How Digital Learning Could Increase the Number of Snow Days...But There's a Catch

Digital learning. Online courses. Chromebooks and iPads in the classroom.

They all spell the "death" of the snow day. Or so the experts say.

As computer technology embeds itself deeper and deeper into the classroom at all levels, it won't be long before students are required to check in and complete assignments, via a digital portal, posted on their teachers' websites. Many schools around the country have already gone to "digital learning days"--for example, Farmington River Regional School District uses "blizzard bags"--and the snow day offers a great opportunity to put new, glitzy digital learning technologies to the test.

Does this mean the death of the snow day?

In terms of the pure joy of finding out through a robocall, or this website, that students don't have to get dressed and go to school, that excitement will still be palpable. But what won't feel so great is that the release from all academic responsibility will not be present (presuming students actually did all their homework the night before).  Instead, students will have to check in with their teachers' web spaces and complete homework assignments online during the snow day. This is happening already in classes. If it isn't happening in your school, it is just around the corner.

So how do these digital learning days work?

As long as schools can prove that students are completing assignments and learning when they work from home--and learning management systems (LMSs) such as Canvas, Moodle, Schoology and Edmodo are very good at collecting the data schools will need--then state Boards of Education will allow these "snow days" to count as "time on learning."

(For those wondering about students who don't have reliable internet at home, provisions are in place to allow students to make up snow day assignments once students return to school. In most cases, students will have a few days after a snow day to complete the work for it to count as an assignment.)

Because doing assignments at home while the snow piles up on Route 7 can now count as a school day, it is the GSD Staff's professional opinion that Superintendents, knowing that they have a backup learning plan in place, will have the leeway to call more snow days. Why risk an accident when students can complete lessons at home?

Yes, these digital learning days will kill the soul of the snow day, but they will eventually lead to more opportunities for students to stay home from school.