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Virtual school concept sprouts wings at Cornerstone

April 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

They have been offering online courses since 2006, but now the South East Cornerstone Public School Division is expanding horizons to build a virtual school within the region that will probably accommodate and assist over 500 students in the fairly near future.

Lynn Little, superintendent of education for Cornerstone, told the trustees attending an April 19 meeting in the division’s central office in Weyburn, that when classes and courses were first offered online back in 2006, there were just 35 students registered.

“We have 450 now, although some are repeats,” said Little, pointing to the impressive growth in popularity. There are about 8,100 students currently enrolled in classes in 38 facilities in the Cornerstone division, with about 2,150 enrolled in Grades 10 to 12.

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Virtual learning to be explored

April 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Local teacher Gord Holden has surrounded himself in the world of virtual learning, and while the computer programs he uses may not be exactly like in Avatar, students are immersed in a virtual world for their studies.

The long-time Valley teacher is now teaching through Kelowna-based Heritage Christian Online School (HCOS) using programs like Quest Atlantis, Active Worlds and Thinking Worlds. He will speak at a meeting, hosted by HCOS, and provide information on this style of learning at the Salvation Army Community Church, at 1580 Fitzgerald Ave. on Tuesday. Various workshops and presentations about what the online school offers will happen from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., and childcare will be available.

Holden said this style of learning is a prime example of 21st century learning, and although traditional learning through books is important, virtual learning can teach in ways text cannot.

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Life lessons from a 100-mile run through an Indian desert

January 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment

While budgets for education are being cut across the US and Canada, this innovative program called impossible2Possible (i2P) offers learning tools free of charge to any school that signs up, exemplifying where education is headed in the 21st century.

Unlike many of the virtual classrooms that have popped up across the US in the past five years, i2P does not rely on government funding and is touted for being interactive. The organization gets most of its money from corporate sponsors such as Gatorade and relies on donations from Apple and BGAN Satellite for its technology. Called “21st century learning” and “truly groundbreaking” by Apple’s Distinguished Educators, a program that recognizes K-12 and higher education pioneers who use Apple products to transform teaching and learning, i2P is already being recognized for its unique approach.

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Cackleberries English Language (ESL) Program Helps Prepare Young Learners to Compete in Global Economy Through Innovative Virtual Classroom

January 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Combination of an online language program and the magic and excitement of Cackleberries characters and animation provides for the first of its kind in virtual education for young children learning English. This virtual classroom is build intuitively for young learners to be able to click, learn and play on their own. The animated lessons are used in combination with exercises to reinforce the learning.

“There are few entertaining educational tools for very young learners on the market,” says Eronne Foster CEO of Cackleberrries Entertainment. “Young children are natural language learners. They pick up a new language easily without conscious learning, unlike adolescents and adults. A virtual world where they can watch entertaining child appropriate animations, play and explore is the perfect tool for learning another language.”

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RCMP banks on e-learning to instill better habits among officers

January 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

While no one says Internet tutoring will be the Mounties’ salvation, it is seen as one way of ingraining more police professionalism. A pilot e-learning program ran for the past year, started by former commissioner William Elliott, a career Ottawa bureaucrat.

The new, expanded program would entrench the Internet leadership courses and sharpen their focus on breaking with the past. “Developing an Agenda for Change” and “Mobilizing for Change” are the names some of the other prospective courses.

The hope is that rising officers will learn these leadership skills at their computers, while posted in detachments across the country.

One obvious advantage of Internet learning is that it eliminates the need for expensive travel and sabbaticals. But the courses are not intended to replace other police training or even be all that in-depth.

“Web-based courses are just one piece of a much larger approach to sustainable leadership development,” said Sergeant Julie Gagnon, a Mountie spokeswoman. The consulting contract envisions Mounties taking up to eight distance-learning courses in a year-long curriculum, each being “no more than 15 hours of applied time.”

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Virtual learning students produce online radio

December 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

MUSKOKA – Though they may never meet in person, together a class of virtual learning students produces an online radio station that can be heard around the world.

Twenty Grade 10 students at their homes throughout Trillium Lakelands District School Board and beyond, including Hamilton, Ottawa and London, create podcast interviews, ads, apply for music licences, search out free content and set up schedules to keep Radio VLC streaming 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Taught by John Graham, the communication-technology class is part of TLDSB’s Virtual Learning Centre, an online secondary school that attracts students from throughout Ontario and sometimes even further afield.

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YouTube launches schools-friendly video service

December 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Mr Maclaren said the changes will mean Google’s site will no longer be regarded as a no-go area within some school networks.

“It has some positive aspects, particularly the removal of comments – and ads – which would have made so much of YouTube fall foul of many educational filters.

“Of course, more video material will be useful to students and teachers, particularly those using virtual learning environments where they can embed or ‘mash-up’ content into lessons.”

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Decline in Pasco County school enrollment less than feared

October 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The district also has seen an increase in participation in home schooling, charter schools and virtual education. It is waiting to learn exact numbers of students attending the Pasco eSchool, which could further reduce the enrollment slide.

Adding to the anticipated financial woes could be financial penalties for failing to meet the 2002 class-size amendment requirements. The state has estimated those fines will be $4,800 for each student over in grades K-3 and $4,400 for each student over in grades 4-12.

The final count indicated that 18.5 percent of elementary classrooms, 15.9 percent of middle school classrooms and 13 percent of high school classrooms were out of compliance, representing 884 students.

That’s better than preliminary counts in which the district was 986 students over the caps, but still well off the established goals of 18 students per teacher in kindergarten through third grade, 22 students in fourth through eighth grade, and 25 students in high school.

“The funding was simply inadequate to meet the mandate without completely devastating noncore area classes,” Romagnoli said.

Pasco was in full compliance with the amendment last year. It joined a growing list of districts that failed to hit the mark this year.

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Green Party’s O’Donnell tops social media report card

October 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If Ottawa’s online political landscape were a virtual high school, the Green Party’s Kevin O’Donnell would be class valedictorian.

The Ottawa Centre candidate gets top marks for his online presence from local social media analyst Mark Blevis, who graded the candidates from nine eastern Ontario ridings in his digital campaign report card released today. In fact, of the 36 candidates Blevis looked at, O’Donnell got the only “A”—perhaps not that surprising, as O’Donnell’s bio highlights his extensive background in the tech sector.

In addition to O’Donnell’s grade, Blevis hands out nine Bs, 17 Cs, six Ds, and three Fs. Generally speaking, the online world remains an “afterthought” for candidates, he says:

Digital remains an afterthought in many campaigns. Oddly, this is just as apparent, perhaps moreso, among the younger candidates as with some of the more seasoned politicians. The role of digital in our lives and as part of politics has evolved substantially in a short time. Candidates and their campaigns need to do their homework when they prepare a strategy. They should know how traditional and digital campaign activities augment each other. Campaigns should also know that people expect to find what they’re looking for, online, and quickly. And, they want quality. The newest wrinkle is, increasingly, people want to engage with their elected representatives.

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Vancouver School Board goes Greek with new language course

August 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Roughly 17,000 people with Greek roots live in B.C., but their language is being lost through second and third generations.

That’s one of the reasons the Vancouver Learning Network, a Vancouver School Board virtual school based at John Oliver secondary, is launching an online Greek language course this September.

The VLN partnered with Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Hellenic Studies, which launched its online course six years ago.

“They had a lot of the content already built that they could give us so that we could get a good start at the course,” explained VLN vice principal Jim Stassinopoulos. “This is community-backed from the Greek community and from the Greek consulate.”

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