3.0+Detailed+explanation+of+each+component

CDH High school virtual school eLearning design is a blended or hybrid version of the virtual school model.

Russell and Holkner in their article “Virtual Schools” define a hybrid school as follows:

“The hybrid allows student to complete substantial parts of their work from home or other centres, but asks them to regularly attend a conventional school for activities such as support and drama which encourage physical fitness and socialisation” (2000:888). I believe that this blended or hybrid approach also takes into account the various different learning and teaching styles of the student and parent. It also provides ongoing support for both parties during the student’s education.

Components
__** Face to Face student training session **__ This component fits into the distance education delivery stream **__Distance education ELearning Model__** **Student using all technological tools available as well as attending face to face residential school four times a year**

When a student attends his or her first residential school they are given proficiency test to see their level of computer skills, literacy and numeracy skills. They are assigned a tutor and a class group that they will be in until they leave the program. The main purpose of residential school in this model is to encourage students to socialise with their cohorts in order to facilitate effective communication in online forums, work in groups on their Wiki’s and form connections and friendships with other students.

__**Student Portal**__ This is online repository of all of the eLearning tools that the student will need to successfully navigate the courses at CDH High school.

__Moodle__
 Moodle/LMS is the most important component of CDH Virtual School for both the parent and student eLearning portals. It is the main storage area for curriculum based course work and is frequently updated by the facilitators / teachers at the school.

The student section of Moodle contains all of the CDH course work, assessments, exams, student’s results. Parents can access the student sections of Moodle. The parent/trainer section is closed to students.

The project work Wiki is created in Moodle and can be accessed by teachers, students and parents.

There is a specfic section in the student Moodle where assessments and exams can be accessed. Exams are taken online. School reports and results will be stored on both the student and parent sections of Moodle.

__Project Work Wiki__
At CDH there is an emphasis on problem based and collaborative learning. A wiki is set up for each student in Moodle. This is his/her workspace to create individual or group projects. All students will have view access to each other wikis. Students must ask the permission from the student owner before they can alter or contribute to a Wiki post.

Facilitators/teachers will have access to all wiki’s and will create a page once a week with details of tasks they need to complete as well as locations of course work they need to access on Moodle. If students are participanting in the Distance Education Elearning delivery stream parents have view access to the student wiki.

The reason why I this component is important in this design is because it allows the student, a platform to safely collaborate creatively it also provides a convenient place for teachers to alert students what course work needs to be completed in a week.

__Monitored Social networking site__
This site gives students the opportunity to communicate with their classmates in a more informal forum. Each student has their own account where they can upload photos, play games and chat with friends and classmates. Offline social events organised by the school are also promoted on this site.

The reason why it is a monitored social networking site is to prevent students from being cyber bullied by other students and to stop inappropriate or illegal content being transmitted on the site.

Students can also communicate with facilitators/teachers about projects they are working on or a question about a subject they may be studying.

There is also a section of the site where students can synchronous chat with a counsellor able any personal or educational problems they are having. This service is also available over the phone for students who are not web enabled.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">The reason why I have chosen to include a social networking component in my design is because most students in the secondary space are involved in some form of online social networking either Facebook or another site, by including this in the portal students have a chance to build on relationships they established at residential school as well as participating in informal learning.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">__Web Conferencing__
This is an important component for students who participating in the second delivery stream.

**__Home Education/Home schooling ELearning model__** **Student uses learning portal has access to support and technology but do not attend face to face residential school**.

Teachers/facilitators can present lectures to these students over a web conferencing link. The teacher /facilitator will appear in the corner of the screen as a video image, students can ask questions in the text panel. My justification for including this component in the model is it provides students with a similar level of interactivity that they may receive in the classroom at residential school.

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Students can download textbooks and learning materials onto their ipad or kindle learning device.

As you can see from virtual school diagram 2.0 once students are enrolled in the program they are loaned an Ipad and a netbook. The school also assists with the installation of ADSL into the student’s home. This includes technical support for the student and parent and an annual visit from a technician. This technician will be sourced by the school from the student’s geographical area.

If the student is not using the eLearning portal they are supplied with a loan netbook, paper textbooks and course work on a USB.

The reason why I have chosen to include this component in my design is it takes advantage of emerging technology that the students use as well as cutting down on the paper resources that the school provides students.

__ Email __
An email is included in the portal as it is quick and private medium for students to communicate with teachers and other students. School reports are sent to both students and parents email accounts.

=__<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Face to face parent training session __= = = Parents are trained in how to operate the loaned school devices, how to navigate the parent, student portals, parent training centre site and Moodle.

Parents are also given the opportunity to partake in a train the trainer course four times a year giving them extra teaching skills to assist in the education of their child.

These courses are also available online and hard copy (on USB) and can be accessed by parents who do not attend the residential school. __** Parent Elearning portal **__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">The parent portal has similar features to the student portal that I outlined previously such as the EBooks, social networking, Moodle and email.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">The three areas I am going to concentrate on in this section are:
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Ask a teachers
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Calendar of events/offline events
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Parent training centre

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">__Ask a Teacher__
<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"> Ask a teacher is a synchronous session held weekly on Skype where parents can ask about how their child is progressing and what techniques they could use to facilitate their child’s learning.

The reason why I have chosen to include this in the design is the provide parents with professional support for their home based learning activities. This feature could also be used for parent teacher interviews

__**Calendar of events/offline activities**__
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">As CDH High school is a hybrid/blended model of a virtual school it is important to provide students with socialisation opportunities <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Offline activities include:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Excursions
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Social events
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Sporting events
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Cultural activities

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">These events are organised by the parents in conjunction with the school in the student’s local area. These events also give parents the opportunity to network with likeminded adults involved in the program.

__ Parent training centre __
This centre is both an online and offline support for parents. It is a part of the parent Moodle LMS. It contains all course work for the train the trainer course, links to resources, helpful IT hints and contact numbers to call if they need extra advice before the weekly ask a teacher session.