Throughout the past year, NHS has undergone some very dramatic changes. Between reuniting the freshmen with the main campus and building new classrooms to going paperless with iPads, the learning experience for students at the high school has changed significantly.

Among these changes was the introduction of eLearning days, set dates on which students would stay home and complete their classwork on their iPads or computers. Initially, eLearning was only for students in grades 9-12, with grades 10-12 working on iPads and grade 9 completing their work on computers. This year, grades 6-12 at Noblesville all participate in eLearning days and also have been provided with iPads.

However, this year a few of the days have been changed to be half taught at school, and half continued at home. Students have mixed opinions on the new half days.

“I don’t really like them,” sophomore Benny Heckner said. “I don’t see the point of coming to school for half of the day if you’re just going to do [the work] anyways at home.”

Still, Heckner generally thinks of eLearning positively.

“eLearning day as a whole, I think, is a pretty good opportunity because it not only shows you what it’s gonna be like in real life where you have to make decisions on your own, it gives you opportunities to do a lot of stuff [that you wouldn’t normally be able to do in school].”

This is not the case for everyone, however. Senior Odin Richardson and sophomore Ryan Sweeley were on a completely different page.

Sweeley simply stated she finds eLearning pointless.

“I like the half eLearning days better because you still go to school and get stuff done. I think we should have more half ones and less full ones.” In the past, instructions given for full eLearning days were often unclear. With half days, teachers are able to give instructions in person instead of a quick once-over of the lesson in class prior to the actual eLearning day.

“I don’t like [eLearning] because I think I’m more focused when I’m in school. I like to separate school and home life, when I’m at home I feel like I should relax. I kinda like [the half days], but it kinda feels like it’s getting sillier and sillier every year, ” Richardson said.

When asked what he would change about the new half days, Richardson said, “I wouldn’t change anything about them because I’m not used to them but I know future generations will be. We’re just the first generation [to have eLearning days].”