![]() SOURCE: Ron Shaffer, Math Teacher, Maconaquah Middle Schoolĭuring the first e-learning day in November, Maconaquah Middle School teachers collaborated on a multidisciplinary online learning activity inspired by the TV show The Amazing Race. ![]() The percentage of Maconaquah Middle School students who completed their assignments on e-learning days - equal to the number who completed their assignments on regular school days And we have to always be available via email, video chat or a phone call." "We have to make sure links for websites are still good," he says. Ron Shaffer, a math teacher at Maconaquah Middle School, says e-learning days require an enormous amount of preparation by teachers to make sure they give students an authentic learning experience. In preparation, the IT department trained teachers how to develop online lessons and leverage e-learning tools. For the 2013–2014 school year, district officials scheduled four e-learning days unrelated to inclement weather. More recently, the DOE gave the district a grant to experiment with online learning and flexible schedules. District officials also installed Wi-Fi and modern classroom technologies, such as interactive whiteboards and document cameras, at each school and migrated from print textbooks to a digital curriculum. Maconaquah built the foundation for virtual learning during the 2010–2011 school year, when it launched an initiative to equip third- through 12th-grade students with Lenovo notebook computers and K–2 students with tablets. "We're using digital content as part of our regular curriculum, so it wasn't a real stretch for us to do that on a snow day," she adds. to try e-learning because the district "already had everything in place to do it," Off says, noting that students are accustomed to logging in to Maconaquah's learning management system to access online educational materials, such as videos and websites, and submitting their homework online. When the number of weather-related school closings extended beyond two weeks this past winter, the Indiana Department of Education allowed Maconaquah School Corp. "More schools have online learning in place now, so continuity of learning is becoming more real across the United States." Beating Mother Nature "A lot of schools are talking about it again," Powell says. Allison Powell, vice president of new learning models and state and district services for the International Association for K–12 Online Learning. The severe snowstorms across the Midwest and Northeast last winter sparked renewed interest in using virtual learning as an alternative to snow days, says Dr. Many schools realized they needed a learning continuity strategy during the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009. Leanna Archambault, associate professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. "The technology exists, and if we're not leveraging online learning in these types of circumstances, it's a missed opportunity," says Dr. They also allow students to stay on track academically if they can't physically attend classes for health or other reasons. Districts don't have to make up for lost time by adding more school days at the end of the school year. is one of many districts that have developed a continuity of learning strategy so students can continue to learn when their schools are forced to close because of winter weather, natural disasters, disease outbreaks or other circumstances. In others, students collaborated on projects using Google Docs or had discussions with classmates and teachers via online forums. For some classes, students worked on assignments independently and submitted homework to teachers online. Teachers created interactive, online lessons for students some even used video conferencing software to deliver live lectures. "We had four snow days during which we did e-learning, from home," says Technology Director Judy Off. ![]() In Maconaquah School Corp., snow days and school cancellations are no longer synonymous.Īfter a tough winter forced the Bunker Hill, Ind., district to shut its four schools for 12 days in January and February, district officials decided to turn ensuing snow days into e-learning days. ![]()
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