Emily Meeder likes being able to take a breather during her school day.
Carrying a full course load, Meeder -- a senior at North Hills Senior High School -- is enrolled in an online class that allows her to have a study hall despite taking 7.5 credits.
"It's allowed me to take more credits but still have an easy schedule throughout the day, so I can go to my other classes and still have time," said Meeder, 17, of Ross. If you don't wait till the last minute to do your homework, this is perfect."
Meeder is enrolled in one of 10 new online electives offered at North Hills High School. Teachers developed the curriculum for several English electives, along with remediation courses in reading and math, to pair with the district's online health class introduced last year, said Jeff Taylor, director of technology and curriculum.
North Hills is the first Allegheny County district with its own online curriculum, said Sarah McCluan, spokeswoman for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit.
Taylor calls the online classes his "little pet project."
"I didn't want a canned class that didn't align with what the district's curriculum is," Taylor said.
In designing the courses -- which range from an SAT-prep style language course to "Tolkien, the Epic and Medieval Literature" -- administrators wanted to give students an opportunity to explore topics they otherwise wouldn't, said Lisa Palmieri, curriculum leader for secondary English in the district.
That's what Meeder and classmate Colin Barrett are doing. Both are enrolled in World Religion.
"I'm really interested in the different religions," Meeder said. "I'm a Christian myself, but I wanted to explore and see the differences out there."
The courses give students the opportunity to be more active in their learning, Palmieri said. Online courses are something many students will encounter in college.
Add in the fact that the Internet is where teens spend a lot of their time, and there is a recipe for success, Taylor said.
"The digital nature of it does not intimidate these kids in the way it might intimidate an adult," Palmieri said. "They're drawn to the use of technology, plus the idea that they can work at their own pace."
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