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Showing posts with label Online Learning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Online Learning. Show all posts

Saturday, 26 March 2016

Education for students through apple app

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We’re making Apple devices as easy to deploy as they are to use.

Download The Education Deployment Guide from iBooks
New features coming this April will make the setup process simpler than ever. You’ll be able to get students and staff enrolled quickly, configure devices automatically, and easily buy and distribute apps and books.
Image result for apple education


Get your school up and running.

We’ve created a central system where technology managers can create accounts for everyone in the school, define roles and permissions, manage devices, and buy and distribute content in time for the first day of class.


PREVIEW

Apple School Manager

The new Apple School Manager is a simple, web-based portal that has everything admins need to deploy iPad and Mac in schools. Automatically create Managed Apple IDs for all students and staff, configure device enrollment settings, and easily buy and distribute apps, books, and learning materials. And you can log in from a web browser on any Mac or PC.

Apple School Manager Overview
Learn more

Built-in privacy.

Apple will never track, share, or sell student information for advertising or marketing purposes. We build powerful safeguards into all of our devices, operating systems, and services — including Managed Apple IDs, which are kept under the administration of your district. So the security, privacy, confidentiality, and integrity of student information is always protected. And we never track students or build profiles based on their email content or web browsing.

Managed Apple IDs

Managed Apple IDs are a new kind of Apple ID that gives students access to iCloud, iTunes U, and Shared iPad, while maintaining the control schools need. Apple School Manager lets you automatically create Managed Apple IDs for all students and staff by importing the necessary data from your Student Information System (SIS) or CSV files exported from your school’s directory service. And because Managed Apple IDs are owned and assigned by your institution, you can easily reset passwords, audit accounts, and define roles for everyone in the district.
We think Apple School Manager will save our tech staff lots of time — so we can manage devices, content, and our student accounts all from one place.
Patrick Scanlan
Supervisor of Technology & Information Services, San Jose Unified School District 

Image result for apple education


Set up devices automatically.

We’ve streamlined device setup for both one-to-one and Shared iPad environments.* Now you can wirelessly configure settings and restrictions according to your school’s requirements, then easily assign devices to students, teachers, or class groups.


Apple School Manager and your MDM work together.

You can set up and manage iPad and Mac wirelessly through your mobile device management (MDM) solution. Since your MDM and Apple School Manager work together seamlessly, you can automate setup and enrollment with the right settings and restrictions, then assign devices and apps according to the class groups you’ve defined.

Choosing your MDM solution.

Mobile device management solutions are available from a wide range of vendors, whether your school is better suited for a cloud-hosted environment or an on-premise server. MDM solutions come with different features and pricing, so you have flexibility in deciding how to bring Apple devices into your school.
PREVIEW

Shared iPad

Shared iPad is a new iOS 9 feature for schools that share devices but still want to provide personalized experiences.* Before class begins, teachers can assign any student any shared iPad. Students know which devices to use because their pictures are on the Lock screens. Students can access their personal content using a password or easy-to-remember four-digit PIN. And because data is locally stored on the devices, after they log in, their homework, apps, and assignments are exactly as they left them. So teachers and technology managers won’t lose time backing up or wiping data between classes.
Shared iPad will allow our district to transform a cart of shared devices into a personalized learning experience for each student.
Eric Culpepper
Technology Support Specialist, Goose Creek CISD


Get the right learning materials to the right classes.

Because all of your accounts, devices, and content are in sync, it’s easy for technology managers to provide classrooms with the right apps, books, and learning materials in time for the first day of class.


Buy in volume and distribute wirelessly.

When you purchase apps for iPad and Mac, your education volume discount is applied automatically. And as soon as you make a purchase, it’s simple to use your MDM to push apps and books to the classes, teachers, and students who need them.

Classroom App

Classroom is a powerful new iPad app that helps teachers guide learning, share work, and manage student devices. Teachers can launch a specific app, website, or textbook page on any device in the class, or share student work on a TV, monitor, or projector using Apple TV. They can even reset a student’s password, see which apps students are working in, and assign a specific shared iPad for the class period. The Classroom app is easy to set up on a teacher’s iPad with the help of MDM. And since it uses Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to connect to each student’s iPad, classes can get right to learning without requiring daily support from IT.
View Classroom in the App Store
We feel that IT should be hands-off as much as possible. Teachers need control — now they’ll have more power to manage their technology which reduces support from our IT staff.
Blair Anderson
Technology Director, Shawnee Heights School

Compatible with standardized testing platforms.

iPad is an approved device for securely administering summative exams, including state standardized tests from the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), and ACT Aspire. By working with your MDM, you can configure devices for autonomous single-app mode and disable certain features for tests, making iPad a great tool for both formative and summative assessments.

Assessments Overview
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Deployment Resources


Apple School Manager Help
Learn more

Classroom Help
Learn more

Getting Started with Classroom
Download PDF

iOS Deployment Reference
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OS X Deployment Reference
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Profile Manager Help
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Apple Configurator Help
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Education Deployment Guide
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Educational Technology Resources Database

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In today's world, technology is ubiquitous. New opportunities and ways to integrate technology into the learning process are being created every day. Bringing technology into the classroom serves not only a tool, but also a resource for accessing information that further enables learning. In an age where the ways to integrate technology into the classroom are endless and daunting, New Horizons for Learning aims to evaluate technological methods and devices in an effort to provide educators with an efficient resource database that is teacher-tested.

We are just beginning the process of developing this Educational Technology Resource Database.
As we develop and evaluate resources,turn to this page for up-to-date, valuable ways to incorporate technology into your classroom.

Educational Technology Resource Database Volunteer Opportunity

Help us help you.
Our users visit this site from all over the globe and bring a wealth of experience. As we move forward with this initiative, our users will be the key to this project's success. After all, whose reviews would you trust? Most likely motivated teachers, with experience in your subject area, who have tested the educational technology resources in their classrooms. Please consider applying for one of the volunteer opportunities below, submitting a resource you would like our team to review, or sharing your experiences with a technology resource that has made a difference in your classroom or school.
  • Educational Technology Reviewer
    New Horizons for Learning is in need of reviewers in six subject areas: English, Fine Arts, Foreign Languages, Math, Science and Social Studies. Reviewers will be asked to try educational technology resources in their classrooms and evaluate their effectiveness and efficiency while providing valuable tips for user implementation. Reviewers will work in online teams, coordinated by a subject consultant, to produce these evaluations of tested resources for the database. Strong writing skills, content knowledge, ability to meet deadlines, and an interest in educational technology are musts. Most importantly, interested applicants should be genuinely interested in contributing their voice to help New Horizons develop a database to increase the ease and efficiency with which their colleagues can access resources to aid educational technology implementation.
For more information, please email nhfl.edtech@gmail.com with your desired position, subject area, and educational background.
Here you can view coming attractions for a search engine to solve math equations, discover a program that allows teachers to explore the depths of the ocean on a boat and communicate observations to their classrooms, and even learn from students working in teams to plan space flights.

Articles on Education Technology:

  • The Weak Signal of Mobile Governance
With technology making society increasingly interconnected in what many have come to call the ?Connected Age,? in what ways will we require a new system of representative democracy? Rick Smyre explores this question in his article The Weak Signal of Mobile Governance found here:
http://www.futuretakes.org/issues/fall_winter2009_2010/vol8no2/article_002.html
Rick is a professional futurist, President of the Center for Communities of the Future (http://communitiesofthefuture.org/), email:RLSMYRE@aol.com
  • Socioeconomic Status Predicts Hemispheric Specialization of the Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus in Young Children

    Raizada, R. D., Richards, T. L., Meltzoff, A. M. & Kuhl,P. K. (2008). Socioeconomic status predicts hemispheric specialization of the left inferior frontal gyrus in young children. NeuroImage, 40, 1392-1401.
    http://ilabs.washington.edu/kuhl/pdf/Raizada_etal_2008.pdf
  • Foundations for a New Science of Learning
    Meltzoff, A. N., Kuhl, P. K., Movellan, J., & Sejnowski,T. J. (2009). Foundations for a New Science of Learning. Science, 325, 284-288. Can be found through subscription to Science Magazine: http://www.sciencemag.org/


New Innovations and Programs for Teachers and Students:

  •  http://www.onlineteachingdegree.comThe project is a general information website with many resources useful to current individuals involved in the education industry. The site also discusses the offline and online educational paths one can follow to obtain a degree in education or a related field. Thank you for sharing this resource with us, Veronica Jensen!

     
  • WolframAlpha Answer Engine
    Have you ever wanted to put math or science equations into Google and receive the answer and explanation within seconds? This new type of search engine does just that! Though it is not running just yet, this introductory video will give you a good overview and more information. Get excited! http://www.wolframalpha.com/screencast/introducingwolframalpha.html
  • The Neptune Project

    This program takes teachers on the boat as they explore the ocean depths and the teachers communicate what they are seeing back to the classrooms
    http://www.neptune.washington.edu/
  • The Aerospace Scholars Program at the Museum of Flight in Seattle
Students work in teams to plan space flights to distant planets.
http://www.museumofflight.org/
http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/technology/dunbar.htm
  • Ashoka's Youth Venture: Everyone a Changemaker
Students have the opportunity to develop local projects that may turn into nonprofits funded through this program.

JHU CTYOnline Mobile Learning Videos

At the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, students enrolled in the CTYOnline program can access their course materials through mobile devices. These courses feature videos, interactive exercises, quizzes, discussions, blogs, and other features, most of which work reasonably well for mobile users.  Figure 1 shows a video of a critical reading course for elementary students, using the Motorola Android phone, the Flash-based interactive glossary word game is accessible, including sound effects.
Figure 1: Quests and Challenges using the Motorola Android phone
Figure 2 shows some examples of mobile access to the Computer Security Fundamentals course, for students in grade 7 and up, using the Safari browser on the iPhone.  The touchscreen interface is intuitive to use and responsive, but clicking on one of the Flash-based lectures results in a white screen. 
Figure 2: Computer Security Fundamentals using the iPhone and Safari browser 
For Droid users, these videos appear, though load time will vary (Figure 3).  Entering text using either the onscreen or physical keyboard is time consuming, though not impossible for short phrases.
Figure 3: Computer Security Fundamentals using Motorola Droid 
The road ahead for m-learning is bound to be bumpy, but mobile phones are already in most teachers’ and students’ hands -- and their hearts, as well -- so the journey may be shorter than we think.
-Excerpt from an article in our Winter 2011 Journal: M-Learning: Promises, Perils, and Challenges for K-12 Education

Consider Your Learning Style Before Signing Up for an Online Course

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A January study found that 52 percent of more than 1,000 adults surveyed believed hands-on training was the best way to learn. 

Online puzzle and number games are a free resource for students looking for a fun, alternative method of SAT study.
Online students should think about their preferred learning style before signing up for a class, experts say.
Reading. Reading. A test. More reading. 
That’s how Jana Reid, a high school teacher in Texas, recalls most of the time she spent during her online master’s program in English at Tarleton State University. 
Looking back, she wished she’d chosen a program with more emphasis on video tutorials, recorded lectures and interactions with peers. 
Someone who needed a more interactive experience would have "gone nuts,” says Reid, who said the process was painful but doable since she's a strong reader. “There was nothing hands-on about it.”
[Watch online students share time management tips.]
Reid is one of many adults who prefer a more interactive approach to learning, according to the 2014 Learning in America Survey. 
The study, commissioned by Everest College and released in January, found that 52 percent of more than 1,000 adults surveyed believed hands-on training was the best way to learn. Watching visual presentations from an instructor was the next most popular option, followed by reading from a textbook, using the Internet, collaborating with other students, learning through teaching others, listening to a lecture and watching videos. 
“What this survey is showing is people crave interactivity and engagement,” says John Swartz, regional director of career services for Everest College, a for-profit institution managed by Corinthian Colleges Inc.
Whether online programs are getting the message, however, isn’t quite clear.
In an ideal world, most online programs would cater to a wide array of learning styles and preferences – incorporating multimedia tools such as video chats, podcasts, white board demonstrations and films alongside reading, experts say.
[Determine whether to take an online math course.]
But that ideal world is a ways away, says Vernon C. Smith, special consultant to the provost for online education programs at Mount St. Mary's College. Few colleges, he says, are using all the tools at their disposal.
“Most institutions are not at that level of reflection,” he says. “For a while it was just ‘Get your course online’ because the demand was so high. Now we are getting into a new era of sophistication for students. It’s not just about accessibility – it’s about the quality of the experience.”
Since not all online programs cater to everyone's learning preferences, prospective students should do their research ahead of time to make sure their program can provide the experience they need, Smith says.
Visual learners need to be sure their courses involve video, for example, while learners who crave interpersonal interaction should make sure there is plenty of engagement with their peers, he says.
"Understand the strengths of your particular program," Smith says. "More and more institutions are providing orientations. Smart institutions are having students see the technology involved so they can see what a lesson is going to look like."
Chad Adams, a 28-year-old Alaska resident who is earning an online master's in banking and financial management, says he wishes he would have done more research into his program to ensure that material was presented in different ways.
Adams says his undergraduate online program at University of Massachusetts–Amherst was very engaging and catered to many different learning preferences. But he's less impressed with his current program at Boston University, which is heavy on reading and light on interaction with his professor or peers, he says.
"It really does feel like I am paying $3,000 for this class to read this book and try to teach myself," he says. "And that’s a little frustrating because I'm attending this university because I want somebody to teach me. I’m here to learn."
[Discover more online learning trends.]
Even if students find themselves in a situation where their class isn't well-suited for their learning style, that doesn't mean all hope is lost, according to some experts.
Laurel Springer Mayo, director of the Learning Innovation and Networked Knowledge Research Lab at the University of Texas—Arlington, says the most dedicated students will succeed even in the most challenging situations.
“The motivated student will find a way to make it work for them,” she says. “You can find ways to make your strengths matter to you. You have to put it in your head that you are going to do this. You are going to take the time out of your day. Successful students think that way more than 'I don’t learn that particular way. I can’t do it.’”

Friday, 11 March 2016

Inside the unique STEM school for students with learning difficulties

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stem-academy

Eye-opening statistics about career readiness are seemingly everywhere these days, and nowhere is that more apparent than when it comes to the future of STEM, where jobs are rapidly growing — up to 17 percent from 2014 to 2024 by one estimate — and could reach 8.6 million by 2018. In that light, the scramble to provide students with hard skills, like robotics and coding, coupled with related soft skills, such as critical thinking and collaboration, seems only natural.
But in the world of special education, these numbers take on a special significance. Despite high unemployment and underemployment for autistic adults, for example, more than a third of studentswith an autism spectrum disorder end up picking STEM majors, which often require a mix of hard and soft skills.
For these students, “The STEM piece develops rigor,” said Dr. Ellis Crasnow, the director of a newly-opened high school in Los Angeles devoted to STEM teaching for students with learning difficulties, such as autism. “It teaches you to be analytical; it teaches a kind of exactness.”
first-stemThe STEM3 Academy — that’s STEM cubed — was started by theHelp Group, an L.A. nonprofit with a smattering of schools around the city, most catering to students with learning disabilities. In fact, STEM3 has its roots in another Help Group school, called Village Glen, back when Crasnow was serving as principal there. “A few years ago we introduced robotics to the high school. It was very successful. We then started computer science and a STEM curriculum in the whole of Village Glen,” he said. After students there entered a robot that did well at the FIRST Robotics Competition, “we began to think that we should have a school just dedicated to STEM teaching.”
Last week, the school opened its doors with 33 initial students on a small campus it shares with another school. STEM3 is classified as a non-public school. There’s a tuition, but most students don’t pay it. If parents or public school staff the student has interacted with can convince their district that the school would be a good fit for the student’s IEP, the district assumes the cost, even if the district is hundreds of miles away (the school boards some students nearby and provides a bus service to and from campus).
A wide range of ancillary services, like counseling and speech pathology, are also offered, in addition to courses in media creation, robotics, and AP computer science. Perhaps in recognition of the school’s small size and unique focus, it doesn’t look much like a traditional school physically, either. In preparation for the school’s opening, Crasnow and his team tore down walls to open up a huge innovation lab with concrete floors that’s heavy on maker space technology like 3D printers, cameras, and powertools.
Teachers were hand picked for their experience with special education but also for their expertise in the subjects they teach, from physics to biology to ELA. “We often say, in general ed, the teachers are specialist and in special ed, the teachers are generalists,” Crasnow said. What he was really looking for, he said, were “content experts who will really raise the bar for these students.”
That, along with the school’s STEM focus, could help students start to see school in a new light. “Rather than having students be passive learners, we want them to be engaged,” Crasnow said, acknowledging that project-based learning, technology and hands-on projects play a big part of students’ days at school. “It also suits kids with special needs who tend to do better if the experience is multimodal, kinesthetic, aural. They do well if the learning is coming from a variety of directions.”
At the end of the year, Crasnow plans for each student to develop his or her own online portfolio, a collage of various media and personal experiences, intended as much to chart social and emotional growth as academic. “In some ways the social aspect is more important,” he said. “Can you appropriately express your emotion? Can you argue your case? It’s important that they be able to articulate themselves, and the STEM part lends itself to that.”

How to Create a CAO-CTO Partnership that Fosters Student Achievement

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About Event
shutterstock_306948263
As the digital classroom evolves and technology reshapes the way that K-12 curriculum is developed and used, it’s important for the chief academic officer (CAO) and chief technology officer (CTO) to form a strong professional partnership in order to impact student achievement.
In this webinar, How to Create a CAO-CTO Partnership that Fosters Student Achievement, you will learn:
  • Why it’s more important than ever for the CAO and CTO to align
  • What it takes to create an impactful CAO-CTO partnership
  • How to integrate curriculum and technology to boost student learning
  • How to assign apps and content to student devices
  • How to provide varying degrees of device access to students
  • How to give students more “ownership” over their device

Wednesday, 9 December 2015

In Wisconsin, poorly performing virtual charters won’t affect their districts

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Provision would exclude virtual schools’ scores in certain cases

virtual-schoolA little-known provision slipped into the Wisconsin budget signed by Gov. Scott Walker would keep low-performing virtual charter schools from dragging down the report cards of districts that host them.
The new law excludes the achievement scores of virtual charter schools from districts’ annual state report cards if more than half the students enrolled in the virtual school reside outside the district.
The provision was sought by the leaders of the only two virtual schools in the state to receive failing grades on their most recent school report cards: eAchieve Academy, hosted by the Waukesha School District, and iForward Academy, hosted by the Grantsburg School District. Both districts still met or exceeded the state’s expectations on their annual report cards.

But State Superintendent Tony Evers is critical of the change, saying it’s inconsistent with the idea of bringing all publicly funded schools into the same school accountability system. He sought unsuccessfully for Walker to veto the item.
Proponents say virtual charters should be treated differently because they’re serving many children not living in the district, who often have not been successful in other school settings and are coming to a virtual charter as a last resort — often bringing low achievement scores with them.
Rick Nettesheim, principal of Waukesha’s eAchieve Academy, said district report cards are meant to track the progress of students from elementary school through high school, and virtual school students often come from outside their resident district, which wouldn’t accurately reflect the achievement of the district.
“The truth is that virtual schools draw in by their very nature a fairly diverse population of students,” Nettesheim said. “Some of that diversity is a large group who are not successful in their resident school, and they look to virtual school as a last hope.”
Because they are online programs that allow teachers and students to work from home, virtual schools can enroll children all over the state through the state’s open enrollment program.
The Department of Public Instruction lists 32 virtual charter schools for the 2014-’15 school year, with three more proposed for the upcoming school year.
In 2013-’14, the most recent year report cards were issued, 27 of the 31 virtual schools that received state report cards “met expectations.” Two “exceeded expectations,” and two “failed to meet expectations.”
No schools or districts will receive report cards for the 2014-’15 school year. Separate legislation signed by Walker in May paused the system for a year while a new state test was implemented.
Report cards assess performance
In recent years, Wisconsin created a new system to judge public school and district performance. Annual report cards distributed to the public now rank schools and districts in one of five categories, from “significantly exceeds expectations” to “fails to meet expectations.”
The new state budget calls for those descriptions to be replaced with a five-star rating system.
The report card scores are based on measures such as achievement on the state test and academic growth over time, as well as school attendance and achievement gaps. Schools started receiving report cards in 2011-’12; districts started receiving them a year later.
The whole system went into place as part of a federally approved waiver from increasingly strict mandates of the No Child Left Behind law. Congress is in the process of rewriting that law.
Nettesheim said the report cards treat students as if they have been enrolled in the school year after year, which is often not the case for virtual schools, where kids from around the state may enroll and drop out more frequently.
He added that virtual schools are still being held accountable because each virtual charter school still will receive an individual school report card. Their scores would simply be excluded from the districtwide report card.
But many brick-and-mortar schools also see high student turnover, and their school scores still contribute to the districtwide report card.
For example, many Milwaukee city schools that serve vulnerable populations see up to a third of students turn over during the school year. Yet their scores still contribute to the Milwaukee Public Schools districtwide report card.
Request drove change
State Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Ripon) added the provision to the budget at the behest of Nettesheim and Joni Burgin, superintendent of the Grantsburg school district. Olsen said the provision will help encourage school districts to continue supporting virtual programs.
“The district is doing mission work (taking on virtual schools),” Olsen said. “I don’t think the system is reflected badly on the district; we don’t want these districts to not do this anymore because it’s bringing down the grade for the district.”
Olsen said the provision encourages more districts to host virtual schools because of the reduced risk.
Evers, the state superintendent, disagrees.
In a veto letter to Walker, Evers said the accountability data for all students attending a virtual school — not just the students who attended via open enrollment — would not be reflected on any district report card.
Still, Blake Peuse, superintendent of the Northern Ozaukee School District, said virtual school performance doesn’t accurately reflect the performance of the district.
“Virtual schools, for the most part, are a completely different entity,” Peuse said. “Having it directly equated to the sponsoring district does not always tell the whole story.”
Northern Ozaukee’s virtual school, Wisconsin Virtual Learning, received a “meets expectations” on the latest round of school report cards.
The district received the same marks.

Can online tutors make anytime, anywhere learning a reality?

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Supporting off hours learning is a problem you might not even know you have

tutors-online
Recently, I began dubbing the current generation of students the “Netflix Generation.” They learn when they want, and expect learning resources to be available when and where they need them.
This is similar to the way they consume media through streaming services such as Netflix (for movies and television series) and Spotify (for music); they binge watch TV series multiple episodes in a row, and they expect a wide range of music to be available when and where they want. If they listen to a song in the car, they expect to be able to pick it back up in the house or while waking down the street. Increasingly, they expect learning resources to be available in the same fashion.
Smart educational organizations have built rich online courses filled with learning resources to support this type of learning. The old paradigm where learning occurs only in a classroom or lecture hall during school hours is gone. But in off hours, when teachers are at home, what will take their place?
After a few years of building online courses with rich learning resources, my school now sees significant student use outside the traditional school hours.
ole-graph
Graph 1 (click for full size) – This graph shows the percentage of the Year 7 to 12 population that accessed the online learning environment. The graph showing the school day is an average figure derived from two weeks of data. The Sunday and outside school hours data is derived from recent individual days.
Anytime, anywhere teaching
However, this now produces other pressures. Learning outside of traditional school hours does not remove the need for teachers. If all that students needed in order to learn was information, schools would have closed once Google and high-speed broadband arrived on the scene. Students continue to need support, a human explanation, encouragement to work through a problem, and insight to take them through a mental barrier to get to the next stage of problem solving.
Yet if significant learning is happening outside traditional school hours, who is available to support it? Do we expect our teachers to be online and available at all hours of the day or night? Or do we expect our students to continue independently, even when they encounter difficulties? The ad hoc network of peers that some students have may not be able to provide the rapid, deep, expert insights that are needed.
ole-graph-2
Graph 2 (click for full size) – Student logons to the OLE after school. (Classes finish at 3.15pm). This is a snapshot of the number of students logging in to the system at a particular time. It is not the total number of students using the OLE at that time.

My organization has provided a solution to this problem. We have provided access to online tutors — accessible via a link in every course in our OLE (online learning environment).
This is an external service where students can get the support that they need; our teachers do not need to be available all night. There is no need to navigate to a separate web site, or to remember yet another user name and password. The external service has the student’s name, year level and the course they navigated from passed to them as part of the single sign on process (via LTI integration). It couldn’t be easier. (My school, which is in Australia, uses yourtutor, a local company that works with both secondary and higher education institutions. There are similar services for schools stateside, such as Tutor.com, although I personally cannot vouch for them).
yourtutor-page
The front page of the external support service showing the hours when it is available. This screen shot was taken on a Saturday afternoon; the service is open during the hours when many students study, rather than being available 24/7.
Usage of the system is consistent, has been growing in the past year, and has received good feedback from students.
Some comments from students include:
  • “[xxxxx] was a great tutor and was very helpful. Described what he meant and made sure I understood.”
  • “My tutor was very helpful and wasn’t hesitant to give examples.”
  • “Patient with me and helped me find some information on what I was stuck with.”
The online tutors do not simply answer a question; they instead act as teachers to guide students to an answer. Students can now gain the help they need, when they need it, teachers can have the out-of-hours break that they need, and the school can be confident that they are supporting both their students and their staff.
Peter West is Director of eLearning at Saint Stephen’s College in Australia. He has over 15 years’ experience leading K12 schools in technology enhanced education, particularly blended learning using online learning environments. He can be contacted at

Rural district turns to online speech therapy

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Economically disadvantaged district, facing recruiting difficulties, found online therapy resources

online-therapyAlthough districts are required to provide students in need with special education and related services such as speech therapy, many face obstacles in doing so.
One such school district, Lone Pine Unified (LPUSD), an economically disadvantaged district near the California-Nevada border, found it hard to recruit and retain speech-language pathologists (SLPs) because of its location.
To overcome this challenge, LPUSD chose to use online speech therapy through PresenceLearning and is seeing great success.

“Research shows that socioeconomic status is the number one statistic in predicting overall student and school district underachievement, and approximately 70 percent of our students are socioeconomically disadvantaged,” said Dr. Sean A. Cianfarano, Superintendent of LPUSD. “However, with PresenceLearning and our pre-academic early intervention efforts spearheaded by our excellent educators and support staff, we are now beating the odds at LPUSD.”
After the 2013-2014 school year, LPUSD was one of 10 districts to receive PresenceLearning’s Award of Excellence. Of the nearly 1,000 schools PresenceLearning served that school year, the award was given to those districts with the highest percentage of students who improved one level or more in spoken language production and spoken language comprehension on the Functional Communication Measures (FCMs) scales during the school year.
Although he was skeptical of its effectiveness when he first moved to the school district in fall 2014, Superintendent Cianfarano was personally won over as he saw how PresenceLearning positively impacted his son Rocco.
While enrolled in Pre-K at his previous district, Rocco’s teacher told his family that he was leaving off the first letter and sound of his words, thus indicating that he may need speech therapy. Once enrolled in kindergarten at LPUSD, Rocco started with PresenceLearning and his family found he flourished both in therapy and in the classroom.
“I would not choose a service option for our school district that we, as a family, would not choose for our own child,” said Dr. Cianfarano. “Early literacy is so important for young learners, but if the student cannot speak, it is really hard for them to be literate because it is all tied together. PresenceLearning empowers students to speak, but it’s more than that. It empowers students to be successful.”
Material from a press release was used in this report.

Some high school students access college courses for free

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Students attending an online private school are eligible for college credit

college-creditThe for-profit DeVry University has partnered with Connections Education to offer college courses at no cost to high school students attending International Connections Academy (iNaCA), an accredited, online private school serving students in grades K-12 worldwide.
Through DeVry University’s Passport2College program, juniors and seniors attending iNaCA can earn college credit while still attending high school. Students can enroll in such courses as Computer Applications for Business with Lab, Introduction to Business and Psychology.
“Passport2College is a wonderful opportunity for high school students to learn first-hand the college learning experience,” said Donna Loraine, chief academic officer and provost of DeVry University. “iNaCA students will be able to participate in the same academic learning environment that all DeVry University undergraduates encounter and obtain knowledge of how they can transition from high school to the collegiate level.”
Hannah Rinehart, director of school for iNaCA, commented, “More and more students are interested in taking college courses in high school.” In fact, the numbers topped 1.3 million students in the 2010-11 school year according to the most recent survey on the subject by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). “We are excited to bring opportunities like this to our students.”
Passport2College will launch for iNaCA students in the 2015-2016 school year.

Full-time online school launches in Georgia using FuelEd (Aventa)

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FuelEd, Vidalia City Board of Education open full-time online school for Georgia students

online-learningThe Vidalia City Board of Education (Ga.) has partnered with personalized learning provider Fuel Education (formerly Aventa Learning) to launch a new full-time online learning program for K-12.
The public, full-time online school, Vidalia Academy, offers students across the state of Georgia the opportunity to learn in a flexible educational model that is tailored to each student’s needs.
Accepting enrollments for the 2015-2016 school year through the end of this month, Vidalia Academy will be able to provide thousands of students with personalized learning through an extensive catalog of standards-based online curriculum, instructional services from highly qualified, state-certified online teachers, powerful course customization and other technology tools, and a host of support resources, all provided by FuelEd.
“Vidalia City Schools selected Fuel Education because of their proven ability to partner with schools to help them effectively launch, grow, manage, teach, and support successful online learning programs,” said Randy Rodgers, Director of Virtual Education for Vidalia Academy. “As a public school leveraging an innovative model, we believe that together with FuelEd the Vidalia Academy can offer more students across Georgia with the best education possible.”
For middle school and high school, Vidalia Academy will use FuelEd’s PEAK personalized learning platform, an open technology platform that provides a single, unified view of online and blended learning activities across multiple solutions for administrators, teachers, and students.
PEAK provides intelligent reporting and analytics to help districts reduce system complexity and simplify administration as they adopt more digital and online learning solutions. To differentiate instruction, teachers can use the PEAK Library to customize courses using FuelEd content, teacher-created content, open education resources, or other third-party content.
Fuel Ed’s full-time school solution also includes benchmark and formative assessments; an anti-plagiarism tool; a web-based counseling system; and a variety of live and online student and parent resources available through the Strong Start program. To learn more, watch this video or read this case study about FuelEd’s partnership with Miami-Dade Public Schools.
Gregg Levin, Fuel Education’s General Manager, said, “We are very excited to partner with the Vidalia City Board of Education as they make a new, innovative education option available to students across Georgia. With the experienced staff at Vidalia Academy, and Fuel Education’s experience providing online learning solutions to thousands of school districts, we look forward to helping Vidalia Academy personalize learning and improve outcomes for more students.”
Parents and students who live in Georgia and are interested in the new school can visit the Vidalia Academy website for more information. The school will be accepting enrollment applications through September 28, 2015.
In addition to full-time schools, FuelEd supports districts with a variety of online and blended programs, ranging from catalog expansion for low-enrollment or hard-to-staff courses, to hospital/homebound education, full-time school programs, language exposure and learning, alternative education, remediation and kindergarten readiness, among others.

How online learning is changing credit recovery

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As learning becomes more accessible, credit recovery programs are evolving

credit-recoveryOnline learning is playing an increasingly important part in credit recovery for students with a variety of academic needs, according to a new report from the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL).
Credit recovery solutions often lower the bar for student performance as a result of pressure on school administrators and policymakers to “fix” graduation rates, authors Allison Powell, Verena Roberts, and Susan Patrick note.
Many online credit recovery solutions tout low costs but require only low levels of teacher involvement and often don’t use much rigor when asking students to demonstrate proficiency, according to the report.
Here’s where competency-based education comes in. Strong CBE programs will help students focus on their skill gaps, catch up, and stay on track for graduation. This intervention occurs before a student has failed an entire course.
New Hampshire has what the authors call one of the boldest CBE efforts. The Virtual Learning Academy Charter School is a charter school that also serves as the state’s virtual school. Its supplemental online classes include 62 “competency recovery” courses let students take an entire course or allow them to focus just on the competencies they did not pass. Students work with their parents and teacher to determine their individual learning pace.
“Competency-based learning gives students the opportunity to complete lessons that demonstrate their mastery of content as well as the support they need if they are having difficulty with specific content,” the authors wrote. “A true competency-based approach requires the students to advance upon demonstrated mastery—often through a ‘performance’ of demonstrating
the competencies and creating evidence of the deeper knowledge, skills and dispositions acquired.”
“Research shows that more than 75 percent of school districts use blended and online learning for expanded course offerings and credit recovery,” said Allison Powell, iNACOL Vice President for New Learning Models. “The case studies in this paper provide guidance to educators in helping over-age, under-credited students to catch up and get back on track to graduate.”
Susan Patrick, President and CEO of iNACOL, said, “Millions of students are still not completing high school, causing them to face increasing challenges throughout life. When students have struggled, online learning is a tool that can open up new pathways to success—students can find alternative ways to learn and to graduate, while also developing new skills for success in life.”
To read the report in its entirety and for more details about the state of online learning for credit recovery, click here.

Research examines blended learning, student achievement

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New white paper explores effective instructional models and course customization benefits

blended-learningA new research report from Arizona State University (ASU) focuses on various evidence-based instructional models and strategies integrated within courses from an online curriculum provider in order to determine if they lead to increased student achievement and engagement.
Research conducted by ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and Technology Based Learning and Research division examines whether the instructional strategies put into practice within Odysseyware courses consistently demonstrate the largest effect of success as a supplemental instructional strategy, especially when implemented within a blended learning model.
Odysseyware aims to provide a learning solution for schools seeking the flexibility and customization of online courses, as well as for those looking to offer students a virtual learning environment. On average, students taking partial or entire courses online outperform students taking the same course solely through face-to-face instruction.
Titled, “A Research Report: Odysseyware Instructional Design & Strategies,” this research report provides an overview of research conducted in these areas:
• Transforming the learning landscape with pedagogical flexible models
• Standards-based, personalized learning using customization
• Systems of assessment, instruction, intervention, and monitoring tools
• Use of frequent, meaningful interactions and embedded feedback
• Interactive content including visualizations, virtual labs, and simulations
“By 2016 a projected 5 million students will be enrolled in online courses. Many schools have a difficult time finding a standards-based, effective online solution that is easily customizable and adaptable to learning models such as blended learning,” said Odysseyware President Beth Te Grotenhuis. “We are extremely proud of the content we create and take great care in doing so. This research shows that with careful implementation planning, professional development, and adequate resource planning, student engagement and success with increase.”
Material from a press release was used in this report.

10 things all great online educators do

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Best practices for any educator organizing online courses

online-learning-tipsIt’s no secret that virtual education has become more and more widespread, with new online schools popping up regularly and brick-and-mortar institutions adding a blended component. With that in mind, certain strategies, tips, and guidelines have been proven to help instructors begin what can seem like an overwhelming task—teaching a course without ever even needing to physically see her students. Throughout my years of experience, I’ve compiled a list of ten best practices and tips that I believe can help save instructors a lot of time when teaching or developing online courses.
Develop a strong classroom presence. Whether it’s multiple times a week or every day, using communication tools such as discussion boards or announcements will help keep students from feeling isolated. Taking part in class discussions by consistently asking leading questions, extending student thinking, and contributing relevant, instructive subject matter expertise will build a strong foundation for collaboration and engagement. Discussion boards encourage critical and creative thinking and supports students in their own reflections and inquiries. Boards also allow students to get to know each other personally and intellectually.
Encourage substantive feedback from students, to students. Don’t let students get used to the notion of “one post” as an acceptable standard. If they don’t receive feedback from the teacher saying otherwise, or if they receive one short “good job” post to a comment, they tend to start thinking of their contributions as individual notes to the teacher, instead of as contributions to a whole-classroom discussion. Equally important is to encourage students to respond to each other’s comments or to ask questions about what they have posted.
Check for questions frequently and provide timely feedback on progress. Teachers should access their courses and monitor discussions daily and respond as quickly as possible to students’ questions, requests for review, submitted work, and other posts, even if it’s to just acknowledge receiving it, with an answer coming later.
Be mindful of tone, modeling respectful behavior for students. Teachers should phrase comments and responses carefully and be noticeably helpful and supportive; comments can be misinterpreted when students can’t see facial expressions. Teachers should address students by name and sign all posts. This models what we’d like students to do.
Help students develop time management and organizational skills. Virtual students often choose to take an online course because they assume it will provide more flexibility for their busy schedules. They will need to know what is expected of them so that they can organize their time to meet course requirements. This increased time management responsibility for the learner also means that there is an increased organization responsibility on the teacher. Prepare syllabus and assignment due dates carefully and well in advance so that students know what to expect and when. In my district, all of our online courses follow a consistent format, with weekly checklists and rubrics that the teachers monitor.
Don’t overload your students with material. Many online courses aren’t broken down into manageable pieces. If you deliver too much content in one sitting you have to work very hard to get the learner to be willing to accept your attempts to reinforce the material. By breaking up your course into smaller, separate modules you make it easier for students to retain knowledge and pay better attention to your lesson.
Establish good course practices. A good course might have a “capstone project” that all the course activities build toward. Instead of just reading and writing weekly assignments from a book, students read and write in service of completing a larger project. A good course teacher provides annotations to all the websites she or he asks the student to visit. This provides an advanced organizer to students — a preview of what’s to come — so they know why they’ve been sent to each site, and what some of the pitfalls might be when they get there. Make sure students can move easily between navigation and instruction. Clear, precise distinctions should be made in all instructions. Before students leave a document, they need know where to go next after completing the work you have just assigned.
Present material in different ways. Understand how to engage learners of different styles, presenting material in multiple ways. Considering using both synchronous and asynchronous activities, which helps provide a good balance of activities. Engage learners in more collaborative and reflective activities; those that include real-time interactive brainstorming and sharing are often just as effective as those that require students to think, plan, write, and summarize.
While the day-to-day instruction is just one facet of online learning programs, administrators should consider these points when offering virtual programs:
Online programs should be multifaceted for greater student voice and choice. Insist that your online program offer many unique elective offerings and a vast array of AP courses (and don’t overlook credit recovery options, either!) This gives a student a way to “personalize” their education and allows them to discover and choose what most interests them.
Make sure teachers have the best training available. In our case, we collaborate with The Virtual High School, who we consider an online learning pioneer. VHS requires each teacher to graduate from a six-week, rigorous graduate level training program. During this program our teachers were immersed in the online world and learn as their future online students will learn. This philosophy and approach is the heart and soul of our program and the teachers often tell us what they’ve learned in their online teaching and training helps inform their own local, face-to-face instruction.

10 districts that have seen big blended learning success

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Edgenuity highlights schools, districts implementing blended learning

blended-learningAs schools and districts try to better meet the needs of students with different learning styles, blended learning programs are becoming increasingly popular.
Because blended learning combines face-to-face instruction with personalized online learning, students have some degree of control over their learning pace and how their content is delivered and consumed.
Online and blended learning provider Edgenuity works with more than 16,000 schools, and from that base, the company identified 10 schools and districts that are taking blended learning to the next level through student-centered, personalized instructional models that create new ways to address instructional goals and deliver better student outcomes.
“There is no doubt that blended learning is a proven solution for transforming the educational experience for students,” said Sari Factor, CEO of Edgenuity. “What is less understood is the level of thought, planning, and change management required by schools to implement these new models. We’re glad to recognize these schools and districts for effectively executing on a vision of using technology to empower students and teachers, and we look forward to sharing what these schools have learned to help more and more students across the country.”
“Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools has a commitment to ensuring success for every student. One of the ways we do this is by providing a personalized learning environment that caters to individual student needs. Technology allows us to accomplish this goal. Edgenuity has been an important partner, enabling us to provide rigorous, aligned content in online and blended formats. It is exciting that Edgenuity recognized CMS as a top district for innovative approaches and commitment to students,” said Hope Kohl, Director of Virtual Learning and Media Services at CMS.
The schools and district’s on Edgenuity’s list are:
Carpe Diem Schools
• Tuition-free virtual school with campuses across the US serving grades 6-12 that provides students the freedom to complete coursework when and where they like.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, N.C.
• The 2nd largest school district in North Carolina, the district is comprised of 168 schools and serves more than 147,000 students in grades K-12.
Clark County School District, Nev.
• Serves over 316,000 students across 377 schools with a student teacher ratio of approximately 22-to-1.
Derby Public Schools, Conn.
• Serves approximately 1,600 students in grades K-12 across 4 schools.
Henry County Schools, Ga.
• The 7th largest district in Georgia, serves 40,000 students in grades K-12 across 14 schools.
Jefferson Chamber Foundation Academy, La.
• Students are provided with the opportunity to work at their own pace to earn their diploma.
Rio Rancho Public Schools, N.M.
• In 2005 the district founded Rio Rancho Cyber Academy, the accredited, diploma-granting school for nearly 170 students in grades 6-12.
East Pennsboro Area School District, Pa.
• A growing, progressive school district with a total population of approximately 2,700 students in grades K-12.
Tift County Schools, Ga.
• Serves approximately 7,650 students in grades K-12 across 12 schools, including one alternative school.
Village Green Virtual Charter School, R.I.
• Opened in 2013 for students grades 9-12, the school has a state-wide enrollment policy and any student entering the 9th or 10th grade and who lives in the state is eligible to attend.
“As technology has grown to become more mainstream in education, we’ve seen too many schools focus on the hardware itself rather than on the proper implementation of that technology,” said Stacy Hawthorne, Blended Learning Strategist at Edgenuity. “It is critical that schools first take a hard look at what they want to accomplish with a blended learning program, which students they are hoping to serve, and how the program will fit into the district’s broader goals before moving forward. This requires strong leadership, which the schools named today should be applauded for.”

Do online charter schools measure up?

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A three-part research study indicates that online charter school performance may be underwhelming

online-charter-schoolsNew research offers evidence that online charter schools post weaker academic performance and struggle more to maintain student engagement than their conventional brick-and-mortar peers.
The National Study of Online Charter Schools, released Oct. 27, analyzed online charter school operations, policy environments, and their impacts on student achievements.
The three-volume study, conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington, and the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University, describes the achievement effects of online charter schools.
Volume 1 analyzed the 200 online charter schools in operation in the U.S. and the 200,000 K-12 students in attendance. It examines the instructional programs of online charter schools; methods used to engage students and parents, along with expectations of parental involvement; the teachers and principals of online charter schools; and the schools’ management and governance.
That analysis found:
• Student–driven, independent study is the dominant mode of learning in online charter schools, with 33 percent of online charter schools offering only self-paced instruction
• Online charter schools typically provide students with less live teacher contact time in a week than students in conventional schools have in a day
•Maintaining student engagement in this environment of limited student-teacher interaction is considered the greatest challenge by far, identified by online charter school principals nearly three times as often as any other challenge
• Online charter schools place significant expectations on parents, perhaps to compensate for
limited student-teacher interaction, with 43, 56, and 78 percent of online charters at the high school, middle, and elementary grade levels, respectively, expecting parents to actively participate in student instruction
“Challenges in maintaining student engagement are inherent in online instruction, and they are exacerbated by high student-teacher ratios and minimal student-teacher contact time, which the data reveal are typical of online charter schools nationwide. These findings suggest reason for concern about whether the sector is likely to be effective in promoting student achievement,” said Brian Gill, a Mathematica senior fellow and lead author of the report.
In Volume II, the Center on Reinventing Public Education examined how state policy impacts the online charter school landscape. Researchers found that online charter schools exist in a number of different policy environments due to variation in state charter law and administrative regulation.
Most of the existing regulation is reactive to controversy (restrictions on growth and autonomy), rather than proactive policies to guide the unique opportunities and challenges of online charters.
The authors found several drawbacks to forcing online schools into the charter context, including:
• Open admission requirements that prevent schools from screening for students who are most
likely to be successful in an online school.
• Authorizing and accountability provisions that are not well suited to the unique challenges of
regulating online schools.
• Funding mechanisms that preclude outcomes-based funding
CRPE director Robin Lake, who co-authored the study, said, “We need policies that address legitimate
concerns without needlessly restricting growth.” The report recommends that policymakers consider
moving online schools out of the charter context, or craft unique provisions specific to online charters.”
Volume III, from the CREDO at Stanford University, examines impacts of online charter enrollment on the academic progress of students.
While findings vary for each student, the results in CREDO’s report show that the majority of online charter students had far weaker academic growth in both math and reading compared to their traditional public school peers.
To conceptualize this shortfall, it would equate to a student losing 72 days of learning in reading and 180 days of learning in math, based on a 180-day school year. This pattern of weaker growth remained consistent across racial-ethnic subpopulations and students in poverty.
“While the overall findings of our analysis are somber, we do believe the information will serve as the foundation for constructive discussions on the role of online schools in the K-12 sector. We see an
opportunity for the providers to do a better job of documenting the benefits they provide to their
students and to connect with and learn from operators who are doing well,” said Dr. James Woodworth, Senior Quantitative Research Analyst for CREDO at Stanford University.
This mixed-method analysis included data from 158 online schools across 17 states and the District of
Columbia. The data set for online school students is restricted to those students attending public, full-time online charter schools.
Material from a press release was used in this report.