest of their lives. Below is a quote about a middle school student who thrived in high school because of the skills they learned as a middle school online learner:
“We used Sevenstar online courses for one of our students for her 7th and 8th grade classes. She had a wonderful experience working through the courses with the support and engagement of the Sevenstar teachers. I am happy to report that she is now thriving in high school. She was super-prepared for high school in terms of her organizational and study skills. She developed these life skills through her work in Sevenstar online courses.”
– Dana Darby, Principal, Altus Christian Academy
If that middle school student benefitted in the next leg of her journey, which was high school, think about how much your students will benefit on the adventure God has planned for them beyond high school!
Dr. R. Mark Beadle founded Sevenstar in 2006 with a vision to serve students and schools with an online learning curriculum that presents a biblical worldview. He served as the company’s CEO and the Head of School for the full-time academy from 2006-2019. Prior to his conceptualizing Sevenstar, Dr. Beadle was the elementary principal of Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy, a school that won national awards and grew to 1400 students (K-12) in the 16 years he served there. He is recognized nationally as a Christian school leader and an expert in the use of educational technology. Dr. Beadle has taught all levels of students (elementary, middle school, high school, and college) and in public, international, missionary, and Christian schools.