The fifteen members of the Virtual School Leadership Alliance have hundreds of years of collective experience delivering high-quality, engaging instruction to students across the United States and beyond. In a time where so many schools and districts are relying on moving to blended or virtual environments to support remote teaching, VLLA members have come forward with a trove of resources to help teachers and school leaders to focus on quality.
While remote teaching and traditional distance learning models can differ, they share a focus on technology-driven instruction and fostering positive connections between teachers and students.
Resources from VLLA Member Programs
VLLA member Georgia Virtual offers an extensive content library at no cost to any user, released under a Creative Commons BY license. It includes thousands of lessons and learning objects, through 120-course titles.
VLLA members in Michigan and Montana have developed planning resources for schools that look to use virtual learning to help provide continuity of service. Michigan Virtual offers a School Closure Learning Continuity Readiness Rubric that schools can use as a planning tool to spark thoughtful discussion. Montana Digital Academy has developed a document detailing Distance Learning Options for Districts (text only version) matrix that details options available to districts looking to move quickly to remote instruction.
The Idaho Digital Learning Alliance, also a VLLA member, provided live and recorded webinars on topics ranging from “A Day in the Life of a Remote Teacher” to “Remote Teaching Special Education.” Any educator can sign up to attend, or access the recorded webinar later.
A full list of resources from VLLA member organizations appears below.
Resources from VLLA Partners
The VLLA is honored to partner with other outstanding organizations that provide guidance and technical assistance to teachers, schools, and districts to best use technology to engage in remote teaching and learning.
The State Educational Technology Directors Association, or SETDA, has launched its eLearning Coalition, which provides resources and a professional learning community for school administrators and educational leaders to help adopt best practices for adopting and implementing elearning strategies. SETDA also recently hosted a webinar on “Supporting Students with IEPs During eLearning Days.”
Quality Matters (QM) partnered with the VLLA to author and release the National Standards for Quality, providing excellent guidance to organize high-quality distance learning environments with a specific focus on teachers, programs, and course design. QM has also Emergency Remote Instruction checklists designed to provide a framework for moving to remote teaching quickly in extraordinary circumstances.
Additional Resources from VLLA Members
Organizations across the Alliance have worked tirelessly to provide resources to schools. Some are available to schools just in their state, other resources are available to all.
- Colorado Digital Learning Solutions is offering its courses to participating schools at a discount rate to help provide access in critical need areas.
- As mentioned above, Georgia Virtual has a comprehensive library of open-access course materials in 120 courses.
- In addition to its webinar series, the Idaho Digital Learning Alliance has content available to schools in Idaho that need emergency assistance.
- Indiana Online has started a Facebook Group, Keep Indiana Learning, with resources.
- Michigan Virtual has released a series of school planning resources for all schools, as well as access to content to schools in Michigan.
- Montana Digital Academy has posted a series of Online Learning Resources for Schools, including planning resources and access to its Very Good Online Teaching framework and training.
- North Carolina Virtual Public School is offering a series of webinars for those looking to move online, and has adapted enrollment policies for North Carolina students.
- Virtual Arkansas has opened up its learning object repository to give access to content, along with providing access to its online teaching gateway for teachers.
- Massachusetts-based nonprofit VHS Learning offers links to helpful resources for schools transitioning to online learning, including free guides on online teaching best practices.
- Virtual Virginia is giving access to course content to schools in Virginia, and hosting a webinar series.