VHS Brings Blended Instruction to Boulder Area

Dec. 16, 2010 - PRLog -- VHS Brings Blended Instruction to Boulder Area

Fifty teachers in the Boulder Valley and Thompson School Districts are now working towards filling student achievement gaps thanks to a VHS-facilitated grant.

December 16, 2010, Maynard, MA – Virtual High School Global Consortium (http://www.govhs.org), the pioneer of K-12 online learning and course design for teachers, today announced that technology-enhanced courses will soon be a reality at middle and high schools in the Boulder Valley and Thompson School Districts. Thanks to a grant facilitated by Virtual High School (VHS) and funded by the Colorado Department of Education, over 30 teachers are presently learning how to use blended learning opportunities to fill large student achievement gaps in the districts, particularly amongst Hispanic and low income students.

“A number of studies have shown that technology-enhanced learning environments can significantly narrow the student achievement gap that many schools are experiencing today,” said Liz Pape, President & CEO of VHS. “We are excited about this program because it will produce significant outcomes for both students and teachers, as well as will open the door for district-wide implementation in years to come.”

The $200,000 Enhancing Education Through Technology Grant provides for a pilot program that enables up to 50 teachers to take three of VHS’s professional development courses so as to create blended learning opportunities for students. The blended or hybrid learning approach combines face-to-face classroom methods with online activities to form an integrated instructional approach. Internet-based activities, such as blogging and contributing to wikis, are used to supplement face-to-face instruction.

The grant started in September and teachers just completed one of two courses, 21st Century Teaching & Learning or Web 2.0: Collaborative Instruction. Through these online courses teachers learn to use technology as a tool to research, organize, evaluate and communicate information. From there, educators will go on to a specially designed course, Creating Blended Classrooms through Open Educational Resources. Teachers enrolled in the program will receive their choice of either a stipend or graduate college credit.

“The feedback so far has been extremely positive,” said Kurt LeVasseur, Director for Career and Technical Education & Online Learning Principal for the Boulder Valley School District. “Our teachers are already using online communication tools with students in their in-person classrooms. Part of the reason this has been so effective is because teachers have been able to implement these technologies as they go along.”

Designed to supplement a school’s in-person curriculum with online courses, Virtual High School (VHS) is a non-profit collaborative of high schools, teachers and students. Teachers who are certified in their specific discipline, and who have completed a VHS professional development program, facilitate and continually monitor all courses. In addition, VHS students benefit from small classes and personalized one-on-one attention from active high school teachers, while mastering subject matter and 21st century learning skills that will increase their chances for future success in higher education and the work environment.

About Virtual High School (VHS)
Virtual High School is the pioneer of online course design and instruction for teachers and online education for high school students. Virtual High School partners with schools to provide rigorous, student-centered online courses that help expand vs. replace existing curriculum options. Members of the VHS collaborative include over 11,000 enrolled students, 662 member schools and 336 teachers in 33 U.S. states and 32 countries. The recipient of the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) 2005 awards for Excellence in Programming and Excellence in Best Practices and the Stockholm Challenge 2001 Award for exemplary use of technology in education, VHS was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Maynard, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.govhs.org or call (978) 897-1900.

Press Contact: VHS: Carol Arnold, Arnold Communications, carol@arnoldcomm.com, (877) 718-4604 x2.

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The pioneer of K-12 online learning and course design for teachers, Virtual High School (VHS) is a non-profit collaborative of high schools, middle schools, teachers and students.