Virtual learning is a topic we recently spoke to on the Edtech Co-Op podcast. The discussion reminded me of a talk many years ago with our high school instructional technologist at Hong Kong International School (HKIS). We discussed the computer programming course he taught. The context was a meeting of the instructional technologists from each of our four divisions about online learning as we had run a virtual school for a month in 2003 when SARS struck Hong Kong.

We were thinking about the power of the HKIS brand in Asia and our regional leadership for technology integration. The idea was to start offering fully online courses for HKIS students and interested students from around the region. While this idea was not implemented, it did bring us back to the computer science course and how it would be an excellent class to teach virtually. International schools used the Virtual High School, now called The VHS Collaborative, to provide courses when they needed more teachers or many students to run courses efficiently. It also would be easy to run a computer programming course in-house through our MyDragonnet learning management system.

Back to the present day, in recent chats with directors of technology from two leading independent schools in Washington, DC, we discussed where their respective schools are in offering online courses. There are many reasons for providing students access to virtual courses, but the question arose regarding how to offer them. Does one do them in-house or through a provider like The VHS CollaborativeK12, or the Online School for Girls? Several questions arose about how the courses would connect to the mission of the schools, who would teach the courses, whether virtual courses take the place of regular classes in the student’s schedule, etc. It was interesting for me as an instructional technologist to hear about the needs of the students and teachers to get me thinking about how to design the process of deciding how to offer virtual learning opportunities.

Connecting back to my experiences at HKIS, it became clear to me that one option for these schools would be to offer their technology and Information and Communication literacy (ICL) courses online instead of teaching them during the regular school day. The instructional technologists at each school have the skill set and content knowledge (i.e., TPACK) to design and deliver courses in either a hybrid or a fully online fashion. The schools could pilot this effort to meet not only the student’s learning needs but also a model for interested teachers how they might also provide virtual courses. It could be an easy first step towards providing virtual learning for each community.

Another thought is to build on the badge movement for virtual learning offerings. The instructional technologist, librarian, and other interested teachers could build mini-courses focused on specific skills. Examples could be learning how to use various apps on the iPad for student workflow and productivity, using apps for editing images and video, providing a mini course in sound design in presentations, etc. Students could earn badges to represent their certification in reaching the standards set for each mini-course. Instead of taking up time in their daily course schedule, the students could work independently through the schools’ learning management system and other online collaborative tools.

This line of thinking connects to what we are doing at Alexandria Country Day school, whereby the Fifth Grade provides “just in time” instruction with follow-up online tutorials for students to explore further how to use various apps and Web 2.0 tools. One of our science teachers, Sara Stein, looks to her students as learning partners when new apps are introduced to the class. The students use their ICL skills to find tutorials to self-teach and then provide guidance for other students during class meeting times.

This supports my belief that my job is to help each student build their ICL tool belt by the end of the Fourth Grade. While their ICL skills are far from complete, the students have the foundation skills and know how to find tutorials and experts among their co-learners to self-teach. This connects to constructing one’s personal learning system that empowers and skills students to use ICL to become more effective learners.