The 50 Best-Scoring High Schools In Utah – #31 Open High School Of Utah

I received this from the Open High School of Utah page on Facebook.

The 50 Best-Scoring High Schools In Utah – #31 Open High School Of Utah

Congratulations to my colleagues in Utah at the OHSU!!!

Article Notice – “Everybody Is Their Own Island”: Teacher Disconnection In A Virtual School

Earlier in the week I announced IRRODL New Issue: Vol. 13, No. 2  and made mention of a K-12 online learning article that was published in it.  That article was…

“Everybody is their own island”: Teacher disconnection in a virtual school
Abigail Hawkins, Michael K Barbour, Charles R Graham

Abstract - Virtual schooling is a recent phenomenon in K-12 online learning. As such, the roles of the online teachers are emerging and differ from those of the traditional classroom teacher. Using qualitative interviews of eight virtual high school teachers, this study explored teachers’ perceptions of their online teaching role. Teachers expressed a sense of disconnection from their students, the profession, and their peers as a result of limited interactions due to significant institutional barriers. Researchers discuss the implications of this disconnection as well as future avenues for research.

Full Text: HTML PDF MP3 EPUB

PID: http://hdl.handle.net/10515/sy5qv3ch3

In his opening editorial, Terry describes the articles as:

A common theme in the popular press is the loneliness and isolation of the distance learner. But increasingly, distance education teachers, whether working in blended or fully distance contexts, experience a similar disconnection from colleagues and the institution due in no small part to geographic, temporal, and institutional distance. “‘Everybody is their own Island’: Teacher Disconnection in a Virtual School,” from the USA, helps us understand the extent of this phenomenon and challenges us to develop tools and techniques to alleviate it.

As I mentioned in the previous entry, this article was one of three that formed Abby’s dissertation. Check it out…

TEDxPSU – Ali Carr-Chellman: An Addendum

One of my good friends, David Wiley, who was also included on the e-mail that Ali sent around about her TEDxPSU –  A Closer Look at Cyber Charter Schools responded talking about what I believe is one important exception to the for profit cyber charter school model that I have tried to promote in this space.  And with David‘s permission, I post his comments below:

Ali,

As dead on as it is impassioned. Thank you for sharing. I do want to point out one exception to the gold rush mentality you described so accurately in your presentation (and it does sicken me, and I’m really glad to hear someone talking about it). The exception proves the rule, right? =)

The Open High School of Utah is the antithesis of the gold rush you describe in your presentation. The school invests its own money in aggregating openly licensed materials (curriculum which have copyright licenses that make them freely available with permission to revise and redistribute them) and in creating their own material, which they also openly license. I wrote the OHSU charter in such a way that (1) they are precluded from wasting money on curriculum from providers like K-12 and (2) they are required to share all the material they aggregate and create with the whole world for free under an open license.

Right now you can go to http://ocw.openhighschool.org and download their 9th and 10th grade courses to use to start your own cyber charter, or in your blended classroom, or any other way you want. Next summer the 11th and 12 the grade course will be posted for anyone to download and reuse.

And even though OHSU spends less than $10k on average of to develop each course (which they only pay for once – it’s not an obscene annual license fee – this is a completely open course which we “own” and can use forever), OHSU students’ standardized test scores exceed state averages by .25 – .75 standard deviations in Language Arts, Math, and Science. This in only the school’s second year of operation, and it’s getting better. (Our unique teaching model is a big part of our success, too.)

Of course the first goal of OHSU is supporting the learning of each student. But an important second goal is to cut the legs out from under the gold rushers. Why would anyone pay $1M to K12.com every year when our completely free curriculum has been shown to be as or more effective? A few more years, a few more data in the rear view mirror, and we’ll take the fight directly to the open board meetings of these gold rush schools. How can they claim to be good stewards of public funds when they throw away a million or more each year? They can’t defend that decision forever.

I hope that the model we’ve established at OHSU will be all the ammunition you need for the showdown at dusk that you’re obviously gearing up for. Let me know if you’re looking for a posse. =)

Thank you again for calling attention to this absolutely ludicrous state of affairs.

David

PS. For folks who have students in traditional schools but have figured out that the textbook publishing cartel is a gold rush as well, check out our $5 textbook work at http://utahopentextbooks.org/. It’s going statewide in high school science in Utah next year, and expanding into Arizona as well!

Well done to the folks at Open High School of Utah for these accomplishments and showing that full-time online learning doesn’t have to be a mechanism for the neo-conservative/neo-liberal agenda to make money.

Cutting-Edge Online Charter School Publicly Releases Award-Winning Curriculum Freely Available To Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime

From yesterday’s inbox…

MEDIA ADVISORY

September 15, 2011

CONTACT: DeLaina Tonks, (801) 725.3396 dtonks@openhighschool.org

Cutting-Edge Online Charter School Publicly Releases Award-Winning Curriculum Freely Available to Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime
In keeping with its mission the Open High School of Utah, a public charter, is the first secondary school to share the curriculum they develop as an open educational resource. Today they announce the release of 20 semesters of creative commons licensed content, bringing the total number of semesters in their repository at www.ocw.openhighschool.org

to 30 semesters. Twenty full courses ranging from math, science, language arts, social studies, and electives are now freely available to anyone, anywhere, anytime! Only one short year after their first curriculum release the Open High School of Utah has garnered multiple accolades and recognition for their exceptional curriculum, teaching model and inovation, including the 2011 Best of State Award in Curriculum Development. Shattering traditional methods, the Open High School of Utah curriculum is built from open educational resources. These resources are the foundation for their content and are aligned with Utah state standards to ensure the highest quality educational experience. The teachers enhance with screencasts, interactive components, and engaging activities to create the finest curricula for their students.  The objective behind developing open content is to create free and simple access to knowledge and information through collaboration and innovation. The use of open resources also makes it possible to very easily modify the curriculum to meet individual student needs. This is perhaps the most exciting aspect of the Open High School of Utah! Every student’s educational experience can be customized to best fit their learning style, turning the one-size-fits-all, teach-to-the-middle education system on its head. Combine award-winning, freely available curriculum with the ability to modify, enhance and customize and the Open High School of Utah is changing the world one course at a time. Imagine natural disasters or limited resources disrupting or preventing you from providing high quality instructional materials to your students. In the wake of an earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand clear across the world to resource deficient Africa, the power of technology and a mission to share their curriculum with anyone, anywhere anytime has allowed Open High to meet the difficult academic challenges of students worldwide without having to step one foot outside of Utah! In California, Pennsylvania and various other places Open High’s curriculum has been tailored by educators to meet the individual needs of their students.

When the Open High School of Utah was founded in 2008, they never imagined their mission would spread across the globe as quickly as it has. Through the power of free open curriculum, they have joined the ranks of those who are transforming the way we access high quality instructional materials – now that’s powerful innovation changing the world!

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The Open High School of Utah invites you to learn more about their teaching model and curriculum at www.openhighschool.org and by watching this brief video clip, courtesy of OpenSource.com.

The Open High School of Utah is putting the focus where it should be – on the student. Our mission is to facilitate lifelong success by meeting the needs of the 21st century learner through individualized, student-centered instruction, innovative technology, service learning, and personal responsibility.

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OHSU Reminders

Also from while I was over the Pacific…

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Upcoming Events May 5-31 TwHistory Freedom Riders Event May 15-26 Summer School Registration Window May 26 LAST DAY OF SCHOOL ALL Work MUST be submitted by NOON May 26 Second Annual Trailblazer Gala Downtown SL Radisson 215 West South Temple 7:00-9:00 Awards Program/Guest Speakers 9:00-11:00 Student Dance/Parent Organization Meeting May 27 Laptops Must be Returned by NOON Make sure you clean your laptop and bag before bringing it in. Here is a reminder of the different prices associated with different laptop parts. COMPUTER PRICES The Open High School of Utah is putting the focus where it should be – on the student. Our mission is to facilitate lifelong success by meeting the needs of the 21st century learner through individualized, student-centered instruction, innovative technology, service learning, and personal responsibility.

Hello Students and Parents, We are getting super excited for tomorrow’s GALA!!! We just wanted to give you a couple of reminders: Gala Info May 26 Second Annual Trailblazer Gala Downtown SL Radisson 215 West South Temple 7:00-9:00 Awards Program/Guest Speakers 9:00-11:00 Student Dance/Parent Organization Meeting Parking- The Radisson has self parking that is discounted for OHSU guests to $4.00 per day. Dress- Be sure to dress to impress (not in your prom attire, but nice). Watch the Gala LIVE! The broadcast will begin at 7pm on Thursday, May 26th. Click HERE to watch. (you can also go to www.openhighschool.org and navigate to the live video stream by clicking ‘End of Year Gala Streaming Video’ in the top menu bar) OHSU Office Hours (Laptops due by NOON on Friday) Thursday May 26th– 8:00 am – 5:00 pm Friday May 27th– 7:00 – 12:00 Monday May 30th- Closed Tuesday May 31st – Closed for laptop returns. See you all tomorrow!

You are receiving this information update because you registered at openhighschool.org. Our mailing address is: Open High School of Utah 352 N. Flint St. Kaysville, UT 84037 Add us to your address book Copyright (C) 2009 Open High School of Utah All rights reserved. Forward this email to a friend