Guest Blog Re-Post: Keeping The Faith In Summer School

This guest blog entry was originally posted on the Sevenstar Blog and re-posted here.  I have agreed to periodically post these entries over the course of the summer. Comments have been closed on this entry, but if you want to interact with the author please visit the original entry.  As is the tradition at Virtual School Meanderings, this will be the only entry today (minus of course the EDTECH597 entry posted first thing this morning).

Every schoolópublic or privateówill have students fall behind. It is the schools that recognize the problem and find a solution that truly make a difference in education. Traditionally, when students fail a course they are required to recover their credits in summer school. Credit recovery means a student will not fall behind his or her classmates come fall. For too long, Christian schools have either avoided offering summer school or settled for referring students to non-Christian options for credit recovery. In both cases, Christian schools miss out on the opportunity to fulfill their mission with their current students and reach new families with Christian education. It is understandable; summer school is expensive, summer staffing can be difficult to secure, and of course, there is the question of access to adequate facilities during the summer.

A model for a Christian summer school

Summer school instilled with Christian values is about accountability, opportunity, and ministry.

• Accountability. Summer school provides accountability for when a student’s grades do not reach the school’s academic requirements. Through summer school students are allowed to redeem themselves and recover the failed credit.
• Opportunity. Summer school provides an opportunity for some students to get ahead academically. These courses provide a chance for a student to take required courses outside of the school year and grow academically. A Christian summer school provides an opportunity for growth. A school has the opportunity to increase its value to current families and community members by offering additional academic services to its students. Providing such a service may also attract new students, creating the opportunity to build relationships, and result in new enrollments in the school.
• Ministry. At the core of a Christian education is ministry. A Christian school that frames its summer school program with a Christian teaching staff and Christ-centered curriculum not only extends its ministry of Christian education to current students, but also opens the door to connect with new students seeking options for the summer months. A recent survey of Christian schools who partner with Sevenstar showed that 40 percent of summer school students enroll full-time at their school.

The summer school online solution

The pros outweigh the cons when Christian schools offer an online summer school program. Until now, implementing a summer school program has been challenging for Christian schools. Because of staffing, finances, or space concerns, students often are sent to a public summer school. This gap in a Christian education can be filled with online learning. With online learning, Christian schools have found that they can quickly, easily, and cost-effectively deliver a summer school program that raises the academic bar, improves school competitiveness, and expands the ministry of Christian education.

The benefits of online learning for Christian summer school programs

• Online courses require fewer faculty resources.
• Online classes can be taken whenever a student has free time, at home, during school, or on the road.
• Online credit recovery is adaptable. Students will not waste time reviewing skills they have already mastered.
• Online learning now integrates Christian values. As online learning has emerged to prove its need in the classroom, Christian educators have merged faith with this technology.

A Christian School Educator’s Guide to Summer School Online

Online learning can be used to revive or start a summer school program at a Christian school. Learn more about it in our new white paper, Online Opportunities for Christian Schools. Download this free resource for Christian educators using the link below.

Sevenstar Google+

This guest blog entry was originally posted on the Sevenstar Blog and re-posted here. I have agreed to periodically post these entries over the course of the summer. Comments have been closed on this entry, but if you want to interact with the author please visit the original entry.  As is the tradition at Virtual School Meanderings, this will be the only entry today (minus the EDTECH597 entry posted first thing this morning).

Guest Blog Re-Post: 3 Characteristics of Christian Summer Schools that Work

This guest blog entry was originally posted on the Sevenstar Blog and re-posted here. I have agreed to periodically post these entries over the course of the summer. Comments have been closed on this entry, but if you want to interact with the author please visit the original entry. As is the tradition at Virtual School Meanderings, this will be the only entry today.

For a student that failed a course, summer school provides additional resources to recover the lost credits. Every year, Christian schools face the summer school challenge. Summer school programs require financial resources, additional staffing, and time. Many Christian schools opt to send their students to public or charter schools during the summer. It can be difficult to justify spending money on summer school instruction when only a few students need it.

As a Christian school, you made a promise to the parents that send you their children to not only educate them, but to also remain faithful to their Christian values. A Christian school that provides the summer school option fulfills its mission to students and families. Through online learning, Christian schools are provided the unique opportunity to overcome the challenges of a traditional, brick-and-mortar education. Consider these three characteristics of a successful Christian summer school:

1. Flexible Scheduling

For Christian families, summer is a busy time of year. Between family vacations, mission trips, summer jobs and church, a student can find it tough to focus on school. Summer is intended to be a break from the traditional classroom. Online learning puts the classroom at the student’s fingertips. Day or night, weekend or overseas, online learning enables a student to recover lost credits on his or her time. For your students that spend the summer doing missionary work, online learning means they will not miss out on the valuable faith and life skills that can only be experienced in the field. This flexibility in learning extends to teachers. While many online programs provide their own instructional staff to guide students through courses, the option is also available for your staff to instruct the program. The only thing needed is internet access.

2. Comprehensive Course Catalog

Most Christian schools will only have a handful of students requiring summer school, but creating a summer program that meets diverse needs and finding teachers can be a big administrative challenge. Add to the matter that small-sized, instructor-led classes are not financially sustainable, and it is no surprise that most schools offer a limited summer program, if any at all.

Online learning alleviates these strains because its courses do not depend on size or location. It makes far fewer demands on your space and teaching resources than traditional credit recovery methods. With an online learning program with a provider like Sevenstar, students can take any course over the summer. Whether it is advancement, core, or remediation, your students can start any week of the year and certified teachers are available for every subject in our catalog.

3. A Christ-centered curriculum

Selecting an online learning partner does not mean you are giving up on your Christian values. Your school takes spiritual growth as seriously as academic development. Every online course by Sevenstar is biblically-integrated to teach a Christ-centered worldview. Since students engage with online courses without the live guidance of a teacher in a classroom, they may be more susceptible to false beliefs portrayed as fact. Therefore, biblical integration portraying Godís truth is more critical in online courses.

As you build your summer school program, consider all the options and obstacles. Online learning can be tailored to your school, your students and your financial situation.

A Christian School Educatorís Guide to Summer School

When selecting an online program for your summer school, select a partner that shares your Christian values. Online learning can be used to revive or start your summer school. Learn more about it in our new white paper, ìOnline Opportunities for Christian Schools.î Download this free resource for Christian educators using the link below.

// Sevenstar Google+

This guest blog entry was originally posted on the Sevenstar Blog and re-posted here. I have agreed to periodically post these entries over the course of the summer. Comments have been closed on this entry, but if you want to interact with the author please visit the original entry. As is the tradition at Virtual School Meanderings, this will be the only entry today.

Guest Blogger: The Rise of Blended Learning and the New Opportunities for Edupreneurs and MBAs

Emma Collins, a web writer who just edited a compendium of online education’s best MBA programs by MBAOnline, joins Virtual School Meanderings today to lend some insight to the growing trend of Internet-based learning. Cyber schools are becoming more and more popular, but they are not without their critics. This post should hopefully start a vibrant discussion about the future of education, both on and off-line. As is the tradition at Virtual School Meanderings, this will be the only entry today.

Since the Internet was first introduced to the public in the mid-1990s, online technology has played an ever-increasing role in public education. Today, blended coursework and virtual schools are replacing traditional teaching methods at a substantial rate, while education startups – led by tech-savvy “edupreneurs” – aim in many ways to “disrupt” conventional educational practices with web-based programs.

The field of online education has grown immensely in the last decade alone. According to a report by Innosight Institute titled “The Rise of Blended Learning,” approximately 45,000 public school students at the K-12 level took an online course in 2000. Nine years later, that number had risen to more than 3 million. Furthermore, experts predict that at least half of all high school classes will be taught online by 2019.

The online surge has also impacted the number of homeschooled children. The number of students who learned from home more than doubled between 1999 and 2009, and this is largely due to the growing number of exclusively web-based educational institutions. Elementary and high schools are not the only ones to record substantial growth in online course enrollments, either. According to US News & World Report, more than 6 million American college students enrolled in at least one online course in Fall 2010 – a 10.1 percent increase over the previous year.

The report’s authors note that online learning exhibits the traits of a “disruptive innovation,” which essentially transforms a particular sector by replacing “complicated, expensive, inaccessible, and centralized” services with alternatives that are more affordable, user-friendly, and – in many cases – customizable to meet the needs of a specific group (such as an individual classroom). Web-based learning began as a service for children who learned from home, attended financially deficient schools or otherwise had no other alternative for receiving an effective education. Today, school districts across the country have begun to use web technology to create a blended learning environment.

As the name suggests, blended learning supplements traditional classroom education with varying levels of supervised online coursework. These courses not only prepare students for the technology-saturated job market they will encounter as adults, but also mitigates some of the budgetary pressures facing schools today. The report suggests that, for these reasons, blended classrooms are the optimal solution for several problems that educators currently face. “Online learning has the potential to be a disruptive force that will transform the factory-like, monolithic structure that has dominated America’s schools into a new model that is student-centric, highly personalized for each learner, and more productive, as it delivers dramatically better results at the same or lower cost,” the report states.

Tom Clark, Co-editor of Virtual Schools: Planning for Success, agrees that blended coursework is effectively reshaping the country’s educational dynamic. In addition, he notes another growing trend: virtual schools. These institutions generally fall under three categories. State-run virtual schools, contrary to their name, are not degree-granting institutions; rather, they provide online services to K-12 students and assist school districts with the integration of technology into their standard curricula. Virtual charter schools, on the other hand, provide full-time, tuition-free distance learning opportunities (typically for K-8 students). State charter laws govern these programs. Finally, privately operated virtual schools – like traditional private institutions – charge tuition for full- or part-time online learning programs. While both virtual charter schools and private virtual schools may act as “schools of record,” school districts may also work with them to develop online programs in public classrooms.

As a growing number of school districts have implemented blended coursework in the nation’s classrooms, many critics have raised concerns over the effectiveness of web-based learning. However, Clark writes that many of these worries are unfounded. Contrary to popular misconception, he notes, online coursework is not unsupervised, and students are not isolated from teachers and peers. Rather, most online modules enable teachers to regularly communicate with students online – and many require face-to-face consultations throughout the course. Furthermore, most K-12 students who take online courses are only enrolled part-time or for particular classes, so they are still able to regularly attend high school; in this sense, online courses increase (not decrease) the number of teachers and peers with which a student is able to interact. Other critics have complained that digital coursework, when compared with traditional classroom learning, is too easy. However, Clark argues that most virtual schools operate in accordance with state education department regulations, and certified teachers lead the individual courses.

In addition to virtual schools, many educational startups have emerged in recent years to tackle specific concerns related to today’s learners by introducing elements of online technology. One example is Nearpod, a company that develops educational apps for iOS and Android devices that can be used in classrooms. Nearpod is the brainchild of edupreneur Felipe Sommer, who told EdTech Digest that educators may use the apps to perform a range of tasks, from checking attendance and monitoring grades to developing interactive lesson plans and engaging classes with multimedia. Another innovative edupreneur, Nic Borg, recently developed Edmodo – a customizable social networking tool that can be used exclusively in the classroom. “Our goal was to develop a space that allowed teachers, students and schools to connect in a more engaging way while keeping students safe and protected,” he told EdTech Digest, adding that Edmodo’s platform enables students and teachers to exchange information, access homework and perform other classroom functions in real-time. Companies like Nearpod and Edmodo that offer unique, technology-based services are helping today’s educators meet their classroom’s increasing digital demands — and ensuring their own long-term market viability in the process.

Between the growing number of blended classrooms and virtual schools in the U.S. and the ever-expanding edupreneur sector, technology stands to greatly disrupt the state of American education in the coming years. As this nationwide shift takes place, teachers and students will receive more opportunities to learn, interact and prepare for future success in the digital world.

Emma Collins is a web writer who just edited a compendium of online education’s best MBA programs by MBAOnline. As is the tradition at Virtual School Meanderings, this will be the only entry today.

EDTECH597 – Guest Blogger: Ways To Build A Relationship Between Teachers And Students In Online Classes

Debra Johnson is a blogger and the editor of live in nanny. As is the tradition at Virtual School Meanderings, this will be the only entry today.

One of the major drawbacks to online schooling is the obvious lack of interaction between students and their teachers. In a traditional school setting forming this relationship can be crucial to the success of a student. However it is all but stripped when you enter the online world… unless you take a very deliberate step in making it a reality. This interaction is crucial to the success of the students in the classroom, an idea that is further explored in a paper written by Gail Wilson and Elizabeth Stacey.To ensure that there is a relationship between the teacher and their students there are steps that can be taken, however it requires the work of both parties:

1. 1. Have regular online discussions with the classroom – With the availability of online chat forums, chat rooms, and Twitter chats, online discussions are a very viable resource to use to facilitate interaction between teachers and students who are otherwise operating entirely through dropboxes and online curriculum. Sherry L. Market, PhD, discussed the importance of online discussion forums in her paper Technology and Education Online Discussion Forums: It’s In The Response. This becomes of the utmost importance for online courses. Being available to answer questions in real-time can break down the barrier that email interaction alone can sometimes create.
2. 2. Create v-logs for lessons – Part of the reason that online classes may create a distance between students and the class itself is the lack of seeing an actual teacher. By providing your students with video blogs (or v-logs) for lessons from time to time you give them the sense of being an actual teacher and not just an anonymous person on the other end of a computer. Rory McGreal and Michael Elliot both touch on the benefits of including videos created by professors to supplement education and circumvent boredom that can result from a class being entirely online.
3. 3. Open lines of communication via email or Skype as necessary – Making it very clear that you are readily available for your students, and opening lines of communication through Skype or email or both, can help students feel more at ease contacting you whenever they have a problem. Some students need this type of interaction to ensure a successful learning experience, and knowing that they can contact a teacher can be the first step towards forming this relationship. In fact, in a report done by Chi-Sung Li and Beverly Irby, it was recognized that the ability to communicate via email with teachers is one of the unique characteristics of online learning.
4. 4. Regularly contact students to see how they are doing in the class – In the 2009 Quarterly Review of Distance Education it was noted that the, “…when asked how their online course could be improved, the second most common written response from students (60 responses) was more direction and communication from the teacher.” (p. 42). Sometimes students don’t reach out to teachers simply because the teacher hasn’t reached out to them. By checking in with students on a regular basis, sending an encouraging email to keep up the good work, or one posed with concern over a low grade, you can foster a positive student-teacher relationship.
5. 5. Students shouldn’t be afraid of contacting the teacher – Likewise, students need to be forthcoming with the teacher if they have a problem, don’t understand a lesson, or need a little extra help. While this may seem obvious, many students instead will turn to using search engines to find answers, however sometimes teachers can offer more insight then an internet search will provide.  Students will never know this unless they simply ask, and the Technology Source Archives at the University of North Carolina lists student-faculty contact as the very first of seven principles of effective teaching in online courses.They should always be well aware of where questions should be directed if they do not fall within the teacher’s realm or would be better handled elsewhere.

As more and more people turn towards taking online classes or even taking the entirety of their schooling online, forming positive student-teacher relationships becomes even more crucial. One teacher can make all of the difference in a student’s school-life, if only they are willing to reach out and check.

Debra Johnson is a blogger and the editor of live in nanny. She welcomes your comments at jdebra84 @ gmail.com.

EDTECH597 – Guest Blogger: Which Online SAT Prep Course is Right for Your High School Student?

Carlina Yepinski is the primary researcher and writer for networkmonitoring.org. Her most recent accomplishments includes graduating from Kentucky State with a degree in communications and computer science. Her current focus for the site involves network traffic monitoring and network mapping software. As is the tradition at Virtual School Meanderings, this will be the only entry today.

Internet based courses are a great alternative to traditional classroom SAT prep that can run your family thousands of dollars, but with so many companies offering different services, perks and promises, it can be difficult to choose which one will benefit your child the most.  Here are five well-known companies and a break-down of what their online prep courses offer as well as tips to consider before you buy.

1.     Princeton Review SAT Online Course

Princeton Review offers two courses designed with different levels of intensity and individual instruction.

The regular online course costs $399 and offers the following:

20-30 hours of interactive, self-paced online lessons, 4 full-length practice tests and online drills, a full set of printed materials (including 11 practice tests and a student workbook), online instructors that can answer questions, and virtual student discussion groups.

Purchase this course if:  Your student is a self-motivator who studies better independently and needs less support from an instructor.

The live online course costs $699 and offers everything mentioned above and eight online class sessions led by a real-time instructor and a complimentary headset to interact with the teacher and other students during these sessions.

Purchase this course if: You think the eight class sessions are worth the extra $300 and your student would benefit from more personal guided preparation.

2.     College Board SAT Online Course – $69.95

This affordable course offers your student 18 interactive lessons, 10 online tests with essay scoring and 4 detailed score and skill reports.

Purchase this course if: Your student needs more practice than instruction.  College Board’s course offers little in the way of strategies and tips but for the price, it will give your student a good look at what to expect on test day and help him or her to decide if they need further instruction.

3.     Kaplan

Like The Princeton Review, Kaplan offers two programs that differ in intensity and price.

The “On Demand” course will run you $299 and offers video instructed online courses that are available 24/7 with 50+ hours of instruction, a self-paced stud plan based on a diagnostic of the student’s performance, 4 proctored tests, and over 1,000 practice questions.

Purchase this course if: Your student needs a combination of practice and instruction and thrives in a self-paced environment.

The more elite “Classroom Anywhere” includes the “On Demand” features as well as 18 hours of live course instruction you can attend from anywhere with an internet connection.

Purchase this course if: Your student thrives more in a classroom environment and is willing to put in the extra classroom hours in addition to the self-study and self-paced lessons.

4.     Barron’s Online Prep

By far the cheapest option, Barron’s online study prep is only $10.95 for six months.  The saying is true that you get what you pay for, but the self-scoring practice exams can be effective when utilized to their full potential.  The verbal prep only offers a list of the most common SAT words, but the added work of having to look them up and document the definitions can be helpful in retaining their meanings.

Purchase this course if: You’re looking for a super affordable option to get started, pad any other studying your student is doing or as an add-on to any of these other courses.

5.     Peterson’s SAT Online Course

More affordable than Kaplan or Princeton Review but with more in depth study options than the cheapest options, Peterson’s runs $119.95 for four months and offers an initial diagnostic test with a “customized learning path” based on your strengths and weaknesses of the diagnostic.  A computer-generated essay grader, interactive games, electronic vocabulary flash cards and 3 full-length practice tests are also included.

Purchase this course if: You want the most important features of the Kaplan and Princeton Review courses without having to pay several hundred dollars for a prep course.  If your student is able to learn in an online environment with less individual instruction and support, this course could save you money and adequately prepare your student for the SAT.

Carlina Yepinski is the primary researcher and writer for networkmonitoring.org. Her most recent accomplishments includes graduating from Kentucky State with a degree in communications and computer science. Her current focus for the site involves network traffic monitoring and network mapping software.