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Welcome to the June CANeLearn News
With school year-end fast approaching, thoughts slip into summer sun-seeking and slumber by the local watering hole. This newsletter provides some brain food for those welcomed idle times.
For those interested in planning their own personal learning next year, there is a wealth of PD opportunities to scan now. This month’s newsletter also includes links to books and articles to explore by your “pool” over your summer break.
As always, please forward this news to your own network(s) using the tools at the bottom.
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BOLTT is a semi-annual fast-paced conference hosted in TORONTO each October and OTTAWA each May that focuses on the needs of:
- Elementary/Intermediate/Secondary/Adult eTeachers/Hybrid Teachers/Blended Learning Teachers
- eRegistrars/DeLCs/eLCs/TeLT-Cs
- Technology/Instructional Consultants/Coaches
Sessions include:
- Innovative practices and approaches in online course development, delivery, assessment, communication, and student tracking and reporting
- Impactful tools to enhance online course instruction or assessment
- Unique online learning programs, projects, and initiatives.
BOLTT Toronto Fall Conference ~ October 25/26 Downtown Toronto
BOLTT Ottawa Spring Conference – May 9/10 Downtown Ottawa
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Upcoming PD – Mark your calendars!
blendED2018: Alberta’s Blended and Online Symposium
- October 10-12, Edmonton AB
- Keynote: Will Richardson
- Call for proposals closes soon!
Saskatchewan Distance Ed Conference
2019 Digital Learning Symposium
- April 7-9, Burnaby (Vancouver) BC
- Reserve your group at last year’s price before July 15!
- Dialogue, networking, sharing, creating, and learning
- Call for proposals coming soon
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In the News
CANeLearn Board Retreat
- The CANeLearn board of directors will be meeting July 8-10 in Edmonton, hosted by the Black Gold Regional School Division
- The meeting will address input from our member survey and help shape direction for CANeLearn’s next 2-3 years
- For more background see “About Us” or download the current strategic plan here (PDF)
State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada Updates
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Summer Reading & Musings…
Book Choices
Handbook of Research on K-12 Online and Blended Learning (2nd Ed)
- The Handbook is an edited collection of chapters that present the current state of research in K-12 online and blended learning.
- Lead researchers for the State of the Nation: K-12 e-Learning in Canada annual report, Randy LaBonte and Michael Barbour, wrote a chapter on “An Overview of eLearning Organizations and Practices in Canada” (see Chapter 43 on page 601).
- Download a copy here
Humans Wanted: How Canadian youth can thrive in the age of disruption
- Book introduction: “CANADA, WE HAVE A PROBLEM. We’re hurtling towards the 2020s with perfect hindsight, not seeing what’s clearly before us. The next generation is entering the workforce at a time of profound economic, social and technological change. We know it. Canada’s youth know it. And we’re not doing enough about it.”
- See what Tony Bates advises about this “must read book” on his blog here (a quicker read with a summary and analysis of the book)
- OpEd on the report from the Globe and Mail here
- Download a copy of the report here (PDF)
Summer Reads for Teachers from Common Sense Education
- Topics include digital citizenship, social media, finding facts in a world of disinformation, and technologies
- Find out more here
Digital Technologies in Schools 2016-17 (New Zealand)
- This report details the results of the 2016/17 Digital Technologies in Schools Survey (New Zealand), in which 464 schools (339 primary schools and 125 secondary schools) participated.
- Full report here (PDF)
NMC/CoSN Horizon Reports
- 2017 K-12 Edition here (links to report and digital toolkit)
- CoSN to replace and reinvigorate the K-12 edition (read about it here)
- Click here for the 2018 Higher Education Edition (PDF)
Articles of Interest
Pockets of Innovation in Online Learning
- Post-secondary examples from Contact North where online pedagogy, technologies, and tools are used to improve student learning experience
- English version (185+ examples)
- 24 Poches d’innovation sélectionnées disponibles maintenant en français
Ten Guiding Principles for Using Technology in Learning (2018 Updated Version)
- For educational institutions at the secondary, college and university level
- Fundamental guiding principles to drive decisions and policy-making with respect to technology in learning
- Click here to download (PDF)
Must-Read Books on Online Learning — From Contact North
- Features books and articles of interest to faculty and instructors teaching online and at a distance, instructional designers, administrators, and policy-makers
- Click here for links to categories and lists of articles
Michigan’s K-12 Virtual Learning Effectiveness Report
- The report highlights 2016-17 enrollment totals, completion rates, and the overall impact of virtual courses on K-12 pupils
- Links to infographics, report, and recorded webinar here
MVLRI Research
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.
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!
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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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The Canadian eLearning Network (CANeLearn) is a Canadian registered not-for-profit society with a mission to provide leadership that champions student success in online and blended learning by providing members with networking, collaboration, and research opportunities.
“CANeLearn’s mission is to provide leadership that champions student success in online and blended learning.”
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