Welcome to the ‘virtual tutor’.
Halton District School Board students and parents can access a wealth of Internet help to assist learning, and the most recent progressive learning tool to hit the Board’s web consciousness is a math homework help website.
The Halton District School Board, the Independent Learning Centre and the Ontario Ministry of Education have partnered to provide the free and confidential Homework Help Program. Launched in Halton near the end of September 2010, the ministry-designed website focuses on confidential one-on-one help in mathematics for students in Grades 7-10. The link –https://homeworkhelp.ilc.org/secure/login.php – can be found on the Board website, under the ‘Student Resources’ tab.
It’s offered Sunday through Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., with help provided by a team of qualified teachers from across the province. Key areas of the site include homework help chat rooms with certified teachers; listen-and-learn presentations with certified teachers; interactive tutorials; and a ‘virtual locker’ to record all chat sessions so students can review their work as another form of studying.
Got a question about rounding of numbers or fractions? Ask away. There’s even a feature in which the instructor can talk to the student and only the instructor’s voice is heard to preserve anonymity.
Students are provided a relaxed climate for asking questions, and can think longer about what they want to ask and post their questions when they are ready. They can also work alongside their parent/guardian for a better understanding of the course material. The homework help site accomplishes a number of things including allowing students to seek help in the evenings when working on math at home and assisting students in “catching
up” on work they’ve missed when away from the classroom.
Program Superintendent Jeff Blackwell says this site is a great tool to help students without giving them the answer.
“Based on their learning style, some students will prefer face-to-face discussion and support from their school-based math teacher. For other students, working with peers is the most effective mode of learning. Online support is just one of many ways we reinforce learning with our students,” he says.
Scott Dykes, e-Learning Contact for the Board's Homework Help Initiative, is very excited about this resource. “Teachers can use this in the classroom,” he says.
Parents or students can email homeworkhelp@hdsb.ca should they have any questions.
Educational resources available in all subjects
Additional Kindergarten to Grade 12 student resources are also available at the Ontario Resource Educational Bank (OERB), http://resources.elearningontario.ca. By logging onto the site, students can access more than 22,000 educational resources in diverse subject areas. For example, you can view a science tutorial about matter, as based on the Ontario curriculum.
“It’s all there,” Dyke says of the provincial educational material. “It really is an excellent resource.”
Blackwell is very enthusiastic about these kinds of website learning tools and expects more may be coming to continue to help students learn at a high level.
“Our current Grade 7–10 students have a high level of comfort using technology to assist in their learning,” he says. “I would predict more and more online learning opportunities to be developed by our Board and the Ministry of Education over the next several years.”