Category Archives: Online learning
eSN Special Report: Blended learning on the rise | Special Reports | eSchoolNews.com
It’s a typical weekday, and Leah Rogers is greeting students as they arrive at school. She hasn’t seen any of these kids in a while, because they haven’t set foot in the building for a week … but that’s by design.
Rogers is acting head of the Chicago Virtual Charter School (CVCS), an innovative school that is a cross between a traditional school and a virtual one: Students work online from home four days a week and come to school for the fifth.
In a typical school environment, all students in a classroom have to learn the same thing at same time. But at CVCS, students can work on material at their own pace, and educators can tailor their instruction to each student individually to fill the gaps in that child’s knowledge.
via eSN Special Report: Blended learning on the rise | Special Reports | eSchoolNews.com.
Teaching kids online citizenship
PBS has announced the launch of its PBS KIDS GO! Digital Citizenship Initiative to help kids and parents navigate today’s digital landscape.
The initiative features a suite of new resources for kids and parents, among them a new interactive, online game WEBONAUTS INTERNET ACADEMY, designed to teach kids about online privacy, how to deal with bullying and how to distinguish credible sources online. The WEBONAUTS INTERNET ACADEMY is available free on PBSKIDSGO.org/webonauts. Parents can find helpful supporting information on PBSPARENTS.org, including tips for kids’ internet use from Common Sense Media.
On Snow Days, Some Ohio Students Will Telecommute To Class ‹ Edudemic
About 700 students in a rural school district in western Ohio will be guinea pigs for the rest of the state this winter when they use the Internet to connect to their classes during inclement weather.
The program, a test that will be used to gauge the effectiveness of on-demand online education, could be an answer to the question of how the state will address calamity days in the future. Officials with the Ohio Department of Education want to see how the program at Mississinawa Valley Schools in Darke County works before other districts get a chance to try something similar.
via On Snow Days, Some Ohio Students Will Telecommute To Class ‹ Edudemic.
Education Week’s Digital Directions: Web 2.0 Fuels Content Filtering Debate
In one corner are the Web 2.0 tools—the relatively new blogs, wikis, discussion forums, and social-networking sites that are gaining popularity among teachers looking to connect with their students and one another. By their very nature, such tools can be edited by a wide range of contributors, and they can host a wide range of content—some of it educational, and some not so much.
In the opposite corner are the Web filters—software designed to block students from distracting or potentially harmful material, with roots in the more static online environment of the 1990s. In most cases, filters block whole websites rather than individual pages, based on a filtering company’s database of sites that contain questionable material.
via Education Week’s Digital Directions: Web 2.0 Fuels Content Filtering Debate.
The Innovative Educator: Is Teaching a “Class” a Big Mistake?
GROUPING 20 – 32 STUDENTS TOGETHER FOR THEIR LEARNING IS WRONG, AND ASSIGNING THAT GROUP TO A TEACHER JUST AMPLIFIES THE PROBLEM.
Earlier this year I awarded a National Australian Award that allowed me to work with a school in Napier, New Zealand where this photograph was taken. For 5 weeks I walked on this path everyday, I never understood why this path had a curve in it, there seemed to be no reason for it. However everyone who walked or rode on the path went along as if it was just another bump in the road with few even giving a second thought to what they were doing.
Some things in life that we do that make no sense and could be delaying (or stopping) the achievement of our goals. This post addresses some one of the things we commonly do in schools that may seem like just another bump in the road, but may indeed be counter-productive and not be in the best interest of 21st century students.
via The Innovative Educator: Is Teaching a “Class” a Big Mistake?.
FCC plan could bring high-speed web to campuses, communities | eCampus News
College faculty whose campuses are surrounded by neighborhoods that rely on antiquated dial-up internet connections are hoping the Federal Communication Commission’s National Broadband Plan will bring faster connections that won’t send students running to their campus’s high-speed network every time they need to complete an assignment online.
The plan, unveiled March 16 after a year of intense deliberation among the FCC and various stakeholders, seeks to bring broadband internet to 100 million U.S. homes by 2020. Fourteen million Americans don’t have broadband access, even if they want a high-speed option, according to federal estimates.
via FCC plan could bring high-speed web to campuses, communities | eCampus News.
