Business Independent Study

Welcome

Welcome to the webpage designed to help navigate through the Business Independent Study course while we move forward through this portion of our school year. This will be a different form of learning for all of us, so we will use the resources we have to hopefully create some helpful learning tools to continue the learning process.

This page is being set up to help provide information as it becomes available and keep a constant link to your Business Independent Study course. With that in mind, this page will be evolving and changing. Please be patient as we all work through this together. A course syllabus is provided to help give some insight into the course structure and grading procedures. Additional information that will be helpful moving forward can be found on this page. Please take the time to review all the materials prior to the start of class.

At any time you feel the need, you can contact me at my email of ctaylor@mdirss.org. I normally check my email several times a day on a very regular basis.

Weekly Work

You will have a weekly calendar shared with you that will cover the entire ranking period. On that calendar it will show what activities you need to complete each week and the day of the week they should be completed by. This document will allow for you to see what is due several weeks in advance so that you can schedule your work time accordingly.  

LATE WORK WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. ...With the notification of what your schedule of work to be completed having been laid out well in advance, the idea of "late work" will not exist. The schedule is set up as such that if you are using class time only appropriately, you will be able to complete all items as scheduled, with the rare occasion being you may need some additional time outside of normal class meetings. Those choosing to work outside of class time should be able to work well ahead of schedule. You are certainly able to work ahead as you see fit and have the time to do. However, those scheduled due dates should be followed and are expected to be met each week. With knowing well in advance what is due, it should allow you to plan your time and allow you to keep up with the workload  in this course better. 

Structure of Classes

Each course is structured to allow for students to follow the activities provided at a rate comfortable for them, although there are still completion dates which are to be met in order to help achieve full credit for each course by the end of each ranking period. Students will come to class each day and use the time allotted to them to complete the exercises for that course. The teacher will be on hand to assist the student as they move through the exercises, but the focus of the learning and the pace of the work falls on the student. This is done to allow for students at different abilities and learning levels to complete assignments at a rate they are comfortable with, but still pushes them to move forward at a somewhat structured pace.

Students will also be focusing on the use of technology to complete, and turn in work, in most classes. Each student will be set up with access to the Google Drive folder containing the activities for the course. They have also been set up with their own, private, folder for handing in assignments electronically. The only people with access to these folders are the student and teacher (along with network/school administrators). Other students will not be able to access your folders without your access information. On the occasion when work is printed out and handed in, students will also have an "in-room" folder where returned work will be placed. 

The overall concept of forming classes in this fashion is to allow for students to take responsibility for their own learning with assistance and guidance from the instructor. The idea of this individualized learning is that students can fit classes into their schedules easier with less focus on being in a classroom for a lecture and more focus on being in an environment where they can learn more comfortably. In all classes in this learning area, the idea is for students to learn in a way that benefits them and creates a lasting forming of knowledge within the content area. We hope that students aren't learning materials to forget as soon as they take a test over it. We're hoping they learn materials that help them continue on through life as successful citizens and lifelong learners.

Courses of Study

Business Independent Study was a class that came out of necessity to fit into students' schedules. Due to the ever-growing demands on students, classes in this area of study were seeing a reduction in enrollment simply because with fixed class meeting times, students could not fit these classes into their schedules. With that in mind, this opportunity was designed to give students the chance to study business-related topics at a time that fits their schedule and their pace of work.

In most of the classes, the student will open each activity and find information about the topic for that section. In many instances the "lesson" may include links to outside sources such as articles, YouTube videos, Khan Academy "quick lessons" and other reference materials to assist students' learning. (The only class which does not follow this model on a regular basis is Accounting which will continue to use a standard textbook and working papers,  with occasional outside materials being brought in.) Courses are structured in the fashion of using links and outside resources to stay up with more current information along with preventing students from having to constantly try to remember to bring a textbook home, or to school, for use in assignments. So long as the student has access to the Internet, they will have access to assignments and reference materials.

All of the courses are available in 9-week options while students can layer classes to cover an entire semester. The options of courses available are included below with brief descriptions of each.

Accounting 1 (Parts A and B)

Accounting 1 is a course designed to allow students to become familiar with the Accounting processes used by many businesses in the world today. Analyzing transactions, journalizing, posting, preparing financial statements and adjusting/closing entries are the foundations for this class. Students will learn the basics of the accounting process. They will also learn about careers which involve accounting and how it helps people in their everyday lives. This course is strongly recommended for students who are looking at enrolling in any "business" related programs after high school or for those who enjoy dealing with organization of materials and numbers.

Accounting 2

Accounting 2 is a course designed for students looking to further their knowledge in the area of Accounting and focus on more complex processes used in the accounting cycle. Students considering enrolling in post-secondary schooling with a major in the area of Business or Accounting (specifically) are encouraged to take this portion of the class. 

Business Management (Parts A and B)

Business Management is a class designed to help you gain an understanding for all the details needed to understand the full operations of a business in today’s world. There are a number of tasks that must be performed in order to successfully open and run your own business. Maybe you’re not going to open your own business, but you’ll be put in the position of managing such an enterprise and having all the skills to do so could come in quite handy.

This class will look at a variety of areas related to the operations that take place in many businesses today. Subject areas such as marketing, advertising, human resources, accounting systems, payroll measures and a variety of other items will be discussed  in this course.

Financial Management

Students enrolled in this class will learn how to become financially responsible today and avoid financial difficulty in the future. Students will be exposed to a number of different financial topics to prepare them for future financial situations. The course's structure and sections of study will be comprised of two pieces ideally. Each section of study will begin by going to the Everfi.com website and logging into their account. Once logged in, students will complete whichever section they are working on at that point. After completing the Everfi work for a section, students will then go to the Google Drive folder which has been shared with them and complete the additional activities related to the section topic area and hand those in (either physically or digitally) to their instructor. 

Spreadsheets

This course is designed to help students gain an understanding of the basics of computer based spreadsheets. There are many different situations in which spreadsheets can be used. Some people use them to do personal budgets while others use them to create large data forms for businesses and organizations. There are even some that will use them to create lab report information for school projects. The limit for uses of spreadsheets is endless. This course is designed to be a 9-week course that allows students to learn basic terminology associated with using spreadsheets while also helping gain an understanding of how to quickly and accurately use the tools within a spreadsheet program in order to create documents which others can view and understand.