As you all know, we now have a new online source, Charger Commons. It was intended to be a website focused on the students at Providence Day and their parents, allowing the original Providence Day site to be aimed toward the general public. While a good idea in theory, I do not believe it is working as well as they expected.
For example, I find that Charger Commons has made finding homework assignments difficult. Teachers do not tell us our homework in class because we can find it online, but then the question is, "where is it online?"Is it on the Google Calendar? Charger Commons? I need to look at multiple sources every day!
How much time do we spend hunting down our homework assignment before we can even begin? It just seems like a waste of time. To the same point, finding documents given by teachers becomes much of the same problem. Students have to try frantically to catch up in class after they searched for the document in the wrong area or once they lose Wi-Fi and cannot connect to Charger Commons.
On the other hand, Charger Commons does provide an organized source for all varieties of student life. It also is easier to navigate than the old Providence Day website, and iPads have no trouble showing the new site. It also seems to work well for parents who can easily find what they need on Charger Commons.
In my opinion, we should stop trying to force Charger Commons to include everything and limit it to school news and student life instead of using it for school assignments as well. Google Docs and Calendar can easily take care of that, as they have in years past.
Charger Commons: Helpful or a Hassle?
by Ashley Panousis