Searching for the Data: Online Learning with the Teacher at a Distance

Where's the beef?  Is online learning showing positive results for students?  Is it better with a teacher at a distance or not?  Which vendors offer curriculum online that is designed or works well with  the "teacher at a distance"?  These are all questions to which I am seeking answers as I draft the application due April 1, 2010 for Colorado multi-district certification of what I am calling our online school - St. Vrain Valley eLearning  School (SVVeLS).

In September of 2009 St. Vrain's Superintendent, Don Haddad, tweeted:

We are planning to implement an Online learning school in St. Vrain during the 2010-11 school year. This will add opportunties for students. 6:32 PM Sep 22nd, 2009 from web  http://twitter.com/SVVSDsupt.

Even before then, I had been researching the best way to implement an online school for St. Vrain students.  Please send me your ideas, comments, resources that you have found to be helpful or think should be included.

If you have applied for multi-district certification in Colorado, I'd love to see your application.  You could share it with me on Google docs:  cmasson50@gmail.com.

Here is one post from Odysseyware's blog that tells of postive increases in student results.  I need more.  I also need to know which vendors offer an online curriculum that lends itself to utilizing the teacher over the internet rather than in person.  If your school district has done this, please tell me about your research, your results, your failures, your successes.

At-Risk and On-Line

News on January 23rd, 2010 No Comments

Students in metro Detroit’s Westwood Community School District are excelling, and not just the students in mainstream classes. Students in the at-risk, alternative education program at Westwood have enrolled in an online class called “Cyber School,” where they can take their courses, receive credit, and matriculate along with their peers without ever having to set foot in the school itself. This remarkable opportunity has yielded results for students reaching as high as 32% increases in previous year grades. From the Detroit News:

Kyle Grigg, who was forced out of Melvindale High school for falling behind, is now heading toward graduation because he’s no longer confined to a seven-hour school day.

The flexibility means Grigg, 18, could play Scrabble with his teacher recently in the cyber school lab. His mentor turned the game into an English assignment: Write a two-page fiction story using all the words they formed.

“It’s all your own pace,” said Grigg, who buses tables in Greektown and completes schoolwork at night or on days off. “It’s all on me now. If I don’t graduate now, it’s my own fault.”

Exactly. That is why online curriculum works. Students who take the initiative to want to learn and seek the opportunity can use curriculum, like OdysseyWare, in a way that meets their individual lifestyle and allows them the freedom to learn in a manner that doesn’t restrain say a part-time job. We encourage students like Kyle to contact us and learn more about ODYSSEYWARE and how we can raise your test scores as well.  http://www.odysseyware.com/blog/

 I look forward to learning from you and receiving any materials, information that you can offer to assist me in this project!

Picture resource:  http://www.combination-boiler-training.co.uk/learning.html