Overview

Our online program

The online courses at SIDES are offered through our Learning Management System, Sidesonline. Each of these courses features access to an online teacher who provides course organization, educational content, learning support and direction, and feedback for the students. The teacher provides assignments, leads threaded discussions, assesses and evaluates student work, and administers quizzes and tests. The teacher also monitors student progress and, in some situations, develops differentiated instructional strategies for students.

Once a student has completed the registration process, the student will be placed in his or her SIDES course(s) immediately. Once registered, students must complete the courses within one year.

Some students might wish to take the whole calendar year to complete a course, some might wish to complete it within a school year, and some might wish to move through the course more quickly. At SIDES, students have a choice.

Click here to take a quick self-evaluation for online learning.

Student-Paced Courses - Continuous Entry

Students who wish to take responsibility for establishing their own timelines or who need to have maximum flexibility in terms of course work in order to accommodate other activities in their lives will probably find the Student-paced option suits them. This option allows students to take a longer time to complete their courses as required, and tends to work best for highly independent students who regularly demonstrate self-initiative and require little guidance, motivation and direction. This option is available to students 12 months of the year.

While continuous entry provides students with a great deal of academic freedom, it does not mean that students don't have to keep up with work during the course. Once students have been admitted to a course, they will be expected to login regularly, work at the material, hand in assignments at reasonable intervals, and participate in class discussions. If students are inactive in a course for 60 days, they will be withdrawn from the course.

Teacher Paced - Selected entry

The Teacher-paced mode of learning more closely mirrors the classroom experience in an online environment and is particularly well suited to students who require consistent guidance, motivation and direction. The teacher provides the same support as in a Student-paced course. In addition, however, the teacher establishes a semester-based work schedule for students and teaches regularly scheduled virtual classes.

The teacher - paced option is suitable for students who are working on a single course at SIDES and taking the rest of their courses in a neighbourhood school, those who are working under a timeline for graduation or for entry into a college program, and those who simply prefer to work in a more structured environment.

This option is available to students twice a year. The first session begins in September and ends in January while the second session begins in February and ends in June.