Attention all JMSS Students & Families:

Last week, the OCDSB sent the following communication:

Mandatory eLearning Graduation Requirement and Opt-out Information  

We were just made aware of new graduation requirements for students relating to eLearning. These were released by the Ministry of Education and are explained in (PPM 167). The purpose of adding mandatory eLearning courses to graduation requirements is to provide students with access to a wider variety of courses, increase digital fluency and gain transferable skills to support lifelong learning. 

What you need to know: 

• Beginning with the cohort of students who entered Grade 9 in 2020-21 (current Grade 10 students), all students must earn a minimum of two e-learning credits in order to graduate with an OSSD. Students in certificate pathways are exempted from this requirement.

• Students who were in Grade 9 in 2020-21 (current grade 10 students) will receive one e-learning credit in recognition of their pandemic learning experiences. 

• E-learning courses are delivered asynchronously and cannot include those earned through in-person learning, blended learning, or remote learning (includes partly synchronous learning).

• There will be a mechanism that allows students/families to opt out of the e-learning graduation requirement.  This opt-out form will be shared with families at a later date.

 As of tomorrow, February 24th, 2022, students will be able to select eLearning course(s) through the course selection tool, Xello.  All of the available course options can now be found in Xello.  The newly available eLearning courses have a code that ends in a “T”.   As an example, please note the differences in the chart below:

Important Note for current Grade 10 and 11 students who have already completed and submitted their course selections:

Your Course Planner in Xello will be unlocked and your course selections unsubmitted as of 8 AM on Thursday, February 24th. This will allow all students a chance to review course choices and, if desired, select an eLearning course.  Whether you do or do not change your course selections, you will still need to re-submit your courses in Xello by the course selection deadline of March 4th.

 Upon completion and submission of the course selections in Xello, all families are reminded that parent verification of course selections must be completed via Laserfiche.  

 Please note that students can opt out of the eLearning course requirement.

Students should direct questions regarding course selection to their guidance counsellor