Twitter icon
Facebook icon
LinkedIn icon
YouTube icon



Posts Tagged ‘online learning’

Why CTE Without Borders?

Monday, May 22nd, 2023

Advance CTE’s new resource, the CTE Without Borders Policy Playbook, calls on leaders to truly meet the needs of learners by removing the geographic barriers that limit access and opportunities, particularly for learners in rural communities. This work is essential to ensure that each learner can access CTE without borders — one of the five principles of Advance CTE’s Without Limits: A Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education. Policies and programs should enable, not limit, mobility and access. States should come together to develop and expand new models of collaboration by investing in expanded-access systems that allow access both within and across states.

The first release in the CTE Without Borders series highlights the importance of expanded access and introduces two of the six focus areas critical to expanding access to high-quality CTE and work-based learning: Aligning Partners, Values and Vision and Driving Decisions With Data.

State CTE leaders can learn how expanded access to high-quality CTE and work-based learning opportunities benefits learners, industry, institutions and state labor market demands; consider how to assess current CTE systems to actualize CTE without borders; and prepare their state for expanded access within and across states. 

This first release features promising state and local practices from across the country including California, Kansas, Tennessee, Utah and more; strategies to actualize each focus area; and resources to support state and local leaders in providing expanded access within and across states.

Visit the Learning that Works Resource Center to read the first two releases in the series and for additional resources to support CTE Without Borders.

Haley Wing, Senior Policy Associate

By Jodi Langellotti in Publications
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Six Focus Areas to Actualize CTE Without Borders

Thursday, May 4th, 2023

In March 2021, Advance CTE released Without Limits: A Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education (CTE Without Limits). This vision put forth a bold vision for a cohesive, flexible and responsive career preparation system that aims to close equity gaps in educational outcomes and workforce readiness and leverage Career Technical Education (CTE) as a catalyst for ensuring each learner can reach success in their career of choice. CTE Without Limits lays out five inter-connected and equally critical principles – Principle 5 in CTE Without Limits describes that all learners can access CTE without borders. 

To truly meet the needs of learners, we must remove the geographic barriers that limit access and opportunities, particularly for learners in rural communities. CTE policies and programs should enable, not limit, mobility and access and states should come together to develop and expand new models of collaboration by investing in open-access systems that enable access within and across states.

Advance CTE’s upcoming release, the CTE Without Borders Policy Playbook, developed in partnership with the Southern Regional Education Board and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, and with input from more than 100 national, state and local leaders, highlights six focus areas to help states, secondary and postsecondary institutions actualize CTE without borders with expanded access to high-quality CTE and work-based learning within and across states. The six focus areas include:

The policy playbook features promising state and local practices from across the country including Colorado, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Texas and more; strategies to actualize each focus area; and resources to support state and local leaders in providing expanded access within and across states.

Review the CTE Without Borders Policy Playbook series in the Learning that Works Resource Center when it’s released later in May to learn about the ways your state can meet the needs of all learners regardless of where they live.

Haley Wing, Senior Policy Associate

By Jodi Langellotti in Publications
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

New Report: What is Blended Learning?

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

As online learning has become more commonplace in schools, so has the term “blended learning” among the education community. Yet blended learning, describing a mix of in-classroom and online instruction, is not easily defined.

A new report from the Innosight Institute, a non-profit organization seeking to apply the theories of disruptive innovation to common societal problems, provides some clarity.

The paper profiles forty organizations, each instructing students through both face-to-face interactions and online learning. Several trends are apparent throughout the profiles, enabling a two-part working definition of blended learning to be developed.

In all of the blended learning profiles, the report reveals, students are instructed in a “supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home” for at least some of the school day. Also, each blended learning environment provides online instruction to students “with some control over the time, place, path and/or pace.” Both aspects are common components to blended learning that may not be present in other types of learning.

The report identifies six models of blended learning found within the profiles. Policy recommendations on mixing in-classroom learning with blended learning are also given.

By admin in News, Research
Tags: ,

The Debate about Online Courses

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

Online courses are gaining popularity among college students, however a recent article raises debate over such programs’ effectiveness and which students are able to get the most out of them.

A recent article, Effectiveness of Fully Online Courses for College Students: Response to a Department of Education Meta-Analysis, assesses a meta-analysis conducted in 2009 by the U.S. Department of Education. Researchers found that online learning could be beneficial for well-prepared and financially stable students. As for lower income students and underprepared students, online learning does not seem to be as accessible or effective.

Supporters of online learning feel that, potentially, these programs can provide superior learning outcomes as well as increased access for students because of reduced costs and commute time. While this could hold true, many researchers and higher education institutions are still not completely supportive. Some research suggests that students who complete online courses do indeed learn as much and are just as satisfied as students in regular classroom environments, while other research shows that students are less likely to complete online courses in general.

The report did point out various discrepancies within the study. The first concern was the lack of comparative outcomes between online and face-to-face learning. Another issue found was the absence of diversity among the types of online courses assessed. All of these courses were some form of computer or technical related course, making it easier to use the online learning method. Finally, the samples chosen for these studies were all from mid-sized or larger universities. Five of the samples were rated by U.S. News and World Report as “selective” or “highly selective” schools, which raise issue of diversity among the types of students who were assessed. Taking all of these factors into account, the report concluded that while online courses can be effective for prepared students, this form of learning needs a great deal of improvement in order to achieve its original goal of increasing accessibility to college and improving student achievement through higher education programs.

By admin in Research
Tags: ,

 

Series

Archives

1