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Online Learning with Montana Digital Academy Jason Neiffer, Curriculum Director

http://montanadigitalacademy.org http://www.neiffer.com http://www.techsavvyteacher.com

Twitter: MontDigAcad Twitter: TechSavvyTeach

Paperless Handouts

http://www.workshophandouts.com/etcmtda11 (etcmtda11 is case sensitive)

•  My agenda: – Sorry… a lot of me talkin’ – MTDA 2010-2011 – MTDA 2011-2012 – MTDA Innovations – MTDA Test Kitchens – “Ideal” Online Student

Today’s Session

Briefing

Montana Digital

Academy

Statewide Virtual School

Exists/Serves Through Local

Schools

“Original Credit” and “Credit Recovery”

Certified Teachers with

Association with Montana Public School District

State Standards Based

Moodle and Other Learning Environments

2009 •  HB459 passed and funded •  Initial board named, chair

and vice chair elected •  Director hired

2010 •  Additional hires: Curriculum

Director, 76 teachers, Instructional Manager

•  Initial Summer pilot program •  Fall 2010: Full program

begins

2011 •  February: MTDA Connect

credit recovery rolls out •  Summer: Full, two tiered

summer program •  Fall: Expanded program

begins

Program Timeline

Montana School Boards

Association

School Administrators of Montana

MEA-MFT

Montana Rural Education

Association

Montana University System

Office of Public

Instruction

Board of Public

Education

Montana High School

Association

Who are the partners?

Online Learning in Context - 2010

Source: Keeping Pace, iNACOL 2010

P r o g r a m 2 0 1 0 - 2 0 1 1

2010-2011 MTDA Courses

Red = Teachers Purple = Students

MTDA Teachers and Students

Fall Spring Summer Total

Students

Number of

unique students

2751

Enrollment 1951 2109 1470 5530

Teachers 67 76 28 76

Schools 137 165 122 165

MTDA 2010-11 Enrollment

•  Successful recruitment of administrative and program staff

•  Rollout of two distinct programs: Original Credit and Connect Credit Recovery

•  Adoption of cutting edge tools to enhance online learning

•  Passage rates on par with other statewide virtual schools

•  Developed working relationships with 160 schools across the state of Montana

•  Offered dual credit/dual enrollment courses from three units of the MUS

Successes 2009-2011

2 0 1 1 - 2 0 1 2 P r o g r a m

•  Teacher training and professional development •  Partnerships and alliances in and out of Montana •  NCAA Non-Traditional Provider Eligibility •  Accreditation •  Quality control – teacher performance, course

quality •  Research and professional development by MTDA

leadership on evolving issues in online pedagogy: –  Open education resources –  Credit recovery –  Flexible time courses –  New technologies –  Mobile learning

Internal Improvement Efforts

New High School Courses

Open-Entry,

Open-Exit

Pre-Test Module

Exemptions

Self-Paced

Available 24/7

Expanded Credit Recovery

Aimed at the Middle School

Learner

Seven-Week Program

Programs in French, Spanish, Latin, German and Mandarin

Innovative, Game-Based PowerSpeak Curriculum

MLS: Middle School Multi-Language Sampler

I n n ova t i o n @ M T DA

Open Educational Resources

Virtual Environments

T h e M T DA Te s t K i t c h e n

Mobile Learning

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrhode/4721437813

•  http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrhode/4721437813

Professional Development

Support for Blended Learning

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dccentralkitchen/5238518044

I d e a l o n l i n e s t u d e n t ?

Who is the ideal online student?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zappowbang/524195904

Independent “Smart”

Tech-Savvy Motivated

What makes up that gap?

Source: Library of Congress