This past week, I spent some time in Washington, DC at the Virtual K-12 Public Schools Forum focused on students with disabilities. Several themes emerged from the forum, and our national group crafted recommendations for the United States Office of Special Education Programs http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/osep/index.html. As the group was comprised of administrators, agency members, educators, and parents, I could not help but think of a consistent theme over the three days - Adults are often poor gatekeepers of opportunities for kids. Some adults "hem and haw" over policy, procedure, and roll out while kids every day are denied services to virtual education. Other leaders are "gifted gatekeepers" who continue to "learn by doing", "pilot", and ultimately just take risks if there may be a chance to reach a kid a different way. As you read through this week's key themes at the forum, pay particular attention to the gifted gatekeeper strategies to make virtual opportunities a reality for kids with disabilities and for all kids in North Carolina as many of the themes cross over to why or why not "all kids" are being served with www.ncvps.org and www.nclearnandearn.gov.

 

 

Theme #1: Personnel Quality and Preparation

 

§         Need for appropriate professional development - NCVPS offers our GO LIVE approach. It can be easily integrated into your existing district and school improvement planning. Check it out here: http://sites.google.com/site/ncvpsgolive/

§         Need for teaching standards that specifically address the unique challenges of providing education within a virtual environment, and specifically special education and related services within this environment - Such standards are already in place with www.sreb.org and www.inacol.org and can easily be integrated as to what you look for in terms of North Carolina teacher instrumentation and/or executive evaluation. Reach out to www.ncvps.org to compare our coaching and evaluation model for instructors and/or administrators as well.

§         Need for training of appropriate personnel (including parents) in accessible technology and assistive technology (AT) (e.g., including how the device or software is programmed or set up, how to recognize and fix minor problems, how to incorporate AT into the student’s educational program, information on maintenance) Many www.ncvps.org services are easy to adapt for all sorts of modifications and environments. Do not be a poor gatekeeper in the online environment of exceptional children because you think tools have not caught up and/or cannot provide assistance. One example is our archiving tools which easily accommodate dictate to scribe, transcribed notes, proximal seating, and/or syllabus expectations on an IEP.

 

Theme #2: Accessibility for Students with Disabilities (and/or all students)

 

§         Ensuring that the relationships among the state education agency (SEA), local education agencies (LEAs), and virtual schools do not result in students with disabilities being denied admission and enact policies to ensure this is not the case - Email www.ncvps.org, and we'll show you how to work with your local school board to enact policy to these ends.

§         Ensuring accessibility of virtual curriculum to students with disabilities – off-site kiosks, loaner programs, flexible schedule times, and rotating labs are all example of how to improve accessibility. Not to mention the virtual school bus, aimed at students who need it the most during traditional downtimes of education. See more here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/education/12bus.html

§         Ensuring flexibility of virtual curriculum (i.e., ability to be modified/adapted for students with disabilities): NCVPS has already integrated mastery learning with its credit recovery program and modular pilots. In your school system, the relationship between your distance learning advisor and our teachers is critical to connect the IEP and/or any student learning plan. Check out the www.thevlc.org for multiple tips on how to improve the capacity of your DLA’s.

§         Ensuring that software developers are creating software, digital content and e-learning accessible to students with various physical and learning disabilities - At www.ncvps.org we know how our folks are providing quality access to content. How confident are you as a gatekeeper that this is happening with other service providers or software solutions you are using? Contact us for a comparison chart today of how  www.ncvps.org stacks up against private software providers. If it sounds too good to be true from a provider, it probably is. Therefore, ask the experts in your state on blended learning - we might just surprise you with a free and more effective solution for your district, school, or student.

 

Theme #3: Accountability

 

§         Ensuring quality of virtual special education instruction and related services, and effectiveness/appropriateness of a virtual environment for serving students with disabilities (LRE) - Our courses are evaluated at the state level, nationally, through AP audits, via SREB rubrics, and through iNACOL’s review process. We are completely aligned to the North Carolinas Standard Course of Study and to all special education regulations as well. 

§         Regulation and monitoring of virtual schools and providers - our teachers participate in IEP training, and they meet regularly in e-learning communities to discuss students with special needs in their courses.

§         Difficulty in monitoring students progress when we cannot determine the level of help offered the student (e.g., ensuring that parents aren’t doing their children’s work for them) - virtual tools shatter this barrier presented at the forum. Web ex meetings, audio and video threads, safe assign, etc. are all ways we can ensure student work is at an high academic integrity level.

 

Theme #4: IEP Issues

 

§         Roles and responsibilities in implementing the IEP (e.g., virtual school staff, LEA staff, contractors; as well as general educators, special educators, paraprofessionals, related service providers, and/or parents when appropriate) - This plan is no different at the school level than trying to get all IEP team members to the table. Virtual teachers can even participate in archives of the IEP meetings. Is that done at your school now? If so, contact us and we'd love to list you as a best practice site for gatekeepers.

§         Need for defining appropriately the intensity of services - There is a common myth that services will be less in the virtual environment. With the multiple tools we have for parents and students this is hardly the case. By enrolling more EC students into our courses you may be surprised at the results compared to what you've been getting in the face to face arena. 

§         How is placement of a child with a disability into a virtual school, as opposed to another educational setting, handled (e.g., is a home-based virtual school the “best" or "least restrictive environment [LRE]" for a child with disabilities)? Is this a focus at your IEP meetings? And/or are you being a gatekeeper as to what you've always done? Or, do you look for what is easier? The trick is to provide training to your LEA reps at the IEP meetings on www.ncvps.org being a great option for LRE requirements. This is what a gifted school gatekeeper does.

§         Challenge of providing inclusive services within a virtual classroom environment – e.g., how to recreate interactive social settings for the purpose of inclusive, as opposed to pull-out, services? Participation in online environments soars in comparison to the face to face. EC students are engaged, chatting, videoconferencing, and communicating with students across the state. This is not a barrier; it is a plethora of opportunities for EC kids.

§         How can virtual therapies best be provided to students with disabilities (e.g., tele-therapy, face-to-face)? Collaborative tools suites like www.wimba.com , www.teleplace.com, and a host of other virtual services around simulations allows for cost savings and travel time savings of traditional EC services. Have your EC department take a look at our tools today and how they can provide more opportunities over the net.

 

 

Theme #5: Roles and Responsibilities

 

§         Who is responsible for what within various virtual school contexts – SEA, LEA where student resides, LEA where school resides, virtual school, virtual charter school, home school, etc.? As with any effort, a strategic approach where names are listed on a deployment plan are the two key pieces for defining whose role it is to be a gifted gatekeeper for EC services

§         Identifying who is responsible for AT set up, training and support of everyone involved or working with the student, including the family. IEP team is responsible here, and if they do not know about the virtual services, the virtual teacher can help inform them on how this will work for all at the school site and off site.

§         Identifying the parents’ role in the virtual delivery of special education (e.g., can they function as paraprofessionals?)  Absolutely, Florida Virtual has invested heavily in training parents for the k-8 model, and www.ncvp.org routinely works with parents to support students in a virtual setting.

§         Creating mechanisms for communication between those who set up the IEP and the virtual school. Distance learning advisors and facilitators are current best practice, and this site provides you all you need to get started www.thevlc.org

§         Roles and responsibilities in implementing the IEP (e.g., virtual school staff, LEA staff, contractors; as well as general educators, special educators, paraprofessionals, related service providers, and/or parents when appropriate) - the www.thevlc.org is the solution for a gifted gatekeeper.

§         Working with 3^rd party providers to develop accessible courses and coursework, and provide necessary technical and academic support - email www.ncvps.org today for a list of vendors who meet these unique challenges.

 

Theme #6: Financial Issues

 

§         Determining how virtual schools are reimbursed for the costs of serving students with disabilities - www.ncvps.org is currently working on overall funding approach and evaluating national models for best practices.

§         Inadequate funding to provide what students with disabilities require - in many cases this is not a barrier at all. The virtual services are at a lower cost and can help provide the service more effectively. Example, a speech pathologist over a live classroom can impact multiple school sites and kids from the confines of their office.

§         Logistics and costs involved with transporting children to obtain related services (e.g., who drives and who is responsible for the cost?) This service can be integrated with virtual evening academies and/or early morning periods where virtual students are already being served.

 

 

Theme #7: Attitudes and Expectations Regarding Virtual Special Education

 

§         Misconceptions about delivery of special education and related services can be solved by "Going Live" with www.ncvps.org http://sites.google.com/site/ncvpsgolive/

§         Reasons why parents/families choose virtual schools for their children with disabilities and parent/family expectations regarding how virtual schools will serve their children. Parents want options, and the virtual space is about options. Embrace it, plan for it, and use it to leverage the resources in your school system. Please email me directly at bryan.setser@ncpublicschools.gov , and I'll come out to your district and/or join you online to help your team plan.

§         Skepticism about quality of virtual instruction in general, and concerns that a virtual model is not responsive to special education students' needs in particular. Please email don.lourcey@ncpublicschools.gov , and he'll come out to your district and/or join you online to help your team plan.

§         Lack of a basic understanding of the organizational structures within which virtual schools exist. Please email david.edwards@ncpublicschools.gov and he or his team will come out to your district and/or join you online to help your team plan.

 

Have a great week, and try not to be a gatekeeper who keeps out the opportunities for kids in the virtual space. Rather, be a gifted gatekeeper who figures out how to "blend" these opportunities within your environments for student success.

We are pleased to announce our new Website for "Getting Organized to Lead Virtual Innovation" (GO LIVE) @ http://sites.google.com/site/ncvpsgolive/. This site is shaped by the wonderful efforts of local districts in North Carolina over the past two and a half years, as well as our trips to Alexander and Halifax counties this Fall to sharpen the message. We also include best in class resources for you across NCVPS classic, modular, mobile, and blended solutions for student success.  In addition, we have listed resources of forward thinkers of our day such as Tom Vander Ark’s Five Learning breakthroughs of the next 10 years http://www.varpartners.net/?p=1457.

 

An introductory vidcast is provided on our website at www.ncvps.org, and we encourage you to contribute to the site by clicking our "solutions form" https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dDJfVDZ0Q2N3Z25yN0plUGhuODhId3c6MA or by following the discussion this week on twitter using the hashtag #golivemcs.

 

In addition to these channels, we will be face-to-face in Montgomery County, North Carolina for a live session this Thursday with their district presenting solutions and challenges across the topics of leadership for innovation, curriculum and instruction for blended learning, 21st century systems and technology, and change management and leadership for 21st Century Professionals and Environments.

 

Much of the site is inspired by North Carolina school districts’ and schools’ contributions toward leading "blended learning".  We invite you to join us to continue the collaborative wave of the virtual advantage of NCVPS, www.ncvps.org, and Learn and Earn Online, www.nclearnandearn.gov!

Once a fashion model and prankster on the television show Punked, Ashton Kutcher is leading the social media wave called "thrash". The definition of "thrash" is the wake of a moving target, and I can’t help but think of the term’s applications for educators after the time I’ve just spent with many of the best in class "thrashers" in our business in Austin, Texas.

 

I am also compelled to compare these leaders and learners with how we work and “thrash" in North Carolina. Many leaders in our state talk about creating a legacy, but thrash is a perpetual legacy created on the waves of Google, Face book, Twitter, Four Square, Linkedin and various other electronic communications channels. It does not wait for the right conference to network, the right demonstration to come to a district and/or school, or for a final center or building to be built in your honor. Rather, it assumes that the “thrasher" learns, works, and leaves many legacy tentacles across the expanse of the net.

 

The wrong conversation is whether or not to block social media at the workplace and/or school site. The right conversation is how to capitalize on the "thrash" that these amazing tools create for educators. Teachers can follow a hash tag on Algebra I best practices throughout the state. Superintendents and principals can follow gurus who plug them into solutions for their schools and districts on Face book. Yet, most impressive about this past week, CTOs and CIOs can follow the delicate balance between innovation and security and come up with some amazing learning management, social media, data warehouse, and learning strategies that open safe, secure, and innovative doors for students.

 

Some of the folks I worked with this past week included Oscar Becerra, Education Technologies Minister for Peru’s Education system where they have one of the largest one to one laptop deployments in the world.  Bijaya Devkota, CIO in Charles County Maryland, a true innovator in security and innovation solutions for students. Julie Teague, Executive Director of Technology for Minnetonka Schools in Minnesota doing great work around learning management applications for all learners in her district. Dr. Ken Eastwood, Superintendent of Middleton, New York, a trailblazer in smart technologies for leaders, teachers, and students. Ed Freeman, CTO/CIO, of Denver Public Schools doing amazing stuff around technology and teacher incentives training and tracking. Rich Mincer, former State CIO of Idaho, a real player in the technology infrastructure and student achievement levels in charter schools in DC. All of these folks understand thrash and regularly contribute to the flow of information on the net. They brand learning. They take time to learn, unlearn, and relearn (Toffler) best in class solutions on the net. They share, collaborate, and contribute well beyond the expertise of the school house, community, and/or district.

 

So, are we doing this in North Carolina? Who are the thrashers among us?  Who do you follow and/or network with "daily" and "on demand". Do you read the local paper first and/or twitter? What would a thrasher do to make his/her students globally competitive? How can you understand the grand challenges of our time around STEM, Energy, Terrorism, or Finance if all of your "thrash" is internal and/or local.

 

Looking for where to start? Plug into the thrashers who are creating the wake for you. At NCVPS we have many thrashers out there researching, developing, and innovating solutions for schools, districts, and students. For some of the best in class "thrash" this week, here’s a summary of what I saw in Austin that may be helpful for your districts and/or schools:

 

1.             http://turnitin.com/static/index.html - A web based plagiarism and one stop shop for writing solutions.

2.             http://www.schoology.com/ Face book for learning managements systems. Very student friendly and cost effective.

3.             http://www.nettrekker.com/us/overview – the leading educational search tool for k-12 students and educators.

4.             http://www.edmin.com/ – a leader in learning and accountability solutions.

5.             http://www.kdsi.org/ – strategic online professional development services.

6.             http://www.lightspeed-tek.com/  – a leading service provider of classroom audio technology.

7.             http://www.masterteacher.com/  – an online service for professional growth and development of teachers.

8.             http://www.psiwaresolutions.com/  – online tool for monitoring students with behavioral problems.

9.             http://www.calypsocontrol.com/  – dedicated to improving k-12 learning outcomes with ease of use of media devices.

10.          www.d2sc.com/ – on demand decision tool from everything from assessment to data warehouse needs.

11.          http://www.adaptivecurriculum.com/ – Turkish company with on demand learning objects solutions for educators.

12.          http://www.itslearning.co.uk/  – among the three largest LMS/CMS systems in Europe.

 

Catch our thrash on twitter, Face book, www.ncvps.com, www.nclearnandearn.gov, and/or www.thevlc.org, and have a great week tapping the virtual advantage!

 

Bryan

I've had the pleasure over the last few years of leading the North Carolina Virtual Public School and partnering with world class providers and vendors on behalf of North Carolina districts, schools, and students. In the past few weeks, I have seen some decision making in three states around the country that baffle me as to the research, track record, and success of state virtual schools. The decision making really boils down to two issues. First, do these states really believe that a state virtual school is not a partner in the future of educating children in their state? Second, are they willing to make a decision on behalf of a predator in terms of "a one size fits all e-learning solution"? The response to both questions is a critical discussion for state, district, and school leaders as we work on "blending instruction" and then ultimately "transforming education" in our nation.

 

Let's begin this discussion by defining the term "partner". I have been so blessed to work with Florida Virtual, Idaho Virtual, Mississippi Virtual, Virtual Virginia, Aventa, Wimba, Blackboard, Moodle, IBM, Second Life, Discovery, Active Worlds, Emantras, Lockheed Martin, and a host of others over the past two years that really get the key understanding of bended education - it is about transforming teaching and learning not just about the cool tools and technology. When districts, schools, and students interact with state virtual schools they not only get the advantages of these partner relationships, but they gain insights into free tools and processes as well on the web. State virtual schools work with state standards. They provide "teacher led" instruction. They understand the "real culture" of "leaders" and "support staff" and partner with them on solutions for delivering, leading, and supporting blended learning. In short, they are so much more than a "one stop solution for content". State virtual schools are partners.

 

Now let's shift our focus to the "predators" I see on the national landscape. Any provider and/or vendor who promises to do it cheaper, faster, and better needs the same vetting process one would use for any major curriculum decision. What is the research behind their promises? Where is the competitive data? What results are present? Who have you consulted in terms of their claims? A phone call to your state virtual school is a good place to start. In many cases, you'll find what we find in North Carolina - that there is a room at the table for both state virtual schools and partners for school districts. However, there is no room for "predators" trying to sell a product in tough economic times. These predators will claim when pressed that they are not responsible for "staying around" to support the content. They will also tell you, as they have me in private, that they are often not aligned to state standards and not relying on certified teachers in your state to deliver the content.

 

Moreover, can they individualize for students? Can they reassess and provide modular instruction? Can they link curriculum development to mobile content based on the needs of your students? In short, who is providing the teaching and learning behind the teaching and learning? At state virtual schools, you can be assured that the best in class teachers, educators, and leaders in your state are the ones doing this work to make the "relationship" piece of blended learning engaging and meaningful to students.

 

So, do your homework and don't be preyed upon. As we have learned from Disrupting Class, Born Digital, and The World is Open - lots of folks provide good and bad content. But, who rates that content? Who assesses it? Your state virtual school does - that's who. The trick really is who has the expertise to help you in the "context" of what you do every day? As you have often painfully learned in your districts and schools in the past, the ability to deliver a non-blended "product" based upon the "customization" needs of your district, often determines how successful the "partnership" will be from the beginning. Don't make similar mistakes with "blended learning". Get the facts and integrate solutions in your districts.  At North Carolina Virtual and via my partners around the nation, we are not seeking to "prey" upon your needs. Rather, we are seeking to be a solution for the success of your students.

 

Have a great week using the virtual advantage of www.ncvps.org and www.nclearnandearn.gov

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 - http://sites.google.com/site/ncvps2010retreat/home. 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 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.