Size Only Matters If You Have Vision: An Exploration of an Urban e-Learning Cluster

Historically, primary and secondary distance education in New Zealand was focused on providing opportunities for rural students. With the advent of Tomorrow’s Schools, the need for rural schools to compete with urban schools in terms of their curricular offerings were one of the reasons for the creation of e-learning clusters that would eventually become the Virtual Learning Network (VLN). After 25 years of practice, there is a growing body of research into these rural e-learning clusters. However, in 2011 the HarbourNet cluster bucked that trend, and became the first active urban-based VLN program. This study begins to address this research gap by exploring the challenges HarbourNet was able to overcome in order to become a successful member of the VLN

Size Only Matters If You Have Vision: An Exploration of an Urban e-Learning Cluster

Historically, primary and secondary distance education in New Zealand was focused on providing opportunities for rural students. With the advent of Tomorrow’s Schools, the need for rural schools to compete with urban schools in terms of their curricular offerings were one of the reasons for the creation of e-learning clusters that would eventually become the Virtual Learning Network (VLN). After 25 years of practice, there is a growing body of research into these rural e-learning clusters. However, in 2011 the HarbourNet cluster bucked that trend, and became the first active urban-based VLN program. This study begins to address this research gap by exploring the challenges HarbourNet was able to overcome in order to become a successful member of the VLN

Virtual Schooling Through the Eyes of an At-Risk Student: A Case Study

While much of the growth in the popularity of virtual schooling has involved at-risk students, little research exists on the experiences of these students in this largely independent setting. This paper describes a case study of an at-risk student in a rural school in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador who was enrolled in an online course as a means to graduate on time. Data from interviews and video observations were analyzed to reveal several themes. The student was good at prioritizing and understood what students needed to do to succeed in an online environment, yet he often did only the minimum needed to pass the course, and his productivity during synchronous and asynchronous sessions declined as the hour progressed. We also found that the student was limited by the lack of proper technology at home. Based on a single case, we are unable to generalize beyond this one student. However, since the attitude of taking the path of least resistance may have taken hold in earlier grades for this particular student, research into improving virtual schooling for at-risk students may be ineffective or counterproductive by reinforcing rather than reducing those attributes; at least in this instance

Title: Design-Based Research on the Use of Homemade PowerPoint Games

The results of a three-year design-based research study involving the use of game design as an instructional strategy will be discussed. Students created games in an environmental chemistry class using MS PowerPoint as their design platform as a low-tech alternative to learning a programming language. In addition to examining the effects of game design as an instructional strategy, the individual justifications for using homemade PowerPoint games, microthemes and question-writing, were also examined in isolation

Applying the ESPRI to K-12 Blended Learning

Blended learning in K-12 classrooms is growing at an enormous rate. While the Educational Success Prediction Instrument (ESPRI) has been used to predict the success of students in online courses, it has yet to be applied to blended courses. This study examined the use of the ESPRI to predict the success of students enrolled in a secondary advanced biology course. The ESPRI correctly predicted approximately 88% of the outcomes. Limitations of the study included a small sample size (N = 43) relative to the number of items in the instrument. Additional research should examine the effectiveness of the instrument on students from across the achievement spectrum and not what is considered the ideal online learner

Badge -ring Preservice Teacher into Learning Issues and Trends in Technology Integration

One of the difficulties in teaching a technology integration course is finding a balance between teaching about issues and trends in the instructional technology and tools available to teachers. In our online technology integration course for preservice teachers, we are attempting to find this balance by incorporating the concept of achievement badges for demonstrating proficiency with a variety of tools (e.g., blogs, wikis, cloud-based apps)

Parent and Student Perceptions of a Blended Learning Experience

This study examined the perceptions of parents and students enrolled in their first blended learning class. Online surveys at the end of the experience were administered. Both the students and parents were initially excited about the experience, but the parents had some reservations about their childs ability to perform. Students admitted to falling behind in the course, but noted that the process served as a good learning experience for the future. Both parents and students complained about the lack of communication from the teachers of the course. Overall, the parents and students were grateful for the experience, and hoped that the course (which was a two-year course) would continue to be offered in a blended format in the future