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E-learning gives schools a different look
Jul 24, 2009 (The Daily Southerner - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
A technology specialist with Edgecombe County Public Schools told the Tarboro Rotary Club Thursday how students can take high school, middle school and even elementary classes online.
Jenifer Marquis, ECPS's district instructional technology specialist, said this summer around 200 courses are being offered through the North Carolina Virtual Public School program that Edgecombe County is piloting for the state.
Marquis said that Edgecombe students using the "E-learning" Virtual Public School program are able to take their laptops home, or meet at different parts of the school to complete their assignments.
SouthWest Edgecombe High has the most E-learning courses to offer its students so far, with 92 being offered this summer. Tarboro High has 56 courses this summer while North Edgecombe has 54.
There are no advanced placement courses offered through the Virtual Public School this summer.
Edgecombe students are helped along in their course work by technology assistants, and parents are kept up to date via e-mail on their students' progress in the class.
"You cannot lose a child, because you know exactly what they're doing" in the online course work, Marquis said.
Students having their own laptops with ECPS's 1:1 Laptop program is one less "barrier" they have in their learning experience, Marquis said.
"That is a big advantage for us, (and) that's not a struggle for us. That has removed a barrier for our district."
ECPS Superintendent Dr. Craig Witherspoon told the Rotary Club that because of physical technology and programs like Virtual Public School, "in 10 years, school is going to look different."
He said the school system has plans to expand the E-learning program to the middle and elementary schools in the near-future, offering classes like Spanish and visual poetry as early as the second grade.
The technology savviness of today's children will help them pick up skills they need to work in the 21st Century, Witherspoon added.
Marquis said that "kids are different these days" when it comes to being able to use computer technology.
"We have our digital natives and our digital immigrants. We (adults) are the immigrants."
Witherspoon added that students in Edgecombe "are just as bright and capable as anybody else, so we need to give them the opportunity" to have access to technology to further their education.
As one Rotarian pointed out, E-learning doesn't stop at high school in Edgecombe. Tarboro resident Retha Deaton told Marquis that she is "immersed in E-learning" as a full-time student taking online courses through Edgecombe Community College.
Deaton told Marquis and the Rotary Club that the "flexibility" of her online course schedule is a big plus for her.
To see more of The Daily Southerner or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://dailysoutherner.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, The Daily Southerner, Tarboro,
N.C. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email
tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax
to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave.,
Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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