I recently read this thoughtful blog post by Kristi Oda titled, "The Viability of Virtual School." She raises questions that must be considered if legislation is passed to fund a virtual school here in Hawai`i. Kristi asks: What if we can design online learning that can adequately serve the medically fragile in time of need, differentiate across the ocean and sharpen students whose career pathway requires more significant online expertise? How can we go beyond considering and move to effectively organizing a permanent Virtual School for an even more robust system? Does Hawaii need to ground our vulnerable and precious youth community in an inclusive space where we can learn how to connect, care for and share life with our fellow humans of diverse backgrounds? Great questions, moving forward.
I agree that the Hawaii Department of Education needs to offer more options for students. The pandemic pointed out that in-person learning cannot be the only option. With so many colleges and universities offering on-line coursework and degrees, it makes sense for our public school students to have that option as well. Our son completed his military service and obtained his university degree on-line. I speak with the baristas at our local Starbucks, and many of them are attending on-line universities while they are working. The beauty of virtual school should be the flexibility it affords to students who manage to juggle school, work, family, or other responsibilities.
This school year, the Leilehua-Mililani-Waialua Complex Area is piloting virtual or distance learning for elementary school students via the Pineapple Academy. A teacher is assigned to each grade level and students enroll from any complex area elementary school. They meet daily, except that it's a virtual classroom, not face-to-face. Creating a classroom culture is just as important for these distance learning classes as it would be in a face-to-face classroom. Their model could be replicated in other schools or complex areas.
Another option for schools or complexes to consider is blended learning where students come to school for part of the week and work virtually at home on the other days. This means that students have in-person connections as well as virtual connections with their teacher and their peers.
Back in 2011, our school had a huge increase in the number of students primarily due to the completion of brand new homes in our geographical area. We were able to apply for and receive a Department of Defense grant to pilot a blended learning program where students spent three days of the week at school and the other two days at home. This allowed the two blended learning teachers to share a classroom when we were severely overcrowded. The program allowed for flexibility; for example, when teachers noticed that students were struggling, they could ask them to come in on their at-home days to provide additional support. On October 4, 2012 after the first quarter, I wrote this about our blended learning classes. Our fourth and fifth grade blended learning classes are blazing trails! The teachers have created a rigorous and relevant curriculum which challenges students to be self-directed, critical, and creative thinkers, and students have exceeded expectations with their ability to adapt to this new means of learning. I had the opportunity to view some of the individual projects, and I was amazed at the work of some of these students when given the chance to explore something they wanted to learn more about. I look forward to seeing these students continue to blossom as they take charge of their own learning. In December of that year, I shared about the blended learning classes in a blog titled "Virtual Learning."
We would have loved to continue and even expand the blended learning program at our school, but we ran into a couple of roadblocks. First, the grant funds were time-limited, and we were not able to support the program using only State funds despite the fact that we had more students in our second year than in our first. More importantly. our parents were very interested, but because of the transient nature of our military-impacted community, we did not have the necessary number of students to sustain the program after our grant expired.
We were ahead of our time. Now that most students have had experience with virtual or distance learning, parents may be more open to the idea of having their child in a blended learning classroom. In this 21st century world, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity are the 4C's of a successful learner, and our blended learning students had many opportunities to demonstrate these attributes. They were truly a learning community.
Kristi shares this question in her blog: "Youth need love and experiences of a communal classroom to belong to and thrive away from their home environment and I wonder, can the online one sustain them?" It is possible. The Pineapple Academy and our blended learning classes are proof that students can thrive in an online environment IF there is an emphasis on relationships between the teacher, students, and families and IF technology is used as a tool for learning for students to explore, discover, create, and share. This is what good teachers do whether it's face-to-face, blended, or a virtual/distance environment. The pandemic has afforded schools opportunities to be creative and to try new ideas. I would love to see blended learning as an option for students and families in our Hawai`i public schools!
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