Technology & Learning - March 2009 - (Page 31) W W W.T E C H L E A R N I N G . C O M Screenshots from Online Teaching Associates Ltd. (www.onlineteachingassociates.com), offering standards-based online professional development for teachers and educational leaders. unique,” says Atols. “The students are happy. They sit and work and collaborate. They’re using technology and taking to it like ducks to water. They are energized by the whole experience. There’s a buzz that happens in this school, and students are learning independently.” Satisfaction is a catalyst for building knowledge in VOISE students. The academy is breaking down barriers to student achievement while educating teachers and the community about the importance of learning and applying technology to increase academic achievement. Everyone benefits under this scenario.” Hockey also points to other cases where the virtual model was applied to the traditional classroom. For example, Hockey says, it’s difficult to find a teacher certified to teach Mandarin Chinese for the three or four students in the district interested in learning the language. By tapping into a virtual course, he’s able to offer this type of instruction to students. “If we blindly adhere to the traditional model—if we don’t tear apart and reconstruct using a hybrid approach—we’re not going to be able to survive as a society in the global market. We’ve got to be willing to say, ‘[Traditional] education is failing right now.’ Public education is starting to see some of the great things that cyber charter schools have been doing: now we’re playing catch-up.” Difficult-to-find foreign-language instructors seem to be a universal catalyst for the adoption of online learning in traditional school settings, especially in small and rural districts. In Karval, CO, a small town on the eastern UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE While the VOISE Academy is teaching hundreds of students following the blended model, many districts are applying the blended approach to meet the educational needs of one child or a small group of students. For instance, the principal at North Lincoln Hill Elementary School (Philipsburg, PA), Patrick Hockey, has offered online technology to students in Philipsburg Osceola Area School District’s brickand-mortar elementary school. Hockey recently used online courseware technology (originally developed for use in the district’s virtual school) to enable a third grader to take accelerated math courses online without leaving her traditional classroom. Hockey explains, “Many parents don’t like the idea of sending their young children to the junior high school. Instead of having to physically transport her across town to the junior high, we allowed the student to use a laptop to do her coursework while her classmates did theirs. TECH & LEARNING | 31 http://WWW.TECHLEARNING.COM http://www.onlineteachingassociates.com http://www.lanschool.com http://www.lanschool.com
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