Easter is here, spring is blessing us with warmer weather, preparations are underway for year-end, and others are preparing for summer school. Is it ever quiet in the K-12 system?
The March newsletter highlights several events upcoming and includes some interesting links, posts, and news items to explore – over your Easter break if you are like many who monitor email to check in on students even in your downtime.
Please forward this news on your own networks using the tools at the bottom.
12th April 2018 – Post-conference workshops
Canadian eLearning Network Partners with the 8th Annual Summit on Education Technology Strategies for K-12 Schools, Colleges & Universities
CANeLearn Member Benefits:
- SAVE 20% off the regular registration rate using this VIP code: CLN20
More Information:
Location: Hilton Toronto Airport Hotel, 5875 Airport Rd, Mississauga, ON, L4V 1N1
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2018 Digital Learning Symposium
April 18-20 — Westin Wall Centre Richmond BC
Frontiers of Innovation: Curriculum Change in Online Learning Environments.
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Tony Bates, Rod Allen, new models for online & blended learning
Dialogue, networking, sharing, creating, and learning
https://new.canelearn.net/symposium/
Check out all our events here!
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Upcoming PD – Mark your calendars!
blendED2018: Alberta’s Blended and Online Symposium
- October 10-12, Edmonton AB
- Call for proposals is open!
CIDER Session: State of the Nation — K12 E-Learning in Canada
- The latest issue of the report marks its 10th year and the fifth year of CANeLearn’s support of this research
- Join Michael Barbour and Randy LaBonte for this CIDER session overview
- Info and link to join found here: http://cider.athabascau.ca/
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In the News
State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada Updates
- The 10th anniversary edition of the State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada study released
- New issue papers & vignettes
- French version released also!
- Check http://k12sotn.ca/
Major Changes for ADLC
- Alberta Distance Learning Centre (ADLC), an original CANeLearn organizational member and research supporter, is consolidating staff in Barrhead AB, its original and main office, closing satellite offices in Edmonton, Calgary, and Lethbridge
- ADLC will move adult learners to Vista Virtual School, an online and distance school run by Pembina Hills SD which also holds a service agreement with Alberta Education to support ADLC
- Read more here
Native-Land… – from @dougpete
Digital Citizenship Micro-course
The One Truth in Online: Every Program is Different
- CHLOE2 report from Eduventures Research and Quality Matters
- Note: The focus of the article is on post-secondary education
- CHLOE2 offers insights about online learning policies, practices, plans and impact across higher education.
- CHLOE stands for “Changing Landscape of Online Education,” and this year’s edition is subtitled “A Deeper Dive.”
- The report is based on a survey of 182 online learning officials
- Read more here…
Microsoft & Open Up Resources partner to offer math curriculum
- via Stephen Downes
- Microsoft is integrating “full-course OER curricula, standards-aligned, and provided for free to promote instructional equity” into its OneNote application.
- OneNote Class Notebook is available as a free download
- Read more on @downes post here…
No Significant Difference – Unless you are a Jumper
- It may be true in the aggregate that no significant difference exists between the performance of students who take a class in an online setting and those who take a class in a traditional face-to-face setting, this study demonstrates that, for any individual student, choice may be very important.
- At the individual level, the choice between settings matters for learner success
- Read the abstract and find the link to the full article here…
From Stephen Downes: Top Articles Worth Reading
Ten Key Facts About Blended Learning
- from Contact North
- Discover the ten key facts about blended learning in an easy to digest format.
- Each fact is supplemented with links to worldwide resources extending and deepening the core ideas.
- Find out how blended learning helps facilitate student engagement and interaction.
- Read the PDF here
23 Top-rated Websites for Teachers and Librarians
- Do you want to create a game to help students learn a new concept?
- Are you looking for free pictures and videos for students to use in digital presentations?
- You’re in luck: Websites for educational game creation, copyright-free images and videos, and video-based quizzes are among the American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) top websites for teaching and learning.
- See the full list here…
Open Education Week Webinar Recording of note…
- Please click here for a more detailed description of the event
- Recording of the discussion is available here
- Requires Adobe Connect plugin…
Edsurge Blog Posts on Technology in Schools
Exploring the Impact of Student-, Instructor-, and Course-Level Factors on Student Learning in Online English Language and Literature Courses BinBin Zhang
- The number of K-12 students taking online courses has increased tremendously over the past few years. However, while most current research in online learning focuses either on comparing its overall effectiveness with traditional learning or examining perceptions or interactions using self-reported data, scant research has looked into online design elements and students’ learning outcome in K-12 settings. This report seeks to explore how the combination of three main online education components – student, instructor, and course design – contribute to students’ online learning success in high school English language and literature courses.
Too Many Words, Too Little Support: Vocabulary Instruction In Online Earth Science Courses Mary F. Rice and Donald D. Deshler
- As online coursework become more popular, students with disabilities that need vocabulary support for reading comprehension will be among the increase in cyber school students. Researchers have some evidence that certain types of vocabulary support strategies are more efficacious for students with disabilities. The purpose of this article is determining if what was known about strategies for supporting vocabulary was being applied to online learning coursework. A content analysis of types of vocabulary and types of support strategies was performed on science courses from three online course vendors. The results of this study indicate a need for online course vendors to pay more explicit attention to the types of words supported and the strategies they use to do so and for those who support online learners (teachers, parents) to be more proactive about vocabulary support deficiencies that are likely to be present in the courses.
At-Risk High School Students Recovering Course Credits Online: What We Know and Need to Know Samantha L. Viano
- The majority of American high school students enrolling in online education are doing so in credit recovery courses. These are online courses specifically for students who previously failed a face-to-face version of the course. Despite the popularity of credit recovery courses, the literature on online learning largely ignores credit recovery courses and students. Assuming credit recovery students are similar to other online learners can be misleading. In this article, the existing literature on credit recovery is reviewed in 3 specific areas: the proliferation of credit recovery courses, the student experience in credit recovery courses, and outcomes and impacts of credit recovery. Suggestions are given for how to advance the credit recovery literature in future research of online learning.
Exploring Factors That Promote Online Learning Experiences and Academic Self Concept of Minority High School Students Alex Kumi-Yeboah, James Dogbey & Guangji Yuan
- The rapid growth of online education at the K-12 level in recent years presents the need to explore issues that influence the academic experiences of students choosing this method of learning. In this study, we examined factors that promote/hinder the learning experiences and academic self-concept of minority students attending an online high school. Qualitative interviews were conducted with twenty-four African American, and sixteen Hispanic high school students. The results showed that collaborative learning activities, access to resources, time convenience, student-teacher interactions, student-student interactions, improved academic behavior, and parental support helped to enhance online learning experiences and academic self-concept of the minority students. On the contrary, the lack of social presence, and the lack of cultural inclusion in course content constrain online learning experiences and academic self-concept of the students. The findings revealed some similarities between factors that influence minority students learning experiences online, and in face-to-face setting. The study also highlighted the need for teachers of online courses to understand the cultural backgrounds of minority students, and to use their knowledge to improve the learning experiences and academic self-concept of these students. Implications for teaching minority high school students in an online environment, as well as suggestions for future research are provided.
An Examination of High School Students’ Online Engagement in Mathematics Problems Woong Lim, Ji-Won Son, Susan Gregson & Jihye Kim
- This article examines high school students’ engagement in a set of trigonometry problems. Students completed this task independently in an online environment with access to Internet search engines, online textbooks, and YouTube videos. The findings imply that students have the resourcefulness to solve procedure-based mathematics problems in an online environment without formal instruction. This article suggests that self-directed online learning could be more effective for solving procedure-based problems than multi-step problems. Moreover, to be successful in online learning environments, students may need training to improve keyword searching skill and their ability to utilize various online learning tools.
Happy reading!
2017 BOLTT (Bringing Online Teachers Together) Conference
Presentation Padlet archives here:
blendED 2017: Alberta’s Blended & Online Learning Symposium
Links to Curated Notes in Program Session Descriptions:
Video Archive of Selected Presentations:
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