As with all innovations, though, there is always a question of cost for providing such new technologies, especially when states are providing less per-pupil funding.

A study released last week by the Education Center of Excellence at the Parthenon Group (commissioned by the conservative education think tank, the Fordham Institute) suggested that the costs of digital learning could be significantly less than more traditional modes. The authors cautioned that its findings must be interpreted with some caveats: costs vary across digital education platforms and different entities pursue online learning for different reasons (cost-savings versus enhanced offerings, for example).

For the rest of the article, go to Can States and School Districts Cut Costs Through Digital Learning?

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Principal Kelly Halvorsen presented the Winona Area Public Schools board Thursday with next year’s course proposals, some of which included new hybrid classes that would allow students to enroll in courses with an online component.

The classes would utilize software called Moodle — a virtual learning environment that can be used to instruct fully online classes or to enhance a traditional classroom setting, among other applications. Some high-school teachers currently use the software to engage students in discussion on online forums, Halvorsen said. So far, students have responded enthusiastically.

For the rest of the article, go to WAPS proposes some virtual classes for next year

Online education has lots of perks and benefits for students in high school and college, and for the most part, virtual classroom settings are successful. However, online education is not for every student. Highly motivated students tend to the be the most successful, but what about the mediocre student or the student who lacks motivation?

Minnesota’s online school truant officers have devised a mathematical formula that identifies the highly motivated students with high completion rates versus those students who are just going through the motions. Like students who don’t show up to class, the online student who doesn’t log in daily is more likely to dropout.

Habitual truancy laws are clear with absenteeism in face-to-face instruction but the law become sketchy in an online environment. Legal experts question how online attendance is tracked.

For the rest of the article, go to Virtual Schools Face High Truancy Rates

It’s important work, school officials say, at a time when enrollment in online schools is soaring, but so are dropout rates. Online students made up a disproportionate share of truancy cases last year, and virtual schools worry about a backlash against their industry if they are perceived as havens for slackers.

“It is very easy to become truant in online,” said Stacy Bender, dean of students at Minneapolis-based Minnesota Virtual High School, which has 1,300 students spread throughout the state. Unmotivated students can just stop logging in and then lie about it to their parents and within two weeks, they are truant, she said.

For the rest of the article, go to Online schools go old school to nab cyber-truants

“It is very easy to become truant in online,” said Stacy Bender, dean of students at Minneapolis-based Minnesota Virtual High School, which has 1,300 students spread throughout the state. Unmotivated students can just stop logging in and then lie about it to their parents and within two weeks, they are truant, she said.

To catch online truants, Bender and her colleagues in online schools in Minnesota use mathematical formulas that compare the hours spent on online lessons and academic progress. The formula allows for high achievers who work quickly, while catching students who are just going through the motions.

Bender has been key to spreading the interpretation, both in her current job and previously at the smaller Wolf Creek Online High School in Lindstrom. She runs a web site, mnonlinetruancy.weebly.com, has written on the subject for a trade journal and presented it Nov. 10 at the annual conference of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning. She said she has also put 3,500 miles on her Honda Civic since January working on truancy issues in counties throughout the state.

For the rest of the article, go to Minnesota online schools coax prosecutors to go after truants despite outdated law

The findings of fact and conclusions of law issued by the judge also noted several errors in MDE’s evaluation of graduation credits, and found the process was predicated on an unpromulgated rule. In fact, MDE witnesses testified  they “made up” the procedure from pieces of other processes, and the judge found there was no “certainty and clarity for it to be fair.”

For the rest of the article, go to Judge Recommends Minnesota Education Department’s Termination of BlueSky’s Contract be ‘Rescinded and the Matter Dismissed’

Studies in Colorado and Minnesota have suggested that full-time online students in those states were struggling to match the achievement levels of their peers in brick-and-mortar schools. Articles in The New York Times have questioned not only the academic results for students in virtual schools, but also the propriety of business practices surrounding the use of public dollars for such programs.

Meanwhile, two left-leaning magazines, The Nation and Mother Jones, contended this month that education policy reforms pushed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in the name of digital opportunities for students have the ulterior motive of funneling money to big technology companies. And the move into education by the right-leaning media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, with his News Corp. conglomerate’s purchase of the educational technology company Wireless Generation, has drawn protests from some teacher advocates at public appearances by Mr. Murdoch.

For the rest of the article, go to Virtual Ed. Advocates Respond to Wave of Criticism

MTS Minnesota Connections Academy

It is estimated that more than 1.5 million students take online classes nationally, and of those, 200,000 are full-time online students. As of 2011, 39 different states have state-run virtual education programs.

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“Minnesota is one of those that does not. Interestingly, Minnesota has one of the largest numbers of online students, but they do not have a statewide program,” said McClure.

In place of a state-wide program, there are currently 24 online consortiums and other certified virtual education providers throughout the state. Minnesota does have a number of policies regulating online learning though, such as having the different providers adhere to national education standards.

The benefit for a school district, such as Greenway, to be involved in an online consortium, is that they have a say in the educational standards of the program, as well as what classes will be offered, and so forth. Since the beginning of Infinity, when only eight districts were involved, there were a total of five courses available, and only 30 students enrolled. In 2010, 43 districts have become part of Infinity, offering 58 different courses to more than 1,000 enrolled students. All Infinity teachers are from member districts, giving students access to a large number of teachers within a relatively small regional area.

For the rest of the article, go to Greenway boasts high completion rates among online consortium