New, Noteworthy, and Revised Courses at OHS

Orion High School creates new courses every two months; tests those courses, and then opens the courses up to new learners. Usually, new courses are created because our customers ask for them! In the cases of our newest courses, not only were they requested by our (customers) learners, one was actually created by one of our learners! In another course, it was actually created by one of our mentors!

The following courses are new at Orion High School, and can be requested by current learners and/or credit transfer learners!

In the Technology and Productivity Tools area, we have the following courses:

3D Animating with Blender

New Courses Article Picture

blender This course is an elective credit course and utilizes the Blender Animation Software to build a series of animations starting from simple animations, to the more complex animations. Learners will download and install the Blender software (free), and will complete the 10 modules in this exciting elective course. This course is intended for the animation techie in you, to learn new skills that are useful in a variety of settings. The course was designed and built by an Orion High School Learner, and is available for requesting with the October 2015 course request window (for a November 1 start).

Movie Creation and Editing with iMovie

imovie

For the up-and-coming movie creator, director, producer, or star, this course introduces you to using iMovie to create movies, and to edit those movies. The iMovie software is primarily used for Apple (Mac) products, but the concepts learned in this course can cross other platforms. This course was requested by an Orion Learner, and was opened for learners in July 2015. The course is available to all learners, and may be requested during any of the course request windows!

Introduction to Criminal Justice

Introduction to Criminal Justice is an elective course that can also be used for Social Studies credit for Orion Learners. The course introduces learners to the process for criminal justice in the United States. The course was designed by Orion High School mentor Dr. Jed Dubose, and is mentored by him as well. Learners receive one credit for successful completion of the course. This course is intended for learners who have an interest in law, justice, or any other type of law enforcement career.

Courses that Have Undergone Renewal

Orion revises (we call it renewal) courses on a schedule, every two to three years, or if content (or industry) standards have been changed. The following courses have undergone renewal and are available for learners:

Microsoft Office - This course has been revised to include Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access. Learners taking this course must have Microsoft Office installed on their machine, as this course is specific to Microsoft Office 2013.

Physics - The Physics course has been revised to better align to the Next Generation Science Standards, and to ensure that the course provides a good foundation in Newtonian Physics, for our learners. The revised course contains interactive laboratory experiences for learners.

Algebra 2 - The Algebra 2 course has been revised to better align to advanced algebra standards that go beyond linear equations and linear functions. The new course starts with functions, goes into quadratic functions, and ends with logarithmic and exponential functions. The revised course is available for all learners.

Anatomy & Physiology - The Anatomy & Physiology course has been revised to include labs in each of the modules. The revised course is available for all learners.

Chemistry - The Chemistry course has been revised to better align with the Next Generation Science Standards. The revised course is available for all learners.

Biology - The Biology course has been revised to better align with the Next Generation Science Standards and to include one or more labs in each of the modules. The revised course is available for all learners.