Virtual learning

Source: http://www.sullivank12.net/virtual/virtual-learning/

What is virtual learning? Virtual learning allows students access to an educational learning platform via the Internet. Students can connect to classrooms, class content, resources, and take assessments like assignments, tests and quizzes online.  A virtual learning environment consists of an instructor and students. The two types of virtual learning environments are synchronous, where the participants meet in real time, and asynchronous, where the participants are self-paced and the online environment is accessible 24 X 7.

There are many benefits to virtual learning. The educational platform is available 24 X 7 which allows for flexibility. Students can access their courses at their convenience which allows time for other activities such as sports, music, and even jobs. Students can work at accelerated, regular, or even slower paces. The ability to choose your own pace as a student, most often results in more success, since students can work at a pace that benefits them, and doesn't overwhelm them. Virtual learning environments can help the shy student who does not like to speak in a group and who may have social interaction issues. Virtual learning pushes students to use critical thinking skills and become self-directed learners. Since many virtual learning environments use competencies, students are able to meet their competencies and move forward at a rate that benefits their individual learning speed. Since the learning environments are online, and all resources are kept online, students can easily go back and review any and all materials at any time. Receiving progress reports and accessibility to instructor feedback and personal one on one time is another benefit to virtual learning. Because virtual learning environments focus on the student first, they are student centered which benefits each and every student.

At the middle school where I work we use the VLACS math program for our advanced eighth grade students. I interviewed the math coach for her opinion on how the process has been working. She stated we began using VLACS last year as an enrichment tool for our advanced mathematics students in grade 8. The students who qualified were identified by their high math scores. Students are given access to the required technology. After gaining parental permission for each student, our math coach booked a computer lab every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for one hour for an entire semester (half the school year). She and the 12 students worked in the lab three days a week during a time frame that would normally be a study period. Students were given the required technology which was the computers, headphones, and a quiet room to work. The math coach acted as a resource for help, but did not teach or run the program, as it was taught by the VLACS instructor. The math coach stated that the students checked in with their instructor and advisers as stated in the video and readings we watched, and that her role was strictly to ensure the students were actually working on VLACS and not doing something online they shouldn't, as well as act as a math support resource to assist the students. Her opinion was that the self-motivated students did very well and achieved high success with the VLACS mathematics program. The students who were not self-starters did not do well, and did not achieve the competencies required at the end of the program.  

I spoke to the technology coordinator at the high school and she stated that some of the current high school students are taking an online accounting class at BYU, while others are taking VLACS courses. She also stated that she knew of two current high school teachers who are also VLACS instructors, one former teacher who now holds an administrative position at VLACS, and the former high school principal is the director of the VLACS program in New Hampshire.

The high school currently has students taking VLACS and other online courses in lieu of traditional classes. These students fall into two groups. One group of students are in a self-directed learning situation where they are taking a VLACS course because they are short a few credits, or had trouble with the traditional classroom course and have opted to take the online course. The other group of students are taking virtual learning courses as an enhancement to their regular curriculum of courses.  Both groups of students can work at home or during school hours in the learning center (a lab with the appropriate technology). The learning lab is run by a teacher who acts as a support resource to the students. The high school technology coordinator I interviewed said the feedback from guidance on the results of virtual learning for our high school students is mixed. She found the same results as the middle school math coach, where self-directed learners are doing very well and finding success, and the non-self-starters are failing and not completing the courses or achieving the competencies to move forward. The current plan at the high school is to expand the virtual learning opportunities for all students at the high school level, with the support of administration and the school board.

There are some drawbacks to virtual learning. One disadvantage is that the students who are not self-directed learners tend not to do well and can fall behind in their work. These type of students generally lack the motivation and study habits to propel them through the course successfully. Other disadvantages are that students are working independently and don’t have the social interaction with others in order to make friends, and work collaboratively. When I am taking courses I learn from the teacher, as well as from discussions that take place in class. In virtual learning environments students don’t have the ability for discussion (outside of a discussion board) and therefore may miss the spontaneity of a topical discussion or math problem.

My conclusion of virtual learning is that it is a viable option for educational learning and should be explored at the middle, high school, and college levels. Online learning allows the flexibility that many of our students are looking for. It also allows students the ability to not be grouped by their age, but by their ability and skill level. Students are able to move forward regardless of their age or projected grade level, once they have mastered the required competencies for the skills they are learning. This is a unique and progressive idea, which has many benefits in education going forward.

Source: http://www.canstockphoto.com/word-cloud-for-virtual-learning-11801997.html

Web sources used in this post:
http://techterms.com/definition/vle
http://www.dso.iastate.edu/asc/academic/elearner/advantage.html
http://vlacs.org/

District software

I interviewed the technology director for my district (SAU 39) and also the network administrator at the middle school where I work. I was able to gain a good understanding of the software and subscriptions we use in our district to collect data, and run our school web sites and content management systems.

Our student information system is called MMS. This database houses all of our student information such as ID, parent information, grades, scheduling, all of the students personal information, and discipline information. This application is managed by the high school operations manager for the district. Each of our schools uses their own version of MMS which is managed by that schools information specialist. We have used MMS for several years and have generally been very happy with the application. 

Our district has plenty of latitude when calculating grades. Unlike many schools who use Power School and post their grades online, we do not have a parent portal for parents to view grades. At the middle school where I work our teachers use MMS, Gradekeeper, Itslearning (our content management system) and even Excel to house and calculate their grades. The elementary school uses MMS and the high school uses MMS and Itslearning. The cost for MMS is $9,000 annually for the district. Gradekeeper is free. Itslearning costs $12,000 annually and the grade book is one feature within the application. At some point in the future, we will all be using Itslearning which will allow us to open a parent portal allowing parents to view their children’s grades. 

All of the districts report cards, K-12 are printed from MMS. For those teachers who are not using MMS as their standard grade book, they must enter the final numeric grade which is then calculated to a letter grade for report cards. 

Our content management system is called Itslearning. We used Angel for many years and switched to Itslearning two years ago, when blackboard bought out Angel. Itslearning is a content management system that creates courses for all teachers. Teachers can post content, post homework, create lessons, test, quizzes, and set calendar date events. Students can upload files to their private portfolios for work at home. Itslearning is a blended learning environment where students can access any and all information their teacher chooses to post via the web. There is a parent portal features that will be enabled in the future allowing parent’s access to their children’s courses, as well as grades, once all the teachers start using Gradebook within Itslearning. This application is used K-12 in our district and is managed by the technology director. The annual cost is $12,000. Itslearning has been well received in our district. Teachers, students, and parents feel the application is user friendly. 

Our district uses Schoolwires for our web site development and maintenance. This external company hosts our web sites in a secure site. Each of our schools: elementary, middle and high school custom build their own pages. The web sites are managed by each schools information specialist. The cost for Schoolwires is approximately $7,000 annually.

Trumba is the application we use to maintain our school calendar. Trumba costs $4,000 annually and is managed by the districts Business Administrator. ScheduleIt costs $150 annually and allows us to schedule internal resources such as conference rooms, labs, and computer carts. ScheduleIt is used in the middle and high schools and is managed by each schools network administrator. School Dude is used to schedule athletic fields and maintenance throughout the district. This application is managed by the Facilities Manager at a cost of $1,500 annually.  Trumba and School Dude has been used successfully in our district for many years. ScheduleIt has been used at the high school for three years, but was just implemented in the middle school this year. The only issue with ScheduleIt is that the program is very simple program (not robust with many features) and doesn't allow for look back on finding a resource. Prior to using ScheduleIt we maintained a manual list for scheduling resources, so this application has been a big improvement. 

Keeping our schools running

Committee article reflection

The committee article and sub-articles were very informative. The main article entitled Best Practice Advice for Committees had links to several sections that described how to start a committee, how to chair a committee, best practices for committees, tools to use, and policies and procedures for committees. The article was well written, and nicely organized as to cover the different components of a committee in a readable, succinct manner. After reading the article I felt that I already knew much of what had been written, but hadn't thought about it in regards to the steps and vocabulary used in the article. I have briefly summarized the important facts of the article below.

The article stated that a committee is made of people who are working towards a common purpose and goal. If the committee does not have a stated purpose and/or goal, it most likely won’t be successful. Another key component to a successful committee is to ensure the committee is made up of the key people that can make decisions and ensure that the committee goal(s) are reached. These would be the stakeholders. This is very important. First and foremost you need to determine if a committee is the right option depending on what you are trying to accomplish.

Types of committees:

The articles listed three types of committees. Standing, which is created by standing order, rules and by-laws. Ad-hoc committees are typically created for a purpose and generally are short-term committees. I am on two ad-hoc committees currently at my middle school. The technology committee meets two to three times during the year to discuss our technology plan and vision. The second ad-hoc committee I am currently a member of the “AMS 40^th birthday committee”. 2015 is our 40^th birthday and we are planning some activities to celebrate next spring. In the past I had also been on a grading committee, which was unsuccessful after several meetings and discussions about grading. An advisory committee is also an ad-hoc committee which often has some funding attached to it. I am currently on the districts STEM committee, which could be considered an advisory committee. This committee consists of STEM people from all of our schools, K-12. We have received a grant to implement STEM into all of our schools. We are receiving training at SERESC in Bedford along with a representative from the Boston Museum of Science. Upon completion of our training and committee work, we are responsible for making STEM happen in each of our respective schools. We will be the trainers and technology integrators who will bring along the content teachers and make suggestions to the remainder of the staff, on how to implement STEM.

Chairing a committee: 

To start a committee you must have a leader, or chairperson. The success or failure of the committee often depends on how well the leader can lead. The chair often sets the dates, the agenda, and manages the flow of the meeting. The chair guides the discussion and ensures that everyone on the committee has a chance to be heard. I haven’t had experience chairing committees but feel that I have been sort of the “helper” to the chair. For our technology committee I set the dates, set the agenda but don’t actually lead the meetings, the technology director does. The chair position is extremely important. I've been a member of committees where the chairperson did a great job, and others that were chaired by people who were not good leaders. It is important for all committees to have collaboration and a good working rapport with all of its members. 

Implementing best practice:

Best practices are proven methods people can use to ensure the success of committee work. The article suggests assessing where you are in regards to the stated goal right when you begin. This is an important step in committee work and one that I don’t think always occurs. Since we are just starting our STEM committee, I will keep this step in mind. Assessments throughout the length of the committee are also important. These assessment steps are often overlooked, but important for the success of the committee. The grading committee was a good example. Our chair was unable to attend a few meetings, which left the group disorganized. After spending time doing research and surveys on grading, we were unable to finalize any decisions; our goal was not met.  We did not use an assessment of our progress, which in hindsight would have helped our committee to reach its goal.

Tools and templates:

The tools and templates section listed some tools that can be utilized by committee members. The self-evaluation template was very interesting. I liked the layout topics listed and agreed with many of the questions. This template would be an interesting survey for any committee. The briefing note template simplified a method of recording information and notes about the meeting. The policy statement simplified committee policy sections like value, purpose, scope, policies, procedures, definitions and references.

Policies and procedures:

The article defined the policy as “A principle of action that guides the decision-making and activities of the organization”. This is true. Policies are typically the guidelines that are used by the committee for a specific purpose. The procedure is how the committee works, or the steps or process the members go through to accomplish their task.

Many committees utilize policies and procedures manuals. Generally certain procedures are tied to specific policies, which the manual outlines.

I can relate to this image of a committee representation because it visually shows the collaboration that needs to occur for a committee to be successful. Generally speaking I do volunteer for committees that interest me. I like working with other people, and collaborating on common goals. I have been on some very successful committees and a few that were not successful. As the article states, if the committee selects the proper chair, is comprised of the appropriate stakeholders, sets appropriate and reasonable goals, and check-ins with appropriate assessments throughout the process, the committee has a good chance of success. Concluding, I enjoyed the article and found it to be a good read on the main points of committees. 

Here is my table to define the technology plan committee members.