New Research on Virtual Schools

Several research studies by Florida professors and others indicate: "Online classes may be a relatively young instructional practice for K-12 schools, but experts already generally agree on one point: Research shows that virtual schooling can be as good as, or better than, classes taught in person in brick-and-mortar schools."

Read more in this Education Week article (outlined in the overview)...then talk with the experts from Florida Virtual Schools next week. One teacher will be online each evening, Monday through Thursday (April 6-9)@ 7pm to answer your questions. Who knows? You may become a virtual teacher!

Details about the chat and how to prepare are in the class wiki. Deadline for next week's assignment has been extended to Friday, 4/10 at 11:55 p.m. to allow you to participate and get credit (or extra credit). See your course mail and Instructor Updates discussion for details.

Reminder: Wiki Webinar Coming Up! (Teacher Wiki Coming Up, Too!)

Project #3 is a teacher wiki. You'll also be using a wiki for your final project. The course contains some links to tutorials, but there is an opportunity coming up that you might want to take advantage of:

You are cordially invited to a live online presentation (a webinar) called "PBwiki 101: Your Guide to Wiki Basics." This webinar takes place on Wednesday, March 4th at 1pm EST / 10am PST. Sign up for the free webinar here.

For your projects you can use PBwiki, Wikispaces, or WetPaint. Your choice. Sometimes seeing and hearing someone demonstrate the features can be helpful and can extend your online learning!

Image from WebGuild.org http://www.webguild.org/images/1211573010wiki.gif