Studentlounge

creating community in an on-line world

How does an on-line learning institution provide meaningful

guidance to its students?

A bit of background…

The Saskatoon Catholic School System has been a frontier in the development of education in the cyber world.   Since the year 2000, various teachers in the division have created subject curriculum courses online and ultimately taught these subjects as accredited courses.  Having the opportunity to learn online as part of the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School has been very beneficial to the thousands of students who have taken courses in the past several years.

HYBRID COURSES

Taking the on-line courses developed by the talented cyber school teachers and using them in a face to face classroom, you have what is called a hybrid course. The courses can support or be used as the actual course in a face to face classroom.

EDUCATIONAL BLOGS

Cyber School is offering FREE hosting of educational blogs. If you are interested in sharing information with students, parents or community on a blog (web page format) we will host if for free.  Blogs are easy to update. If you can type and send an email, you can update your blog.

LEARNING COMMUNITIES

Cyber School has further advanced its contributions to the education system by developing and launching "Online Educator Learning Communities”.

These 'Learning Communities' serve as a collection of useful resources for grade levels from kindergarten to grade 12 and encompass all subjects; from Physical Education to Aboriginal/First Nations Education. The resources are for both online use as well as printable copies for classroom use.

SCCS COMMUNICATION HUBS

The learning platform used by SCCS (Web Ct) has some great built in communication tools. Using these online tools you can create communication hubs. These hubs can be used as methods of sharing information, having online asynchronous discussions as well as synchronous chats. Connect with students in other countries or even in the same city.

GRADE 8 MATH RESOURCES

The grade 8 Mathematics resources are designed to be a supplemental resource for students to use, to help reinforce Math concepts. The resources are organized by strand and then by unit, with each unit placed parallel to the objectives in the curriculum, so they are easy to find and easy to use in addition to what is being taught in class.

SCCS CYBER PLANETS

Cyber Planets are essentially Learning Communities for students in grades 2-8. Cyber Planets are housed in the secure online learning platform Web CT. Cyber Planets are web based and can be accessed with a valid username and password from any computer connected to the internet. Presently, Cyber Planets are being used by classrooms teachers as an “Online Classroom”, whereby only students in that particular classroom can log into their Cyber Planet.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

The Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School has been providing in-services and training to staffs regarding many different educational technology initiatives. We can accommodate many different sizes and experience levels. We can provide overviews or hands-on training sessions. We can come to you or you can come and visit us at Cyber School.

Technology is only as effective as the person using it.

What we currently offer:

Hybrid CoursesEducational BlogsLearning CommunitiesSCCS Communication HubsOnline Mathematics ResourcesCyber PlanetsProfessional Development Opportunities

So what is it I do?

Why are you here?

SYNCHRONOUS

• Secure Chat Rooms• Zune Social Network• Online video chat

ASYNCHRONOUS

• Discussion Boards • Safe E-mail

Guidance –

Primarily academic -But also has a personal aspect

Is it important?

Is it necessary to create ‘community’

in on-line education?

Hi Ryan, I am really concerned by this assignment that * wrote. There is talk of suicide in it and it seems like a pretty big cry for help. What should I do?  

Hi Ryan, I got this back from * tonight: Thank you very much for the number, I just hope that I'll never have to use it! I hope that I have not caused you too much concern or grief - I felt bad about that after I sent in the assignment, it was one of those things that after you click to send it in you wonder if it was really a good idea after all. I'm doing okay right now, I talked to some people at school and my mom, and we think that I might be chemically depressed (all of the symptoms are there), so I'm going to the doctor to get checked out. Thank you for your concern and support. 

Hello all, I just finished talking with *’s Mom, and she is aware of *’s issues and she confirmed that they are looking into treatment for her.  She was very impressed and appreciative of our efforts and our awareness of the situation.   Thanks to everyone for the quick action and the caring for one of our own.

hey...i just wanted to talk to someone about something thats been going on with me without the whole world going into an uproar about it. kay well ive had a bunch of things go wrong this year, like my surgery in november went super bad, almost died from toxic shock on christmas day, then i got sick cuz of these cysts in my belly so that was another toxic shock scare, now im dealing with my moms second divorce, n i guess apparently there was a third scare but i dont remember it i must have been too sick... anyways in all that ive had three nervous break downs. is that normal? and like...im on anti depressants now cuz my mom is worried that im guna hurt myself cuz when i freak out im self destructiive...and im on sedatives for the times that get really bad...but i dont like the way i feel when im on them.. like im "too happy" yanno? and im all day dreamy and sleepy and i yawn alot. its scaring my fiance too cuz he says im not myself lately.... what should i do?

Hey Ryan, i know its kina random talking to you through this but my teacher is really cranky today so if i try to email u through hotmail he's gunna eat my face :P

anyways i was thinking, and you've been pretty important to me in the last while that we've been talking, you've really helped me through a lot of stuff that i've been grappling with. i was wondering if you would like to attend my wedding, it would mean a lot if you were there. we havent set an exact date yet but we'll get back to you as soon as thats figured out. I know its a long time off but i thought i would just ask now. thanks

p.s. thanks so much i was getting really scared.

i'm glad i found you.

Is it important?

Is it necessary to create ‘community’?

What works? What doesn’t?

Anything quick and easy (polls – discussion boards)The right type of contest

No real influx with contests

“Ask a professional” never really took off (a colleague found a wonderful site to cover that aspect)

The Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School Website.

( www.scs.sk.ca/cyber )

Username – presentationPassword - presentation

Learning Community

Grade 8 Cyber Planet

Smart Board Learning Community

P.A.A. Learning Community

Mr. Cannell’s blog address

http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/vschools/