Technology & Learning - March 2009 - (Page 28) FEATURESTORY CLASSROOM REVOLUTION Virtual Technology Goes to School By Marty Weil, Contributing Editor The buzz about virtual schools, which currently serve only a tiny fraction of the nation’s 48 million K-12 students, misses the much bigger, largely untold story unfolding in America’s brick-and-mortar classrooms: a simple yet profound merger of virtualschool technology and the traditional classroom is taking place. The overwhelming majority of students will continue to attend physical schools, but an increasing number of students also will take courses, or parts of them, online, moving seamlessly between the traditional and virtual, says Bill Tucker, chief operating officer at Education Sector (Washington, DC), an independent think tank that challenges conventional thinking in education policy. Tucker is describing what is known as the blended model. And he is not alone in his enthusiasm for the approach. “This is not creative fiction, speculation, or ‘wishful thinking,’” says Robert Blomeyer of Lisle, IL-based Blomeyer & Clemente Consulting Services, a firm that specializes in evaluations for improving online teaching and learning programs. “Online learning environments are used to improve and broaden educational opportunities in traditional schools.” However, Blomeyer adds, “the phenomenon is happening in a relatively limited number of schools and school districts.” Blomeyer NEE believes that with a little more work on L PA TIL school technology infrastructure, such as additional IP access in classrooms and more laptop computers, along with proper professional development to convert more certified teachers into facilitators of online learning, the blended model can work for many more schools. Blended The A BLENDED VOISE Across the country, schools are taking aggressive steps to bring the blended model into the mainstream. Take Chicago’s VOISE Academy (Virtual Opportunities Inside a School Environment), a new, small performance high school based on a hybrid model of virtual technology and face-to-face teacher instruction. At VOISE, students receive a rigorous online curriculum in high-tech labs. The mission, according to Sandi Atols, manager of distance learning in Chicago’s Office of High Schools and High School Programs, is to provide all students with choice, flexibility, scholarship, and individual attention. They do this by combining technology, best distance-learning practices, quality online Who uses virtual learning ■ Currently, 44 states offer some sort of virtual-learning initiative. ■ In 2006, Michigan became the first state to require students to participate in a virtual-learning experience to graduate high school. ■ In 2008, Alabama added a distance-learning requirement for graduation, requiring students to complete one online/technology-enhanced course. Also last year, Florida enacted a new state law requiring school districts to create fulltime virtual schools for K-8. SOURCE: LEARNING VIRTUALLY: EXPANDED OPPORTUNITIES, SETDA, NOVEMBER 2008 28 | TECH & LEARNING
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