Today, I “met” my classmates in my first online course, Online Learning: Developing a Strategic Approach for your School. I want to kick off the SGS blog cycle for 2012-13 with my thoughts as I proceed through the coursework over the next two weeks. Seattle Girls’ School has just joined The Online School for Girls as a Charter Affiliate School. We find the guiding principles of OSG to be compelling and research-based:
Connection – Emphasize connection among participants;
Collaboration – Incorporate collaboration into the learning experience;
Creativity – Inspire and reward creativity;
Application – Engage in real-world problems and applications while having students probe the social and ethical dynamics that define and stretch our global society.
I think school leaders must themselves engage in this new learning model in order to make informed decisions about when and how to deploy on-line platforms and other technology in the most effective and mission appropriate ways. So join me! Get on-line and do some learning the 21st century way. Then we can talk about strategy. My first impression – the connection between the participants was very effectively created by a skilled instructor. This fundamental aspect of good teaching translates very well to cyberspace. Now, I have to go do my homework!