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Comment by Paul W. Bennett on January 29, 2012 at 5:20pm

Online learning is very much in vogue, as are futuristic calls for public schools everywhere to embrace “21^st Century Learning Skills.”  A small band of Canadian Information  Communication Technologies (ICT) innovators , inspired by futurists like Toronto author Don Tapscott, New Brunswick IT guru William Keirstead, and Vancouver teacher David Wees are certainly out there championing the cause.

Yet a brand new Canadian study covering all provinces and territories , commissioned by the Toronto-based Society for Quality Education,  demonstrates that, with the exception of British Columbia, the spread of online learning and virtual schools has stalled and, for the vast majority of Canada’s 5 million K to 12 public school students, “the sky has limits.”  

Whether it’s Ontario or anywhere except for B.C., ministry of education authorities  still remain wedded to modes of teaching and learning circumscribed  by the ‘brick and mortar’ model of public schooling. 

After enjoying an initial advantage, Canada has been overtaken by the United States  in the rate of growth of online learning over the past two years.  In 2010-11, Canadian distance education plateaued at 207,096 students or 4.2% of all students.  While online learning continues to grow in British Columbia, the provincial leader with 88,000 enrolled students,  those gains are offset by lagging numbers in Ontario (50,000) and losses in other provinces such as New Brunswick and Quebec.

America’s leading private enterprise promoting online public schools,  K12 Inc., founded in 2000, has expanded into 28 different states, boasts of having delivered over one million online courses to students, and foresees skyrocketing  growth . A newly acquired Division of Pearson Education, Connections Education , now operates in 21 states and forecasts unlimited growth potential.  In late 2011, The New York Times also flagged the tremendous proliferation of full-day virtual charter schools.

For a backgrounder, click on  http://societyforqualityeducation.org/parents/theskyhaslimits

Online learning is now accepted as a critical component of the future in K-12 education. Most parents and students are ready for "blended learning" combining regular and online learning activities. So why the hesitancy to move forward?  To what extent is it simply an ossified school system, teacher contract constraints, or regulations setting learning boundaries?

Comment by Paul W. Bennett on December 2, 2011 at 10:30am

Looking for inspiration? The Toronto Globe and Mail series on The Future of Education concluded today with a great list of Digital Learning Innnovators in the classroom. Here's the link:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/primary-to-s...

Most of the nominees model best classroom practice in integrating technology or utilizing the Internet for learning purposes. Great ideas for fellow teachers!

Comment by Jamie House on December 1, 2011 at 11:01pm

A group of educators participated in a round table discussion on elearning at Tennessee EducationTechnology Conference yesterday.  Here are some items discussed:

• Virtual schools in TN are not meant to be provider driven.
  • Legislature may be changing about VHS in TN.

 

• e4tn
  • Used in Wilson County. 
  • Run on d2l platform, which is the same as many colleges and universities, so students are used to the platform when they get to college. 
  • Courses where developed within the state by state.
  • No longer funded by grant
  • Working on making courses available throughout the state to download and use in any format schools want. 
  • Other sources/providers mentions
    • K12
    • Grade Results (has online, live, 24-7 certified teacher as tutor)
    • i3 grant courses
    • Bristol
    • Compass Learning
    • NovaNet
    • A+
    • Moodle
    • Hippo Campus (Niswonger Learning Center and National Repository of Online Courses (NROC)
    • Florida Virtual School
    • Open High School of Utah

 

• Ideas for getting started
  • One district is going to try having a virtual day on the first snow day.  Teachers will try to have some type of lesson online, communicate with students in some way on the first day they miss for snow.  Then they are going to discuss what was done, what worked, what to try next.  Hopefully this will be expanded.
  • For homebound students using the homebound teacher to monitor and/facilitate.
  • Bridge courses for the 4^th year of math.
  • Summer school bridge program for 8^th graders needing support or remediation before attending high school.
  • For students with scheduling problems who can’t work in a course needed or wanted.
  • For expulsions and suspensions.
  • Found a need for pregnant teens and/or young mothers who can’t afford child care.

 

• Communication
  • Two schools ran an article in the paper,
  • Facebook, twitter
  • Parent night
  • Website
  • All-call

 

• For Whom?
  • Students are suggested by guidance counselor
  • Need to be highly motivated
  • Need to be committed to time involved

 

• What schools have found
  • Some face-to-face time is necessary, even via Skype
  • One district has a person who does home visits to check on students
  • Email, Google voice, text messages – Teacher or facilitator needs to communicate feedback to students.  A relationship should still be established between student and adult, whether it’s the teacher of record, facilitator, online teacher…
  • Students are ready for this.  Are the teachers?
  • One highly-motivated student finished entire course in five days home from school for snow.

 

• Stay in Touch
  • Start a consortium
  • #tnvsc
  • Blogs

 

Comment by Jamie House on November 22, 2011 at 1:29pm

Distance education, distributed learning, elearning, blended learning —  whatever name it goes by, distance learning is on the rise all over the  world. Technology has closed the gap for thousands of learners who, in  the past, might have been bound by geographical location or physical  limitation, or have simply had to prioritize other demands on their  time. And it has given talented educators, no longer restricted to  teaching a single face-to-face classroom at a time, an opportunity to  reach a broader student base than ever before.

It’s a thrilling time to be in the business of educational technology. Here’s a sampling of the research out there on the web:

• BellSouth report on the Costs and Funding of Virtual Schools
• U.S. National Center for Education Statistics numbers on distance learning at the postsecondary level and undergraduate enrollment in distance learning programs
• Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning, from the U.S. Department of Education
• United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) Research Center
• A More Connected Future: Outcomes of the Distance Education Review, New South Wales Department of Education and Training
• Canadian Institute of Distance Education Research (CIDER)

Comment by Jamie House on November 22, 2011 at 1:28pm

Distance education, distributed learning, elearning, blended learning —  whatever name it goes by, distance learning is on the rise all over the  world. Technology has closed the gap for thousands of learners who, in  the past, might have been bound by geographical location or physical  limitation, or have simply had to prioritize other demands on their  time. And it has given talented educators, no longer restricted to  teaching a single face-to-face classroom at a time, an opportunity to  reach a broader student base than ever before.

It’s a thrilling time to be in the business of educational technology. Here’s a sampling of the research out there on the web:

• BellSouth report on the Costs and Funding of Virtual Schools
• U.S. National Center for Education Statistics numbers on distance learning at the postsecondary level and undergraduate enrollment in distance learning programs
• Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning, from the U.S. Department of Education
• United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) Research Center
• A More Connected Future: Outcomes of the Distance Education Review, New South Wales Department of Education and Training
• Canadian Institute of Distance Education Research (CIDER)

Comment by Jamie House on November 22, 2011 at 1:28pm

Found this on wikispaces  

Resources for Distance Learning

By Carole | Published: October 31, 2011

Distance education, distributed learning, elearning, blended learning —  whatever name it goes by, distance learning is on the rise all over the  world. Technology has closed the gap for thousands of learners who, in  the past, might have been bound by geographical location or physical  limitation, or have simply had to prioritize other demands on their  time. And it has given talented educators, no longer restricted to  teaching a single face-to-face classroom at a time, an opportunity to  reach a broader student base than ever before.

It’s a thrilling time to be in the business of educational technology. Here’s a sampling of the research out there on the web:

• BellSouth report on the Costs and Funding of Virtual Schools
• U.S. National Center for Education Statistics numbers on distance learning at the postsecondary level and undergraduate enrollment in distance learning programs
• Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning, from the U.S. Department of Education
• United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) Research Center
• A More Connected Future: Outcomes of the Distance Education Review, New South Wales Department of Education and Training
• Canadian Institute of Distance Education Research (CIDER)

Comment by Diane Gihring on June 7, 2011 at 12:56pm

Thanks for your response Steven :).  I like your "Moodle Man" title!

We ended up choosing Pearson for our new LMS--it is called eStudio and we are smack dab in the middle of switching all of our content over. CRAZY time!  ;)

Comment by Steven Isaacs on June 6, 2011 at 2:03pm

Hi Diane,

I just looked back through the wall and noticed your post from January.  Sorry, still trying to get used to the Ning format!  

To answer your questions...

Do you teach for one school or do you work for a number of schools?

I teach face to face in a traditional Middle School.  In addition, I teach for Virtual High School, teaching an online high school level Video Game Design and Development course.  I also teach the Best Practices Web 2.0 PD course for VHS.  Participants can take the course for graduate credit toward a certificate in 21st Century Teaching.

 

How long have you been in online education?

I received my Masters in Online Teaching and Learning in 2007.  I began offering staff development courses for my school district upon completing the degree program.  I have been teaching for Virtual High School for 2 years.  

 

What LMS are you currently using?

VHS recently moved to Desire2Learn.  I like it a lot.  Prior, I used Blackboard with Virtual High School.  Additionally, I have been using Moodle for about 10 years and manage the content on our Moodle server and teach most of the Moodle staff development in our district.  Some like to call me "Moodle Man" :)

 

In any of your classes do you have a live element? 

The VHS PD courses have a 'page' feature which allows for real time messaging.  For students, that seems to be disabled. We do have access to Illuminate, but I haven't really used it much.  I would like to use it to provide extra help for students in real time.

 

Thanks for asking these great questions.  Perhaps others can answer as well as I believe it will provide a greater understanding of what we are all up to.

Steve

Comment by Diane Gihring on June 6, 2011 at 1:47pm

Hi Kathy,

We offer a Multimedia class online at my online school and are in the process of updating it because it was originally written about 5 years ago and so much has changed. I would love to take a look at the basic syllabus you use for your Multimedia class to see what other teachers are teaching. If you feel like sharing, that would be wonderful.

Comment by Kathy Link on June 3, 2011 at 12:28am

Hello, I teach multimedia and yearbook classes in a California high school, and recently completed my master's in educational technology. My thesis was on Blended Educational Collaborative Communities (BECCs) and my interests are on blended learning and blended teacher collaboration. I look forward to working with this group.

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