educational technology – National Dropout Prevention Center

Technology and Dropout Prevention – Tools, Tactics, and Things You Should Know

Dr. Chris Peters will discuss positive ways that technology can be made part of any school’s dropout prevention strategy. Topics to be covered in this live discussion range from “big picture” issues such as developing realistic expectations of what technology can and can’t do, to spotlighting specific technologies that are both powerful and inexpensive. While aimed particularly at those working with students in the school setting, this program will hold valuable insights and recommendations for parents, community members and at-risk students themselves.

Resources:

Adobe Digital Kids Club.

Apple iTunes U. (2008).

CARET: Center for Applied Research in Educational Technology. (2005).

Discovery Education. (2010).

Free Software resources. (2008).

Using Technology to Enhance Engaged Learning for At-Risk Students. (1997).

Improving Graduation Rates through Virtual Schooling

In his 2008 book ‘Disrupting Class’, Clayton Christensen, Harvard Business School professor and noted author on disruptive technology and innovation, suggests that within the next decade, U.S. high school students may be taking up to 50% of their courses virtually. While independent virtual schools have begun to proliferate outside of the traditional school system, Stuart will discuss alternative models of virtual schooling that schools and districts may embrace to keep students “within their borders.” In addition, he will examine the potential for helping to improve graduation rates through virtual education models.

Resources:

Presentation Slides

WestEd, Edvance Research, Inc. (2008). Evaluating Online Learning: Challenges and Strategies for Success .

International Association for K-12 Online Learning. (2010).

Picciano, A. G., & Seaman, J. (2008). K-12 Online Learning: A 2008 Follow-up of the Survey of U.S. School District Administrators. http://www.sloanconsortium.org/publications/survey/pdf/k-12_online_learning_2008.pdf . Newburyport, MA : The Sloan Consortium.

Keeping Pace with K12 Online Learning. (2010).

International Association for K-12 Online Learning (2010). National Standards of Quality for Online Courses/North American Council for Online Learning. http://www.inacol.org/research/nationalstandards/NACOL%20Standards%20Quality%20Online%20Courses%202007.pdf .

Penn Foster Virtual High School. (2010).

Software and Information Industry Association (2010). Results of the Spring 2010 SIAA Vision K-20 Survey. http://siia.net/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=2634&tmpl=component&format=raw&Itemid=318f. (2009)

SREB State Virtual Schools. (2010).

National Dropout Prevention Center/Network (2009). Video: NDPN Board Member Rob York talks about virtual learning options.

National Dropout Prevention Center/Network (2009). Video: San Antonio Independent School District Dropout Recovery Program.

National Dropout Prevention Center/Network (2009). Video: Student Success Stories With Virtual Learning.

Dropout Prevention in the Digital Society

Being a teenager today is very different from when most of us reading this description were struggling with our own teen angst. Today students have no privacy, no “safe place,” and an audience that is truly, truly global. All with the click of a mouse. They are the ‘digital natives’….

Doris Settles, nationally recognized Digital Culture and Safety speaker and author of the recent book, ‘Virtual Parenting’, will discuss solutions for the adult community, ‘the digital immigrants’, to make education, work skills, and social interaction relevant, rigorous, and safe for these ‘digital natives’. This always-on, always-connected environment is foreign to most of us, and the technologically immersed environment in which they live has little, if any, connection to the world run by adults, disengaging those already headed for dropping out even further. The solution, according to Settles, is to work together.

Resources:

Presentation Slides

Addressing Bullying in Schools: An Introduction to the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. (2008). Solutions to the Dropout Crisis.

Cyberbullying. (2010).

Cyberbullying.org. http://www.cyberbullying.org/. (2009).

Digital Citizenship: Using Technology Appropriately. (2010).

eSchool News.

The International Society for Technology in Education. (2010).

National Dropout Prevention Center/Network (2009). Video: Doris Settles Keynote – As the World Turns.

Settles, D. (2009). Virtual Parenting. The Publishing Place.

WiredSafety. (2010).