EDLD+5368+pt+4

My district does not offer online classes other than gaining credit for a college class that is online at the college. It is a dual credit class. The high school is the only campus that offers this program. I would love to see online opportunities for my students. Most of my students are high tech and have access to technology. Only a handful would have problems finding access to equipment for online education. Our district has begun sending emails out and having links to show staff how to do a simple task within a program. It has saved valueable time by not having to meet for staff development. This year we also were able to take the TAKS modules online for part of our training. @http://texas.testsecuritytraining.com/ is the link for the modules. It allowed us to already know everything our counselor was going to refresh us on before our face to face. Unfortunately, this is the extent of our online learning due to technology resources. Our district is part of the technology dinosaur so many districts are in. We are so far behind and what we have already needs to be replaced.

The key to develop and implement online learning is time. It is vital that teachers are able to manipulate and practice many times in order to feel comfortable with new technology. "Few principals of regular or virtual schools have a clear idea of the range of professional development needs of their staff." (Davis & Rose, 2010) We have such a diverse group of teachers, it would be beneficial to have different levels of technology development available. Teachers mentoring and modeling for other teachers new to technology would also be an asset to improving technology implementation and development for online learning. This type of teaching and learning would have a positive impact on the business world. Students would be able to train virtually for a type of business they were interested. It would allow students to have quicker access to the business world. It would give a new meaning to the phrase, "on the job training."

Davis, Niki, and Ray Rose. "RESEARCH COMMITTEE ISSUES BRIEF." //http://www.inacol.org///. International Association of K-12 Online Learning, n.d. Web. 7 May 2010. <http://www.inacol.org/research/docs/NACOL_PDforVSandOlnLrng