The secret to VLACS’ success may be that it does things differently from most virtual schools. It puts a focus on building strong student-teacher relationships. It breaks up traditional courses into specific skills and abilities, called “competencies,” that students master through a personalized blend of traditional lesson plans, offline projects and real-world experiences.
An interesting approach to the limitations of relationships with online coursework. It seems to be working for them, but I’ll need to do more research.
Most of my blogging takes place with WordPress, of which I’m a big fan, but sometimes the online editor included with WordPress isn’t what I need to get things done. So for those times, I fall on to the Scribefire Addon for Chrome (also available for Firefox). It provides an editor inside Chrome that you…
Fingers, blocks, pebbles and a myriad of other physical manipulatives are all tools helping students problem solve. But does that usefulness carry over when physical manipulatives give way to digital ones? The answer is a resounding yes! In her dissertation paper “Do Gestural Interfaces Promote Thinking?” published in 2011, Ayelet Segal, confirms that interactions with touch screens are effective in…
The tagline for IFTTT is Put the internet to work for you. What then mean is that you can automate tasks, allowing for you to create workflows that you didn’t believe were possible or were too time consuming. IFTTT is short for If This Then That. To begin using IFTTT, you add channels for services…
I wanted a quick way to record tasks and an easy way to see what needs to be done, and I’ve done both with Gmail. Prerequisites This article will cover setting up Gmail, but the procedures will work with any email account that supports filters. I use plus aliasing for the recipient email address in…
Form a reading group is part 6 of a 13 part series, 13 Ways Teachers Can Hack Their Learning. Several of the tips I’ve posted have involved collaboration of some sort, like blogging or Twitter chats. A reading group is a great way to not only read something like George Couros’ The Innovators Mindset but to…
13 things to do before the first day of school A few ideas on what you could do to get ready for the first day of school. Launching a Makerspace: Lessons Learned From a Transformed School Library The maker movement is getting huge! Take a step inside the classroom of tomorrow What will the classroom…