Online Resources Provide Technological Benefits to All Students

Through the year with the occurrence of COVID-19 and the incorporation of the return to learn plan allowing virtual and in person methods, HUHS has introduced more online resources to assist all students from editing documents to finding research and reading materials.

The use of Kami, an online extension that allows annotations to PDF files, has been beneficial to virtual learners who may not have access to hard copies when learning from home.

Senior Josie Parr said, “So many teachers give us PDF’s and it makes everything so much easier to be able to annotate and write stuff right on the page rather than printing it or just doing it on a piece of paper with no context.”

These new resources are meant to expand the aid that HUHS teachers and staff are trying to provide to their students. With the changes of the learning format, for staff members, including library media specialist Michelle Yu, it makes them work harder to get the word out and make sure students know where to go if they need help.

“We are trying our best to meet the needs of all learners so we are offering more options,” Yu said. “Many times these are resources we already had in place, but we are working harder to advertise them to students, teachers and families.”

While the high school has made the changes to introducing Schoology this year and making use of Kami to reduce paper use in some classes and aid virtual learners, it is also seen to students, like junior Vincent Hesprich, as a way of moving into the new age of HUHS.

“I think this is a good year to experiment with all that stuff,” Hesprich said.

Given the risk with in person learning of testing positive or being quarantined due to close contact exposure, the availability of Sora, an online gateway to thousands of eBooks and audiobooks, can grant access to students for books they may need for a class project or just pure enjoyment.

“If someone doesn’t feel comfortable or because they’re quarantined [with] getting their books and picking them up, they’re able to get the resources online which is a great option,” Parr said. “Everything is for safety.”