Getting Started with a Virtual School Program featuring Cobb County School District

Eight years ago, Cobb County School District (CCSD) was looking for a way to provide students with additional course options. At the time there was no state virtual school program so CCSD made the decision to start their own Virtual Academy.

Join us for a web presentation to hear first-hand from CCSD on how they started their virtual academy, plans for expanding the program and more including:
• Getting started: tips and tricks for beginning the process
• Course creation ideas
• Challenges and lessons learned
• What's next for CCSD and online learning

1. Monday June 28, 2010
Ryan Fuller, Online Learning Specialist,
Cobb County School District
Becky Nunnally, Supervisor, Cobb Virtual
Academy, CCSD
Cheryl Rowley, Cobb Virtual Academy
Administrator, CCSD
Mike Lange, Solutions Engineer,
Blackboard K-12
Getting Started with a
Virtual School Program
featuring Cobb County
School District

2. 2
Born from
education
in 1997
20 million
users
1,000+ of us,
working with
5,200+ of you
Extended by
2,500
developers
and partners
9 global
offices across
4 continents
+
2

3. 3
•Close the gap between
the way students live
and the way they learn
•Deliver a 21st Century
educational experience
that is engaging,
individualized and
effective
Our Vision:

4. 4
•An open, web-based teaching and
learning platform for engaging and
assessing learners in and beyond the
classroom
•3,000+ clients, 15+ million estimated
active users, at all levels of learning
•Local or hosted deployment
Engaging and
assessing
learners at all
levels
4

5. 5
Client Community

6. COBB COUNTY SCHOOL
DISTRICT
Blackboard Client Spotlight
6

7. www.cobbvirtualacademy.org
Slide number 7
Getting Started with a
Virtual School Program
Becky Nunnally
Cheryl Rowley
Ryan Fuller

8. www.cobbvirtualacademy.org8
Cobb County School District
•Located in metropolitan Atlanta, GA
•106,000 students in 120 schools
•2
nd
largest school system in Georgia
•26
th
largest school system in the U.S.
•Socioeconomically diverse

9. www.cobbvirtualacademy.org9
Cobb Virtual Academy
•Administers:
–Whole course instruction for high-school credit
–Blended learning opportunities
•Over 9,000 high school students have
participated in courses for credit since 2001
•Year-round course offerings
•22 core courses offered for block and traditional

10. www.cobbvirtualacademy.org10
Program Beginnings
Virtual HS eHigh Cobb
Consortium School Virtual
(1998) (2000) Academy
(2009)

11. www.cobbvirtualacademy.org11
Program Beginnings
Why did we start?
•Mass public education vs. individualized
instruction
•Increased student mobility
•Increased technology awareness

12. www.cobbvirtualacademy.org12
Launching the Program
•Small group of online advocates
•Funding
–Seed money
–Tuition funding
•Partnered with Professional Learning
•Select stable, reliable LMS
•Developed Courses

13. www.cobbvirtualacademy.org13
Lessons Learned:
Getting Started
•Everything takes longer than you realize
•Time should be focused on students,
teachers, curriculum… NOT the Learning
Management System
•Know your Learning Management System
•Establish district-level eLearning protocols

14. www.cobbvirtualacademy.org14
Growing & Sustaining
•Develop champions of program within District
•Establish guidelines, policies, and procedures
•Core Team Focus
•Teacher Identification and Development
•Quality courses
•Marketing
•Creative funding

15. www.cobbvirtualacademy.org15
Lessons Learned:
Growing and Sustaining
•Don’t bite off more than you can chew: Learning
Management System (1998), Content System
(2003), Community (2008)
•Quality takes resources
•Don’t try to do it on your own but evolve quickly
•Focus on graduation requirements
•Network with other programs via conferences &
national/state/local organizations

16. www.cobbvirtualacademy.org16
Course Creation:
Develop In-House
Pro
•Control
–Standards Alignment
–Course Organization
•Familiarity
•Involve multiple
people in District
•Cost
Con
•Internal talent for
digital curriculum
development
•Project management

17. www.cobbvirtualacademy.org17
Course Creation:
Share with Other Organizations
Pro
•Cost
•Interactive Resources
already developed
•Can keep only the
best parts
Con
•LMS Portability
•Time to Reorganize
•Lack of familiarity
•Hidden Costs

18. www.cobbvirtualacademy.org18
Course Creation:
Purchase a whole course
Pro
•Quality digital content
•Time
Con
•Cost
•Standards gaps
•LMS portability
•Reorganization

19. www.cobbvirtualacademy.org19
Lessons Learned:
Course Creation
•Good Teachers may not equal good developers
•Hidden costs – time, people money
•Infuse quality in all aspects
•Minimize gap between administration and deploying a
successful course
•Continuous course development process
•Nothing completely ready out-of-the-box
•Minimize technical requirements for students

20. www.cobbvirtualacademy.org20
Math I
Aligned by State Standards

21. www.cobbvirtualacademy.org21
Math I
Lessons and Assignments

22. www.cobbvirtualacademy.org22
Math I
Lessons created in SoftChalk

23. www.cobbvirtualacademy.org23
Math I
Assignments built in Bb Test

24. www.cobbvirtualacademy.org24
Blended Learning
•Started in 2007
•Today, over 5000 students and 500
teachers
•Helps prepare students for post-
secondary
•Promotes online learning for students
•Blackboard licensing
•Builds online learning evangelists

25. www.cobbvirtualacademy.org25
Next Steps
•Build courses to meet multiple needs
(credit recovery, standards mastery,
remediation for state-mandated tests)
•Build an online environment to move
students from teacher-directed to student-
directed learning
•Continue to search for alternative funding
sources

26. Blackboard
Case Study
Innovative and
Digital Learning in
New Mexico:
IDEAL-NM
•State wide online
learning system
•500,000 students
•New Mexico
Challenge: State-Wide Online
Learning Opportunities
Connect teaching, learning, and training for
the state’s K-20, adult education, and
government communities.
Blackboard Solution: Anytime,
Anywhere Access to Learning
The IDEAL-NM initiative partnered with
Blackboard to replace 22 different technology
systems with a statewide integrated
implementation of Blackboard Learn.
•NM is the first state in the nation to deploy
such a comprehensive, highly-connected,
and scalable K20 and adult education
system that facilitates life-long learning
•Expanding professional development and
training for state agencies

27. Blackboard
Case Study
Deer Valley
United School
District
•36,500+ students
•36 schools
•Arizona
Challenge: Expanding Access
while Decreasing Costs
Increase enrollments and reduce costs for
their summer school program.
Blackboard Solution: Anytime
Anywhere Access to Learning
Deer Valley switched from face-to-face to online
summer school by leveraging Blackboard Learn.
•Increased enrollments from 250 to 1,500
during the first online summer offering
•Decreased operating expenses by 80%
and still charges the same affordable
tuition
•More than 4 times as many classes are
now available to students during the
summer

28. Thank you! Questions?
Ryan Fuller, Online Learning Specialist
Becky Nunnally, Supervisor, Cobb Virtual Academy
Cheryl Rowley, Cobb Virtual Academy Administrator
[email protected]
cobbvirtualacademy.org
www.blackboard.com/k12/learn
[phone] ext. 2427
28