It takes 13-year-old Evan Ulery only a couple of hours to complete school work for his seven classes during the third Virtual Learning day of the school year.
Logansport Community School Corp. and many others in the area had an "e-learning" day Thursday because of the frigid temperatures. Evan said he likes the alternative to adding days before summer vacation.
"I like that it’s in the comfort of your own home," Evan said. "We can eat. Or once you’re done, you can play video games."
Dozens of school corporations statewide instituted e-learning days — which lets students work on assignments at home on canceled school days — in January, so schools wouldn't have to add days to the end of the school year.
Greg Ulery, Evan's father, said kids are ready to be finished with school at the end of May, so when days are tacked on into June, they're not used as effectively.
"Those last few days, when they put it on the end are just kind of play days," Greg Ulery said. "This right here, they’re actually getting work done."
Logansport middle school and high school students work on classroom assignments on their school-issued computers, and elementary students have a paper packet of school work.
Evan's sister Erin Ulery, 10, said it takes her about two hours to complete the work in the packet. Elementary students can also complete work on the Internet if they have web access.
For some parents and students, however, e-learning doesn't work as well. Local mother Abigail Shick said some parents are too busy to work with students during the e-learning day due to work or other responsibilities.
Shick has three children, one in kindergarten, one in first grade and an infant. She also has a stepdaughter in second grade and a stepson in sixth grade. She said her daughter has anger problems, which makes it tough for her to do multiple things at once.
She said her kids have had problems concentrating on the assignments at home and that it took her daughter eight hours to complete the packet of work, with Shick assisting the entire time. She said it would have been better for schools to add days on at the end of the year.
"What they didn't realize is that by calling off school, it’s hard enough for half of the parents because now you have to find a daycare because you gotta go to work," Shick said.
Shick said the corporation should have let parents know in advance and given them a say in deciding whether to do e-learning. She said many people would have been in opposition if given the chance.
"It should have been set out so that parents had an opportunity to come, say yea or nay, and put their opinion in, even if it might have not changed anything," Shick said. "At least we would have felt like we had a chance to say our opinion."
Jennifer Trusty, social studies teacher at Columbia Middle School, created a survey for her seventh grade students on what they think about e-learning. She said 46 percent of the 102 students surveyed said the virtual learning day was OK, but it was difficult to stay motivated.
Trusty likes e-learning and said it gives her the chance to talk with all her students online during the day. She said some of the quieter kids are more talkative on Edmodo, an online program used for school assignments.
"I get to be in communication with the kids all day long," Trusty said.
Landis Elementary fourth grade teacher Greg Dominick said teachers focus on including subjects in the e-learning packets that would be on the upcoming ISTEP+ test. He said much of the work is review, which helps them prepare for the test.
Dominick added that students don't have to turn in the entire pack the next day of school, as they can have a couple of days to work on it. He said e-learning days keep students learning and preparing in the critical point of the school year.
"We need the learning to take place right now," Dominick said. "And the end of May and into June, it’s just not quality learning."