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Are virtual schools really an answer?

April 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The International Association for K-12 Online Learning, iNACOL, reports that 1,816,400 kids were enrolled “in distance-education courses in K-12 school districts in 2009–2010, almost all of which were online courses. 74% of these enrollments were in high schools.” iNACOL also reports that 40 states have virtual schools or state-led initiatives, while 30 have full-time online schools. Some sources suggest that within the next five years, 10 million students could have some part of their schooling online. There is no going back now; online learning has revolutionized education and it is in its infancy.

Opponents of online education claim that students can’t develop meaningful relationships through a computer. Like, yeah, if this were like 1985. Our kids are not diddling around on Atari 2600s. Even our phones are beefy technology brutes that support an ease of relationship development between teacher and student. Anyway, last time I checked nobody is developing a relationship with Professor What’s His Name during a 400-student Bio 101 lecture.

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Virtual High School Program Opens Up Vast Array Of Courses To Connecticut Students

March 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Science-fiction movies often portray the future classroom as students facing a hologram of a teacher. The need for physical togetherness is obsolete.

Although traditional classrooms are still alive and kicking, students in 80 schools across the state have another option that opens up numerous course options and connects them with students from around the country and the world – Virtual High School.

Avon, Coventry and Hartford schools have recently joined the program. There are 679 participating schools in 33 states and 34 countries, according to the VHS website.

In exchange for the school freeing up a teacher to teach a virtual class, 20 students per semester are able to choose from more than 400 courses for credit.

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SHS Offers Online Courses To Great Success

February 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Virtual High School, founded in 1996 by industry leaders including Apple, Microsoft, Dell and Cisco, is a non-profit, worldwide collaborative online teaching software program.

SHS launched VHS in the Fall 2011 academic semester, under the direction of site coordinator Joan Tichy. Twenty-four of the maximum 25 students are currently enrolled, and Tichy reported that midterm grades “were all grade C and above, mostly in the A and B range.”

VHS offers over 200 courses that can be taken for either a single semester or the entire school year. The classes – ranging from Advanced Placement physics to Caribbean art history to criminology – can be accessed from any computer hooked up to the ‘net. There are reserved seats for VHS students in the high school’s computer lab.

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Branford schools turn to tech devices

February 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Superintendent of Schools Hamlet Hernandez said he is hoping to expand on the tech-savvy programs the district already has and develop new opportunities for students to use technology in education.

Last year, the administration launched a virtual high school that provides online courses the school doesn’t offer and expands on courses the school does offer.

Cellphone use is permitted at the high school for educational purposes, such as using the phone as a device to tap into the school’s wireless Internet and research something needed for a class or participate in an online poll created by a teacher.

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Virtual High School Expands Students’ Options

February 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment

No one at Canton High School teaches “Investing in the Stock Market” but that didn’t prevent senior Bryan Fitzpatrick from taking it this year.

Fitzpatrick is one of 18 students at the high school taking online courses through Virtual High School Inc.

For the courses, students log into a website and receive instructions from a certified teacher, interact with other students, submit their work, “discuss” ideas and more.

Students and staff said the courses have several advantages, one of the most obvious being that students can study topics the district either can’t afford to offer or doesn’t provide due to limited student interest.

“It allows somebody that has a high interest in an area to pursue it and learn more,” said Melissa Cook, who coordinates the Virtual High School program at Canton High School.

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Cambridge Judge Business School delivers Leadership Programme for UNICEF

November 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Designed for UNICEF’s senior leaders, the Senior Leadership Development Programme will be delivered in study blocks for around 150 of UNICEF’s leadership team over a two-year period.

In a time of unprecedented internal and external change, including the introduction of new organisation-wide systems and processes, UNICEF determined the need for a competency-building, strategic and developmental leadership programme. The UNICEF leaders involved will benefit from a deeper understanding of team work and the drive for results, support in gaining a long-term strategic view, as well as having the opportunity to be challenged by a network of world-class faculty, sector experts and each other.

The duration of each group is seven months and the content is split into three study blocks covering key leadership areas and delivered globally at locations including UNICEF’s headquarters in New York and at Cambridge Judge Business School, UK. The programme utilises a blended learning approach of plenary faculty-led discussions, group coaching, individual mentoring, project work and online interaction and learning through a Virtual Learning Environment.

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With Schools Turning to the Web for K-12 Education, Quality is a Concern

August 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Online courses have become an accepted fact of college life. But more and more school districts are turning to Web-based learning for lower grade levels, especially as a way for struggling high school students to make up courses they’ve failed or missed. The online classes aren’t only for those who have fallen behind, though. Due to budget constraints, some schools are using them to offer advanced placement classes and expand elective offerings. For example, Reza Namin, the superintendent of schools in Westbrook, Maine, told the New York Times that, while she couldn’t justify paying a Chinese language instructor in the face of a $6.5 million budget deficit, she was able to continue offering the course by turning to the online, non-profit Virtual High School Global Consortium.

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Virtual school is a cloudy vision

August 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

FARMINGTON — The Farmington Municipal school board of education saw too many “grey areas” surrounding a proposed virtual charter school during the school’s public hearing Thursday afternoon.

The New Mexico Virtual Academy went before the board and about 20 members of the public in an attempt to persuade the community that the academy would offer a new alternative within public school education. It would be the first virtual charter school in the state if approved.

“It’s not for every kid,” said Mary Gifford, senior vice president of K12 Inc., the company which would oversee curricula for the academy.

Though aimed primarily toward local students who do not fit into the traditional public school system, it would cater statewide to students with special needs; students who have fallen behind in school; students who want to move at a faster pace; or students looking to finish their high school education without having to physically return., said academy board member Larry Palmer.

Students in grades kindergarten through 12th grade could enroll. Local students would be the primary demographic, though students could enroll statewide.

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Education tops agendas of Bridgeport mayoral candidates

July 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

At an event at the 305 Gallery on Knowlton Street Monday, Foster gave new insight into the steps she would take if elected mayor in the Democratic primary Sept. 13 against Coviello, Mayor Bill Finch and John Gomes, owner of the Red Rooster Deli.

Family resource centers created in all schools would provide resources for parents. Alternative learning methods, like virtual high schools, in which the school system could partner with area universities to provide online and alternative courses for students, would be explored.

And, perhaps the biggest change, a charter revision would be pursued to create a new board of education — comprised of five individuals appointed by the mayor and four elected members.

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Southington superintendent issues mid-year report

January 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Among other things Erardi cited are the following:

n Continued support for Southington’s early childhood collaborative to work in partnership with school staff to enhance kindergarten readiness skills.

  •  To facilitate the 2009-2010 pilot of Virtual Learning into offerings for homebound students within the secondary education schools.
  •  To continue to lead and embrace school/community partnerships.

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