Toward a Virtual Learning Service For Qu

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Toward a Virtual Learning ServiceFor Québec
schools and centresFrom concept to project

• Presentation to the Quebec English School Boards
  Association
• Pierre Giguère
• September 7, 2012

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Presentation Outline

1. The concept of virtual school
2. SOFADs report of November 2005
3. Why a Virtual Learning Service?
4. Origins and development of virtual schools
5. On our doorstep virtual schools in Ontario
6. Still waiting for a Québec distance education
   policy
7. A strategic development priority for SOFAD
8. Creation of a Partners Committee to design and
   implement a Virtual Learning Service for Québec
9. Links with other developments

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1. The concept of virtual school

• A school without walls, without classrooms and
  without a limit on the number of students
• A particular form of distance education
• A learning organization that uses the potential
  of web technologies, usually in asynchronous mode

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1. The concept of virtual school

• Definitions
• A virtual school, or cyberschool, describes an
  institution that teaches courses entirely or
  primarily through online methods. Though there
  are tens of thousands of commercial and
  non-accredited courses available online, the term
  "virtual school" is generally reserved for
  accredited schools that teach a full-time (or
  nearly full-time) course of instruction designed
  to lead to a degree.
• iNACOL (also used on Wikipedia)
• Virtual school refers to an institution that
  is not "brick and mortar" bound. All student
  services and courses are conducted through
  Internet technology.  The virtual school differs
  from the traditional school through the physical
  medium that links administrators, teachers, and
  students. 
• The Technology Source Archives, University of
  North Carolina

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1. The concept of virtual school

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2. SOFADs report of November 2005
- Based on an analysis of cases of young students
who could benefit from distance education - Shows
the evolution of some virtual schools - Ends with
recommendations regarding a distance education
service for secondary-school students and
envisions the creation of a public virtual school
in Québec
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3. Why a Virtual Learning Service?

• To increase accessibility and flexibility in our
  educational system
• To offer a common service to all the school
  boards
• To give schools and centres more options
• To more effectively meet the needs and
  constraints of particular client groups
• To bring back to the public sector those
  students who are not enrolled in our
  institutions
• To solve the difficulties that many regions face
  with respect to recruiting specialized teachers
  and starting classes for optional subjects
• To modernize learning environments in Québecs
  school system
• To facilitate perseverance and success for all
  students

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4. Origins and developmentof virtual schools
Florida Virtual High School The first FLVS
was founded in 1997 and was the country's first,
state-wide Internet-based public high
school http//www.flvs.net/Pages/default.asp
x http//www.flvs.net/areas/aboutus/Pages/Qui
ckFactsaboutFLVS.aspx
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4. Origins and developmentof virtual schools
FVHS is also the best known, the largest, the
most documented, the most covered, the most open
(to sharing) Student Enrollment FVHS served
over 122,000 students in 259,928 half-credit
enrollments in the 2010-2011 school year.
Enrollment is open to public, private, and
home-schooled students. Courses are offered from
P1 to S12 FVHS students come from all of the
other American states and from other countries
(57)
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5. On our doorstep virtual scools in Ontario

• There is a private virtual school in Ottawa the
  Ottawa Carleton E-Schoolhttp//www.ottawacarleton
  e-school.ca/
• The Ontario Virtual High Schoolhttps//www.virtua
  lhighschool.com/
• The Virtual Learning Centrehttp//www.virtuallear
  ning.ca/
• Le Consortium dapprentissage virtuel de langue
  française de lOntariohttp//www.apprentissageenl
  igne.org/-located in Ottawa-under the Conseil
  des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est (CECCE)

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6. Still waiting for a Québecdistance education
policy

• The MELS had a working committe on a distance
  education policy from 2008 to 2011
• Many entities in the educational system have been
  asking for such a policy for more than 15 years
• Around the year 2000, we were told that such a
  policy would be covered in the Politique
  gouvernementale déducation des adultes et de
  formation continue (2002)
• A possible turning point in July 2010, through
  videoconferencing, CLIFAD members explained the
  value of a virtual high school to representatives
  of the MELSs Direction des politiques and to the
  Minister of Educations parliamentary assistant,
  Mr Michel Pigeon

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7. A strategic development priorityfor SOFAD

• Our first priority To promote the development of
  distance education
• To make distance education available to
  secondary-school students
• To create a Virtual Learning Service in Québec
  for young and adult students for francophones
  and anglophones

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8. Creation of a Partners Committeto design and
implement a Virtual Learning Service for Québec

• A small committee began meeting in September
  2011. Its membership will be augmented in the
  near future by- representatives from the
  secondary education sector and the adult
  education sector.
• SOFAD suggests that we start by offering
  Secondary IV and Secondary V courses.
• So far, 5 meetings have been held.
• We are now working on describing and designing
  the Virtual Learning Service we envision and on
  writing proposals to be submitted to the school
  boards and the MELS.

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9. Links with other developments
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Presentation to the Québec English School Boards
Association September 13, 2012Pierre Giguère

• This, and other, presentations
• are available at
• www.sofad.qc.ca/html/sof_doc.html