To-do List
-Add in proper citations or missed citations + add in an explanation about Heritage funding + spelling and grammar check +Add in a picture??
“British Columbia has the largest and most diverse offering of Distance Learning Programs in Canada,” (Homeschool Canada 2019) allowing all school boards to offer distributed learning to their students (P.3) (Digital Learning Content Standards: Draft Document). Although distance learning focuses on “using technology to overcome the barriers of geographical location,” (Bacer, 2001) “distributed learning encompasses distance learning,” with an additional goal to “overcome the barriers of both location and time” (Bacer, 2001). I will be discussing both distance and distributed learning in this research post, therefore it is important that my audience knows the definition of each, in addition to being aware that these categories are often used interchangeably in the educational field. Before explaining the purpose of my research, I would like to mention that my initial plan for this research post was to critically examine various online learning platforms for K-12 learners in British Columbia based on research articles and reviews from the public. However, after many hours of searching, I have found that “with limited government, foundation, and private support for education research, K-12 online learning programs have not received financial support for research and evaluation” (Research Gate). Additionally, public reviews of any specific online education platform in British Columbia are scarce. Due to this knowledge, I will instead be identifying and summarizing specific distance and distributed learning platforms for K-12 learners, that are currently being used within British Columbia. The purpose of this research post is to help those who are looking to enroll their child in a K-12 distance or distributed learning program in BC, to be aware of the various online learning options that are available for their child. The programs that I will be identifying and summarizing include a SelfDesign, Sides, and Heritage Christion Online School.
“The SelfDesign Learning Community is among the largest distance/distributed learning schools and personalized learning programs in British Columbia, Canada” (selfdesign.org). SelfDesign is a Distributed Learning Independent school for K-12 students. The school only offers distributed learning and serves approximately 2,500 students (gov.bc.ca). SelfDesign is currently “fully funded by the Ministry of Education,” therefore no-fees are required to be paid in order to enroll (gov.bc.ca). According to the programs main webpage, selfdesign.org, the program allows students to pursue their own interests while also offering personalized guidance from educators during their study period. Although the school aims to promote personalized learning, students are still required to take online programs that are approved by the Ministry of Education (Vancity). Because SelfDesign is a fully distributed school, I thought it would be useful to mention the various types of online platforms that teachers were using to keep in contact with their students in the 2014 and 2015 school year. These platforms include “Skype, Go to Meetings, Zoom, Google Plus, telephone, face-to-face, and emails” (gov.bc.ca). Teachers who work for SelfDesign are all BC-certified educators, and parents get to select the educator they would like their child to be paired with by picking from a “diverse pool of candidates.” (selfdesign.org)
SIDES is another online distance learning program that offers courses to K-12 learners in BC, in addition to offering courses to adult learners who have not yet graduated (Sides Webpage). SIDES stands for South Island Distance Education School because it originates on Vancouver Island. Despite its origin, as long as the learner is a resident of BC, the courses offered at SIDES are tuition-free. “SIDES has over 3,500 students currently enrolled, from ages five to eighteen,” (Wikipedia), with approximately 20 percent claiming that they have taken most of their accredited courses through SIDES (Wikipedia). SIDES differs from SelfDesign because of its cohort style model, which requires students to interact regularly with their teacher and other classmates (Sides Webpage). SIDES incorporates both a synchronous and asynchronous modality because students attend weekly virtual classes in addition to completing coursework on their own time (Sides Webpage). SIDES also expects students to submit coursework regularly in order for teachers to give summative feedback (Sides Webpage). The K-9 courses offered at SIDES follows the same core competencies as the new BC Curriculum. These competencies include critical thinking, creative thinking, communication, positive personal and social identity, and social responsibly (Sides Webpage).
Heritage Christian Online School is another distributed learning school offered within the province of British Columbia. Similar to SelfDesign, the school aims to connect families with teachers in order to provide individualized support for their child. The school’s values include flexibility, relationships, integrity, and academic success. Teachers begin the school year by creating a Student Learning Plan (SLP) for the learner. SLPs must abide by the curricular competencies provided by the Ministry of Education. Furthermore, communication is a vital aspect of online teaching, therefore, staff and Heritage stay in contact with their students through email, phone calls, zoom, Facebook, and texting. These teachers also keep in contact with families on a weekly basis, as the school believes that constant communication is critical when evaluating student progress. In addition to offering a fully distributed learning program, Heritage also supports homeschoolers but has made it clear to parents that there is a distinct difference between their DL program and the help they provide to students who are participating in homeschooling. Students can be registered with the school, but in order to be enrolled, student course work must be adhering to the Ministries standards. Students who are enrolled in DL must also participate in FSA assessments, as well as be evaluated by a certified teacher. Students in the DL program receive several luxuries that a student who is homeschool may not. These benefits include being eligible to receive funding from the Ministry of Education, as well as being eligible to receive a Dogwood Graduation Certificate. (need to talk about funding)
In conclusion, all three of these online schools have distinct attributes amongst each other, as well as similar ones. For example, SelfDesign and SIDES are both fully funded programs, whereas the students enrolled at Heritage Christian Online School have the potential to receive funding, but it is not always granted. Although SelfDesign and Heritage take a more individualistic approach to teach by pairing up their students with one selected teacher, SIDES requires students to be placed in cohorts where they must interact with a teacher and other students. In terms of similarities, all students enrolled in these schools must be doing coursework that follows the BC Ministries curricular competencies. Provided that there are limited research and reviews available online that have information about these schools that is readily available, I hope that these summaries offer some insight into the values and protocols of each school. It is important to me that parents are aware of their options when deciding what type of education program, they would like their child to enroll in.