A Vision of Students Today

Director's Blog for Jan. 20, 2010

21st Century Learners and Leaders:

January 14-15, 2010 was an outstanding two days in Raleigh, NC and on the web at our mid-year retreat for the North Carolina Virtual Public School and Learn and Earn Online. Visit the retreat site here.

The overall themes were "Educating the Social and Mobile Generation" across "Blended Learning Horizons" not just for NCVPS and LEO, but for North Carolina school districts and organizations. In addition to unveiling NCVPS Class, Modular, Mobile, and Blended- we also created a companion document in PDF form that you can use for your districts here at www.thevlc.org.

The contents of "Educating the Social and Mobile Generation" includes:

1. A welcome from the Executive Director

2. Research links on e-learning and blended learning

3. Remarks from Governor Perdue, Lt. Governor Dalton, and Students

4. Video and web links for North Carolina's e-learning portal and NCVPS/LEO

5. Maps of North Carolina district participation and more.....

Finally, the Google Site is an open source site for our retreat. After reading the World is Open by Curtis Bonk http://worldisopen.com/, I became more and more convinced that this type of open learning and training is a key issue for all educators to understand, prepare for, support, and secure. Many tools out there already exist for us to collaborate, communicate, and educate in a safe and open way for learners. The next step is for district and school leadership to really explore the why, what, and how behind blended learning for North Carolina's future.

As you peruse the retreat site, our retreat "files for our fans" link is still under construction with all of the content gathered at the retreat, but I would encourage you to go here to peruse the many ideas and concepts that emerged from the retreat and to review who attended to see the broad cross section of representation for North Carolina. Here's wishing you a great week with the virtual advantage of www.ncvps.org and www.nclearnandearn.gov.

Bryan

An innovative Solution: Getting Organized to Lead Innovation for Virtual Education with NCVPS/LEO

Educating the Social and Mobil Generation

Click here to read!

Virtual Advantage Radio: Ep 1 - Dec. 17

J and Adam discuss modular learning, course rigor, and facilitators, and yearlong courses.

Director's Blog for January 4, 2010

21st Century Leaders and Learners:

The e-letter this week is a tribute to my former mentor in Iredell-Statesville Susan Allred. During her tenure in education, Susan not only served at all levels of K-12 public education, but she was also a four time National Baldrige Examiner and taught me, along with Dr. Terry Holiday, everything I know about systems improvement. In Susan's retirement, she has continued to consult on how to improve processes for teaching and learning. She has also been a key part of our k-8 elementary strategic plan at http://www.ncvps.org/ .

When she sent me this on facebook this week, I had to share.

Are Wii Fit?

This is a blog more than a FB post. It's an educational analogy, I think. Hope you enjoy it. Sorry Bryan, but you friended me! For Christmas niece Emily gave me a Wii Fit Plus software for my Wii. It was a good choice. I've had the Wii for about two years. The first year I was faithful with using it daily with a few exceptions. Then last March I started walking every day instead. Neither of these processes made me lose weight, but I certainly felt better - breathing especially.

NBC News Report on Online Education

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Networking, Productivity, and e-Learning for Dec. 14, 2009

1) Event planning online: 14 essential social media tools (cool stuff, really!): http://ow.ly/LHpC

2) Mobile education: http://ow.ly/L2uE Changing how, where, and when we learn.

3) Facebook: A platform for e-learning: http://ow.ly/KU6I

4) How Social Media is Simplifying Workplace Collaboration:http://ow.ly/KGk2

5) Top 100 tools for learning in 2009: http://ow.ly/KDlu

NCVPS on Twitter

What have we been tweeting about?

It’s all about the Kids – Bridging the New Digital Divide

[Guest blog by Jenifer Marquis, Instructional Technology Lead Teacher, Edgecombe County Public Schools.]

Let’s face it; everything we do in education should be about the kids. We know they are different these days. As Digital Natives, they have been immersed in Web 2.0 and other technologies since birth. Students today feel that technology is an integral part of their lives and they want it to be an integral part of their learning as well. Not only do students want to learn with new and innovative technologies, but they need access to teachers who are knowledgeable about e-learning, Web 2.0 tools, computer applications, handheld devices, and interactive technologies that can be used to engage them in learning. Today there is not only a need to bridge the Digital Divide as we once knew it, in the form of Internet access, but also the New Digital Divide which includes access to 21^st century teachers and innovative 21^st century tools. E-learning through NCVPS bridges the New Digital Divide in school districts across North Carolina by providing 21^st century learning opportunities using 21^st century tools.

As we provide e-learning opportunities for students in Edgecombe County through the North Carolina Virtual Public School, our focus is on developing lifelong learners who can use 21^st century technologies to access online learning throughout their lives. E-learning courses allow us to expand learning and teaching experiences beyond the Brick and Mortar walls of our schools. With our one-to-one laptop program, high school students in Edgecombe County have access to technology and curricular content through NCVPS, 24 hours a day, and 7 days a week. This is a winning combination for the students in Edgecombe County. And let’s face it; it’s all about the kids.

See our Edgecombe Kids in action as they talk about e-learning.

Top 100 Tools for Learning in 2009

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009

View more documents from Jane Hart.

Are You Paying Attention?