Webinar NEXT WEEK: Follow the Money – Making Sense of the Stimulus and Ed Tech | July 15

This showed up in my inbox today, and since I recall there being opportunities for K-12 online learning programs in the United States to take advantage of this I figured I would share it here now (and post a reminder the morning of).

Follow the Money: Making Sense of the Stimulus & EdTech NEXT WEEK! Wednesday July 15, 2009 1 pm PST / 4 pm EST Sponsored by: Tech & Learning’s award-winning editorial team brings you a webinar hot on the heels of its special three-part series “Follow the Money.” Hear from industry experts and ed tech leaders as we discuss and dissect the fine print of President Obama’s federal stimulus plan and what it means for education technology in America’s classrooms. Plus, find out how you can get your hands on some of the money, implementation strategies, and get inspired by projects already in the works. Click here to read T&L’s “Follow the Money” series: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Wednesday July 15, 2009 1 pm PST / 4 pm EST Click here for more information Register for this FREE event! Brought to you by: Wed July 15, 2009 1 pm PST / 4 pm EST Click here to register More information Presenters Hilary Goldmann Director of Gov’t Affairs ISTE Pamela Moran Superintendent Albemarle County Public Schools Charlottesville, VA Dr. Luvelle Brown CIO Albemarle County Public Schools

What’s Next?

This is an interesting idea that I wanted to share with folks to see what their thoughts were on the topic. I received this e-mail from my university the other day and thought I would share to get your thoughts.

The Office of the Vice President for Research at Wayne State University is participating in a coordinated national media outreach effort with the Science Coalition commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Apollo Moon landing. The centerpiece of this effort will be a press release that highlights a diverse group of scientists from Science Coalition member universities and their perspectives on the next frontiers in science. It will also be used to point to the important role federal research funding plays in meeting our scientific challenges.

In the context of the 40th anniversary of putting a man on the Moon, we are looking for interested faculty members to answer this question in language for the layperson:

“In your view, what are the next great scientific frontiers – what is today’s equivalent to putting a man on the Moon?” If America decided to accept the challenge, what could we accomplish through science, research and discovery within the next decade? What do we need to do as a nation to accomplish this? And, what research are you pursuing and why do you think this is a next great step forward for science?”

So, what do you think?  Is there an education equivalent to this?

Online Education – In Ontario

I received this e-mail a few days ago and I wanted to share it with folks and see if any others had feedback.

Thank-you very much for your many and varied contributions to online learning!! I have been reading some of your reviews, specifically geared to the K12 audience, and have also listened to some of your audio recordings currently online! Your contributions and vision in this area are greatly appreciated by parents such as myself who are currently choosing to homeschool our children. The many resources and sites of information you have led me to through your discussions and papers have made my job tremendously more successful, so thank-you for your work thus far!

I am writing as I have been researching online schools for our son, who is soon to be starting. We have found one school in particular that has a very engaging format for young children in the form of video teaching and wondered if you wouldn’t mind providing some feedback on our tentative choice, based on your overview and insight as to what is available to us. We have focused in on http://www.bjupress.com after having viewed the samples of their video content lessons. However, we reside in Guelph, Ontario and are concerned about the American focus of some of the areas of study. We have been able to compensate for this through http://www.donnaward.net website for the geography and social studies aspects. The imperial versus metric, and the spelling components will be something we will also need to address. So as a result of these conflicts in curriculum, we wondered if you knew of something in Canada which is able to provide video teaching in a similarly engaging and detailed format. So far, we are drawing a blank in that regard and would appreciate your guidance in providing us with some insight as to where to search.

Again, I thank-you for your many contributions to the development of online education in Canada!!! It is truly exciting to see the many directions of your past and current work.

I responded by thanking them for the comments and then suggesting:

There are several options that may be available to you.

One is that you could enroll in one or more courses offered by the private virtual schools in the province. One is Virtual High School (Ontario) (see http://www.virtualhighschool.com/ ) and the other is the Ottawa-Carleton eSchool (see http://www.ottawacarletone-school.ca/ ).

Another would be public school options in your area. The Ontario eLearning Consortium (see http://oelc.ca/ ) is a group of school districts that have partnered together to share their online course resources with each other to allow each of them to increase their course offerings. The Ministry of Education changed the regulations in the past few years to allow for schools to allow districts to receive funding for students enrolled in their online courses, even if the students weren’t enrolled in the school for any face-to-face courses.

There are also some fee-based options in the United States that are also worth exploring. If your child is old enough to be considering Advanced Placement courses, I would recommend any of the courses offered by APEX Learning (see http://www.apexlearning.com/ ). None of the state-wide or even the cyber charter options would be available, as they can’t accept students beyond the borders of their own states (at least I don’t think they can).

I’m not sure if there are other Canadian private options outside of Ontario that would accept a student from Ontario. Or if a student from Ontario could avail themselves of public online options available in other provinces.

So, any one have any additional suggestions for a student in this position in Ontario?

SIIA Survey Finds U.S. Making Some Progress Toward

Since I posted a number of messages encouraging folks to participate in this survey (see Reminder: SIIA Vision K20 Survey Ends on June 15th for most recent example), it seems only appropriate that I post the results. This taken from one of the iNACOL forums.

SIIA Survey Finds U.S. Making Some Progress Toward the Vision K-20 for Technology-Rich Schools and Universities
By: PR Newswire
Jun. 29, 2009 08:23 AM

Findings Reinforce Need for Increased Investment, Leadership and Support to Ensure the Nation’s Educational System Can Innovate and Compete

WASHINGTON, June 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) today released the findings of an annual national education survey used to measure U.S. educational institutions’ progress toward achieving the SIIA Vision for K-20. The survey was developed to help educators and administrators individually benchmark their institutional progress in using technology to provide 21st century tools, anytime/anywhere access, differentiated learning, assessment tools, and enterprise support. The aggregated results also provide a picture of our nation’s progress as a whole.

As the voice of the educational technology industry, SIIA developed this vision for K-20 education – a vision to ensure that all students have access to a technology-enabled teaching and learning environment capable of preparing them to compete globally and lead the world in innovation. A successful pilot survey was initiated in 2008, and a follow up survey was conducted in spring 2009.

Report: Models Of Innovation In Learning Online

I tried to post this late yesterday afternoon, but my Internet went down while I was writing it.

Since yesterday was all about reports, I figured I’d finish off today with one as well.  Earlier this week the following came across my Facebook newsfeed.

The report, while not strictly about K-12, does present some interesting models that are worth taking a second look at.  The whole release states the following:

Models of innovation in learning online

The  aims of this research were to study provision of online learning at KS3, to assess effectiveness of online learning outside the institution and to ascertain whether remote formal online learning promotes engagement among learners across a range of educational sectors and contexts.

The output from the project is the Models of innovation in learning online (Milo) framework which aims to provide a holistic overview of the use of online learning, describing the approach to teaching and the way in which this is implemented technologically and logistically.

The framework focuses not just on learning and the experience of the learner, but also examines assessment procedures, and the ways in which the teaching and curriculum design process is supported through the use of technological tools.

The report identifies four typical models of online learning:

• Fully online – supported with structured activities and communication
• Independent study – with extensive online resources and some teacher support
• Added value – predominantly face to face, with additional supporting online activities and resources to be explored
• Flexible integration – flexible timetabling to allow a mix of online learning with traditional teaching and learning.

The report identifies key impacts, benefits and challenges.

The research is by the Centre for ICT, Pedagogy and Learning, Education & Social Research Institute, Manchester Metropolitan University.

Executive summary – download in Word (108KB), PDF (61KB), or ODT (72KB)

Final report – download in Word (959KB), PDF (535KB), or ODT (783KB)

Appendices – looking at eight institutions studied and research design – download in Word (425KB), PDF (359KB), or ODT (154KB)

Published: 25 June 2009

Wondering if anyone who has read this has any thoughts on the content?  Niki maybe?