Webcast Details
Aired on: March 10th, 2009
3:30–4:30 p.m. (ET)
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Our Guest(s) This Week
Stuart Udell
Stuart Udell is Chief Executive Officer of Penn Foster, one of the world's oldest and largest distance learning institutions and operator of Penn Foster High School, Penn Foster Career School and Penn Foster College. In prior roles, Stuart served as President of Kaplan K12 Learning Services and President of the School Renaissance Institute. Stuart currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network. In addition, he serves as Vice Chairman of the Software and Information Industry Association, where he also is a member of the Education Division board. Stuart has an MBA from Columbia University and a BS from Bucknell University.
This Week's Topic
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:
(2008). Evaluating Online Learning: Challenges and Strategies for Success 
.
International Association for K-12 Online Learning. (2010).
(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).
(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).
(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).
(2009). Video: NDPN Board Member Rob York talks about virtual learning options.
(2009). Video: San Antonio Independent School District Dropout Recovery Program.
(2009). Video: Student Success Stories With Virtual Learning.