Today’s students were born digital natives, surrounded by and fully immersed in the age of the Internet. And while teachers are sometimes foreigners to the world of the Web, they must both learn and teach how to navigate the new media.
So said Principal Jay Dunlap of San Lorenzo Valley Charter, the mastermind behind the school’s new kindergarten-through-12th-grade eLearning program.
“SLV Charter is moving into the digital age,” Dunlap said. “We were looking to use tools of the modern age to teach and communicate more effectively. It’s just another way to do class, a way to offer different options in education of the future.”
SLV Charter offers alternative education and home-school programs for students anywhere in Santa Cruz County, as well as surrounding counties, including Monterey and Santa Clara.
Dunlap said the eLearning program is a way to connect staff and students and fit the school to modern times.
The program launched last year with a total of 20 students. It will pick up again Nov. 2 and will have the capacity to serve 70 students by the end of the school year.
Most eLearning classes are University of California College Prep-certified and are accredited by the UC system, Dunlap said. The program offers online courses including algebra, biology and history, as well as Advanced Placement courses and classes taught in Spanish.
“What makes our online learning program different is our program is fully integrated,” Dunlap said. “We’re developing K-12 standards through technology.”
SLV Charter coordinated with the Santa Cruz County Office of Education last year to create the program — eLearning isn’t separate, but part of what the school already does, and it’s available to everyone, Dunlap said.
Fifteen-year-old Becca Saucier, an SLV Charter sophomore home-schooler, is part of the first wave of students to try the eLearning program, which is based on a freeware platform called Moodle.
Saucier, who has a penchant for photography, has taken the online algebra and health classes. She said an eLearning class consisted of going online at home, logging in and reading or listening to the class content. Practice tests and the downloadable assignments are also easy to get to, Saucier said.
“It’s pretty basic and self-teaching,” Saucier said. “I liked it a lot. You have to be really organized to do it.”
Through eLearning, students and staff can also learn about cyber-bullying, plagiarism and digital research. They can also access and apply tools like virtual field trips and “Webinars.”
And by using wikis — online documents that can be edited directly — staff and students from the charter school’s eight sites can communicate without coordinating schedules and location.
The school’s Nature Academy program is taking the wiki lead by using the eLearning wikis to teach its courses, Dunlap said. The charter’s Trillum Learning Collective is also an avid user of Google groups for its classes.
“We’re going to be using the online courses for professional development, as well,” Dunlap said. “My big mission is to unify our staff. We’re using the same technology to communicate as our students.”
Each week, students log on to the digital classroom and participate in an online discussion, based on topics by grade level. The program offers courses at the middle and high school levels, adopting the International Society for Technology in Education’s standards. Eventually, all courses will be provided both via paper-and-pencil and online models, Dunlap added.
“It’s about getting what you need from the technology available,” Dunlap said.
Dunlap touts the school’s Web site as a communication hub and resource center for the entire charter community. Through the Web site, students who are in programs like home schooling, independent studies and special education can access tools to improve grades, download forms, obtain coursework and ask questions about class content.
“All the resources are there,” Dunlap said. “It’s going to change and expand our time. This is the future, and we can be part of it.”
