Senior Staff Writer

So, honestly, I couldn’t care less about Edline. So far, it’s only done good. But it’s still not as effective as the administration wants it to be.

Edline was supposed to make our lives easier: easier access to grades, easier communication between teachers and parents, and an easier way to keep up with assignments.

The question is, how can a student access his grades or keep up with missed assignments if teachers don’t update on a regular basis? Teachers are only required to update twice a quarter: once before progress reports and once before report cards.

Ok, so some teachers are good about updating, that’s true. But what about the rest of the teachers who are lazy about it? And what about the students who are unable to see their grades?

What’s a real bother is when a teacher who rarely updates puts an assignment on Edline, without telling the students. The students, who at the time didn’t check those accounts because it’s never updated, then miss the assignment.

“[It’s] a good idea to post grades but [I] don’t like how teachers will put homework assignments up and expect you to check it,” junior Emily Shols said.

Yes, Edline does have some good aspects if it’s used properly, but at the same time it seems as if it’s just a headache.

The obvious solution is for teachers to update more often. I know teachers don’t like to be required to do things like this, but if the administrators really want to see Edline succeed or at least make an improvement, that might just be something they will have to live with.

Edline can help parents keep in touch with teachers, but most parents don’t bother to get their own personal account (where they would receive their child’s updates) and prefer to use their child’s.

“[There is a] very high percentage of parents who don’t use…their own account. If parents want to see success of students you’d think more parents would utilize [it],” Mr. Shoap said.

The worst thing for students is, obviously, the fact that many don’t want their parents to have that kind of access to their grades. Who would? Students are concerned that by parents having access to grades, it might compromise their weekends or social life.

Unfortunately, those students will have to get over it and actually apply themselves. Which, trust me, isn’t that difficult. If most of the varsity basketball team can maintain good grades while winning the Susquehanna Division Championship, you can too.

All in all, Edline can only do good. Without it, we’d have no access to grades at all and we’d be back where we started.