The 21st Century Classrooms: Virtual Learning in Traditional Environments or What we now know that w

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The 21st Century Classrooms Virtual Learning in
Traditional Environmentsor What we now know
that we wish we knew before
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Agenda

• Introductions
• Lessons Learned
• Virditional Course Delivery
• Financial Considerations
• Technical Issues
• Questions

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Todays Panelists

• Jane Glass, Dave Hanna
• Manheim Township
• Kristie Clements
• Buchanan HS of Technology
• Liz Pape
• Virtual High School

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Virditional Course Delivery

• Jane Glass,
• Online Course Developer, Manheim Township
  HS
• David Hanna, Head High
  School Principal, Manheim Township HS

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Manheim Township SD

• The Convergence
• of Virtual and Traditional
• Learning Experiences

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Manheim Township SD

• 1999 the Virtual beginnings..
• Virtual courses at MT originally planned to
  meet the needs of
• the highly motivated, responsible, and
  disciplined
• the strategic schedulers who desired flexibility
• the non-traditional students with unique needs
• (the vocational-technical students,
• the homebound students, etc.)

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Manheim Township SD

• 2000 the Virtual expansion ..
• Recognized that more steps exist between the
  two worlds of traditional and virtual
• Many students were virtually reluctant
• the technologically insecure and unsure
• the conservative, cautious and complacent
• the quiet, passive and introverted
• the self-challenged in
  time-management,
  discipline, initiative, and responsibility

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Manheim Township SD
VIRDITIONAL

• 2000 the Virtual expansion .. leads to
  ANOTHER Delivery OPTION
• VIRDITIONAL
• What is it?
• Why try it?

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Manheim Township SD
VIRDITIONAL

• 2000 Another ONLINE Delivery option
• VIRDITIONAL
• VIR-tual
• tra-DITIONAL
• Virditional

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Manheim Township SD
VIRDITIONAL

• 2000 Another ONLINE Delivery option
• VIRDITIONAL
• The virtual part
• curriculum / activities of
• the web-based courses
• opportunities for individualized, flexible
  pacing
• customized enrichment

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Manheim Township SD
VIRDITIONAL

• 2000 Another ONLINE Delivery option
• VIRDITIONAL
• The traditional part
• individualized assistance
• smaller group facilitation
• direct large group instruction
  face-to-face contact with a teacher
• structure of daily classroom meetings

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the Manheim Township (Lancaster, PA) Virditional
Online Program
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a relaxed atmosphere where I can work
at my own pace
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I also like working with classmates.
There is a lot of flexibility.
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I didnt feel as rushed to complete things
as I did in other classes
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In this course, I got to express my
creativity, independence and self-disci
pline.
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I love how you can self-pace and work ahead
It was a nice feeling that I was truly
accomplishing something!
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in a (regular) class setting you are
sometimes held back by other students ...
here, it doesnt affect you.
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I feel that I have more contact with my
Virditional teacher than many of my other
teachers .
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I like how when you have a question about a
certain issue, you have the teachers
one-on-one attention to help you
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while everyone else may not need the
teachers help at the same time
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when I do understand something, I don't need
to listen to a teacher sit and explain it
for a whole entire period.
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In a traditional class, I wouldn't really be
able to ask individual questions, and if I DID
ask, I wouldn't be able to ask as many
questions.
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It gives more of an opportunity to learn
about computers and how to use them.
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Discussion boards gave me time to
plan my response, and pull materials
together.
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I like the discussion board. It gives everyone
an equal opportunity to talk and you can
talk without feeling embarrassed.
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Also, some people can better organize
their thoughts in writing.
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Manheim Township SD
VIRDITIONAL

• 2001 the Virtual expansion ..
• Benefits of bridging the virtual divide
• Develop a variety of academically-oriented
  technology skills
• Develop a strong foundation for web-based
  learning
• Provide daily structure for success
• Provide immediate teacher support and feedback
• Provide flexibility, self-pacing, and
  individualization
• (contd)

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Manheim Township SD
VIRDITIONAL

• 2001 the Virtual expansion ..
• Benefits of bridging the virtual divide
• (contd)
• Develop skills of time management and pacing
• Develop confidence to elect totally virtual
  delivery
• Transform passive seat learners into more
  active learners
• Prepare students for an information-based 21st
  century world of technology-oriented jobs,
  training and living !

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Manheim Township SD
VIRDITIONAL

• 2002 the Virditional Effect
• Doors of opportunity opened for traditional
  teachers
• Online course tools supplement lessons
• Infuse technology into delivery and instructional
  strategies
• Provide immediacy and scope of Internet-based
  research
• Level the field for class participation
• Individualized attention when and where needed
• Self-pacing options create less anxiety and
  stress
• (District) Technology competency skills enhanced
• Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants
  Marc Prensky, author of Digital
  Game-Based Learning

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Manheim Township SD
VIRDITIONAL

• Virditional Learning
• The future?

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Manheim Township SD
VIRDITIONAL

• Links
• CoSN materials
• http//www.mtwp.k12.pa.us/jane_glass/
• Virditional segment handout (MS PowerPoint)
• Students Virditional comments (PDF version)
• No Bells, No Books, No Chalk 5 year history of
  program (.ppt)
• Virditional.net site http//www.virditional.com/
• Information for administrators educators about
  MTSDs program
• MTHS Online Program http//www.mtwp.k12.pa.us/sch
  ools/newhs/academic/virtual.html
• Information for parents students about MTSDs
  online program
• E-Mail jane_glass_at_mtwp.net

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Financial Considerations

• Kristie Clements, Principal, Buchanan High School
  of Technology

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Money, money, money

• Building hosting your own program
• Total Cost of Ownership analysis
• Personnel administrative, teachers, help desk
• Staff development training
• Technology hardware, software, ISP
• Building updating courses
• Web assist or full courses

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FTE or Tuition?

• FTE
• State or district rules
• Siphoning from other schools/districts
• Legal issues within state or district
• District budget or program budget
• Tuition
• Extra period or part of school day
• Technology fee only
• Scholarships

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Outsourcing

• 3rd party provider
• Start up costs
• Student security
• Reliability
• Additional costs
• Buying seats or horse trading
• Quality
• Scheduling
• Forecasting needs and/or growth

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Technical Considerations

• Liz Pape, CEO, Virtual High School

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Infrastructure

• Registration
• Grading
• Counseling
• Course Delivery
• Buy
• Build

• Support
• Help-desk
• Tutoring
• Training

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Building Registration

• Online vs paper
• Students select?
• How open?
• How does this tie to course delivery?
• What else is needed to support effective
  registration?
• Tie to SIS?

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Building Grading

• How to disseminate
• When?
• To whom?
• Security?
• Ties to course design, assessment design
• Type of feedback

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Building Counseling Services

• Who and Where are the counselors?
• How accessible?
• Are they trained in online?
• What tools do we provide?

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Building a Support Structure

• Help-desk
• 24/7?
• Technical?
• Curriculum?
• Tutoring
• Whats available online?
• Teaching staff or online tools?
• Training
• What skills do students and teachers need to
  learn in order to succeed in online delivery?

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Building the Platform

• Cost
• Technical considerations
• Security
• Support
• Design
• Maintenance and updates
• Pedagogical support whos driving?

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One Model to Consider

• Evaluation
• Evaluation Criteria
• Course Migration
• Weighted Evaluation
• Template Creation
• Selection
• Evaluation Results
• Financial Results

• Migration
• Pilot Migration
• Full-Scale Migration
• Training

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Criteria and Weights

• Asynchronous Threaded Discussion (5)
• Overall Ease of Use (5)
• Team Capabilities (5)
• Participant Training (3)
• Class Management (4)
• Course Building (4)
• Grading (4)
• Infrastructure (4)
• Staff Training (4)
• Other Features (3)

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Asynchronous Threaded Discussion

• Sorting capabilities
• Ability to lock messages (private vs public)
• Ability to easily see history
• Ability to lock thread starters and reopen
  on a scheduled basis

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Overall Ease of Use

• Teacher Usability
• Ability to post to students (private area)/to
  class
• Update course docs - WYSIWYG
• Intuitive interface
• Other (please list)

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Overall Ease of Use

• Student Usability
• Ability to save work in progress/revision
• Personal information space
• Private space for communication between
• student/teacher
• Ability to post assignments
• Other (please list)

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Overall Ease of Use

• School Admin Usability
• Ability to quickly find faculty contact
  information
• Ability to check teacher/course status
• Ability for teachers/SCs to edit (student email,
  calendar entries, contact info)
• Course enrollment
• Add/Drop students after initial enrollment
• Other (please list)

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Overall Ease of Use

• VHS Admin Usability
• Ability to post/remove announcements
• Locate contact information via web site
• Other (please list)

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• Questions?