The Sea to Sky School District is pioneering online courses that its staff hopes will improve the lives of students with disabilities around the world.
This school year, students in Grades 10 to 12 who qualify under special education designations will be able to sign up for credited recreation and leisure courses. They mark the first expanded core curriculum (ECC) courses to be offered in the Sea to Sky Online School.
The ECC was originally established in recognition of the specific skills required by students with visual impairments. The school district expanded the framework to include non-vision-related special education categories. The new ECC online courses were designed by the district’s vision/orientation and mobility resource teacher, Sharon Henderson.
“ECC courses provide the skills students with visual loss need beyond the regular school curriculum, such as how to cross a busy street if you are blind,” she said.
The recreation and leisure programs were developed as board authority authorized courses to meet local community needs. The Visually Impaired: Recreation & Leisure 11 and Inclusion: Recreation & Leisure 11 courses are the first of their kind. They were approved by the school district two weeks ago.
“B.C. has been the only place in North America offering ECC credit courses. But this will be the first online ECC course anywhere in the world,” Henderson said.
Three large components make up people’s lives – family, school or career, and activities including sports and leisure, and for many students with disabilities, accessing sports or hobbies can be difficult, Henderson said. The online courses require students to go out and explore what activities are available within their school and community. They then pick something they are interested in and sign up. The final step is to attend an event away from home.
The courses go beyond simply finding someone a hobby, Henderson said. They drive students to meet new people, learn how travel to and from events on their own and organize itineraries. They push students who are sometimes isolated by their disability into the community, she added.
One of the goals is to help youth develop confidence and independence.
“It is really a step-by-step program on how to make friends,” she said.
The local area is the perfect birthplace for the new ECC courses, Henderson remarked. The area is a mecca for sports and youth leadership programs.
“The Sea to Sky Corridor has state-of-the-art Paralympics training for winter sports that stands out around the world,” she noted.
Henderson’s new courses fill a gap in B.C.’s curriculum, says Peter Jory, the school district’s director of instruction for technology and innovation. Jory is in charge of the programs.
“It is unusual for a course like this to be focused in the special education area,” he said, addressing the uniqueness of the two online classes.
Jory anticipates a handful of corridor students each year will be able to benefit from these courses and he sees a greater need for the program on a provincial level. The courses will be offered online.
“She [Henderson] has done a marvelous job developing the program,” said Jory.
