Blended learning district partner consulting
VLLA members have expanded their blended learning services to districts to go beyond just courses and LMS.
- The Virginia Department of Education has developed an Economics and Personal Finance course that can be delivered as an online, face-to-face, or blended course through Virtual Virginia. It is aligned with the Virginia Standards of Learning and fulfills the one-credit course requirement in Economics and Personal Finance. Virginia public school divisions may choose to facilitate the course with a locally assigned teacher within Virtual Virginia’s learning management system. After the enrollment process is completed by the school counselor, Virtual Virginia provides learning management system training for division teachers through an online course facilitated by one of our experienced teachers.
- The North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS) Occupational Course of Study (OCS) program is a collaborative effort between the NCVPS online teacher and the face-to-face OCS teacher on the school campus. NCVPS OCS courses require a co-teaching experience where the face-to- face teacher is driving the instructional decisions while working daily with the online teacher to best use the online content provided by NCVPS. The NCVPS online teacher helps the classroom teacher individualize and differentiate instruction for each student, while the teacher delivers real-time instruction. The classroom teacher uses the online content, her/his own resources, and collaborates with the online teacher to determine the best way to teach the content to the student. The online OCS teacher is available to the student outside of campus time if needed, although most contact is scheduled through the classroom teacher who is present during the student interaction. OCS course enrollments have grown from 1,000 during the program’s first semester (2010) to over 18,189 by Spring 2016. Learn more here.
- Michigan Virtual offers blended learning training to schools as a combination of resources, products and services to aid them in providing personalized learning options to their students to support improved student achievement.
- In addition to online courses and access to a blended learning LMS, Idaho Digital Learning Alliance is providing districts with digital learning portals, a customized interaction for each school that encourages districts to view the organization as more than just individual courses and more as a driver of all digital learning in their school. Portals offer custom links, single sign on, custom course catalogs, and simple access to tools and course content.
- Virtual Arkansas makes many of its online courses available for schools to use in the classroom in a hosted LMS at no cost. It also has a six-person “Team Digital” field staff that consults with districts to plan and implement blended learning. Team Digital members also conduct much of the face-to-face teacher training and other campus functions for Virtual Arkansas.
- The Franchise Program, offered by Virtual South Carolina allows schools to expand their online course curriculum to address the unique challenges of their district using the local district’s teachers. VirtualSC will provide the technology, curriculum, and training to help schools start their own online program. Learn more here.
