Online classes have made their way into the traditional school system. Students are now choosing to take classes online instead of taking them at a physical, brick-and-mortar school building. Enrollment in online classes have nearly tripled in the last ten years, according to the International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

The traditional school setting can be problematic for those who have social challenges or anxiety. Online classes solve these kind of challenges while still offering rigorous courses that a traditional school has.

“Anyone at Orono in any grade can choose to do up to half of their classes online. PSEO is limited to juniors and seniors. This year there are 54 students taking an online class and 16 students doing PSEO. Every year this number is increasing,” guidance counselor Shana Borgen said.

PSEO, or post secondary enrollment options, allow a student to simultaneously be earning high school credits and college credits with one class. One of the big reasons for taking an online class is that physical schools do not offer a lot of classes that students want to take. Online schools are able to offer a bigger variety of classes because of the larger student body population. The number of students is higher because they are being pulled from many different places, versus a traditional school with a limited amount of students per grade.

Another reason students are opting to take an online class is due to the fact that certain classes may not fit into their schedule at their physical school. Online classes allow for the student to work at their own pace, in their own time. Orono allows for students to either take in school study halls in replacement for their online classes or make a block type schedule so students only have to be in the building for their classes taken at the school.

“I needed another social studies credit in order to graduate but none of them at Orono fit into my schedule. Getting to take it online really saved me from having to redo my whole schedule,” senior Sydney Donaldson said. “One of the other things I really like about it is that I can do it when I have time. With work and other classes it’s really helpful to be able to do this class on my own time.”

77 percent of teachers or educators say that online learning is just as good as traditional learning if not better, 70 percent of students say that online classes are as good as traditional classrooms and 26 percent of students in an online class said that they learn better in an online class than in a classroom, according to a study done at the University of Potomac.

What online classes lack is the face to face connection between students and teachers. Not having the physical interaction with classmates or teachers can cause students to lose motivation to log on and do the work.

“I chose not to do an online class because I felt like I wouldn’t be motivated to do my class without getting to see an actual teacher or conversing with the other students. I also thought that I wouldn’t be learning as well or as much as I would, being in a physical classroom,” senior Alayna Ahlstrom said.

“Online classes can be a great option for students as long as they’re motivated. It is a nice option for students to have more flexibility but it all depends on getting the students to actually do the work,” math teacher Nathan Porter said.

Online credit recovery classes are another popular option that students are taking advantage of. There is a 75 percent credit recovery pass rate for students who chose to do online credit recovery.