BOCES Distance Learning Program - Quality - Access - Support
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The lack of synchronized bell schedules shows up in combined regional DL surveys as one of the most frequently noted issues that challenge DL teachers, students and teaching assistants.

In some cases, with a DL teacher hosting to two remote schools, all three classes arrive and leave at different times.
While it is a constant goal of everyone involved in the DL Program, and all three DL Projects, to work around the issue, getting any two schools, even in the same county, to align their bell schedules is a demonstrably Herculean effort, if not simply impossible.

This almost always puts additional constraints on Distance Learning teachers who often initiate creative ways to deal with a limited amount of common class time.

Independent study assignments closely monitored during common class time, assignments given and submitted by DL room fax and email are some of the ways to leverage the effectiveness of limited face to face, over the network time.

Web-based online course systems are being widely used as professional development tools and in college level independent study.

Clearly, as stand-alone systems that do not rely on teacher-student interaction, they are only effective when the student has highly developed study skills, is strongly self-motivated, goal oriented and mature.
 
 
BOCES Distance Learning is developing a pilot program with interested DL teachers to implement an online course development system not as a stand-alone system but as an available auxiliary asynchronous component to our traditional full motion video, real-time teacher / student interactive classes.

The concept is a logical extension of the email interaction that many teachers have already found to be an effective tool for assignment exchange and extra help.

A teacher would have the option of making course material, assignment exchange and a course discussion forum available to students online, outside the constraints of limited common class time.

Students could then have access at school, at home or anywhere with an Internet connection and at any time, to download and upload course material and assignments, and to participate in asynchronous course discussions on message boards. All monitored and supervised asynchronously by the DL teacher at his or her convenience and referenced during common class time.

Steve Janover, Instructional Coordinator with NERIC, has been working with the Blackboard online course development system and making training sessions available through NERIC in conjunction with constituent BOCES and local districts. Course Description

Interested DL Instructors can contact Steve directly (see Course Description) or contact the BOCES DL Coordination and Support Staff.
 

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