Are Your Students Taking Advantage of Digital Learning Opportunities?

Think old school.
Old school like a one room country schoolhouse.
All of the grades are in one room. All of the lessons can be heard by all of the students. First graders can hear fifth graders practicing multiplication tables. High schoolers can listen in and review the spelling of the earliest word lists. There was no technology at the time, but there were numerous opportunities for both older and younger students to listen to what other classes were studying. In fact, if you wanted to you could be a third grader and memorize Shakespearean lines while the high schoolers were studying Romeo and Juliet. You could be a high school student and relearn the early biology terms while the fourth graders study the parts of a plant.
And while some people think that blended learning schools are a new idea, they are really just an advancement of the the most influential educational philosophy. Today’s blended learning refers to the combination of a digital platform with traditional classrooms, while previous blended learning has been a combination of many different kinds of educational platforms. From multiage classrooms to bilingual schools, educators have always been willing to combine different approaches if they can benefit students.
Consider some of these facts and figures about the latest developments in blended learning schools that bring technology and digital opportunities into classrooms across America:

• Statistics indicated that 62% of parents who responded to the ?2013 Trends in Online Learning? survey said the ?ability to work at one?s own pace? is a major benefit of online courses for students.
• Teachers who are willing to integrate technology into their classrooms help their students make more progress.
• Accredited online high schools allow students to travel with their families and still work toward their diploma.
• Your student who takes online high school classes is involved in the latest trend of blended learning schools.
• In the Global Shapers Survey, 40.5% of respondents report that online education is as strong as traditional learning in a classroom.
• New trends in education include dual credit high school programs that allow students to earn college credits while they are at the same time earning their high school diploma.
• Gaining access to free online school courses allows students in small schools to conncect to bigger opportunities.






• Classrooms today are very different from the schools of the past.
• One trend that helps students adjust to a new school is a jumpstart program that introduces students to the school building itself.
• New educational advancements help teachers reach students in a variety of different ways.
• New virtual academies help students get accesses to a wide variety of classes.
• Evergreen Education Group survey results indicate that 5% of K-12 students take a blended or online course.
• Classrooms that use digital technology provide a wider variety of course objectives.
• The statistics from the 2013 and 2014 academic year show that 447 full-time virtual schools enrolled nearly 262,000 students. In comparison, 87 blended schools enrolled 26,155 students.
• Educators continue to speculate about the future of education. In fact, Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen believes that by the year 2019 half of all classes for grades kindergarten through 12 will be taught online.
• During the 2013 to 2014 academic year, 16 states had blended schools and 33 states had full-time virtual schools.

By following the latest developments in STAYING CONNECTED, educators are able to find ways to help their students stay informed. From 3D videos that help students learn about environments around the world to student produced films about literature projects, it is important to invest in blended learning schools that can make the most of every school day.

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