Albuquerque Public Schools To Expand Online Offerings
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12.05.2006—Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) in New Mexico will be expanding its online learning solutions with the help of Blackboard technology. The district is expected to launch new K-12 courses online and to expand its adult professional development courses starting in January.
As part of the plan, APS will start work with a pilot group of students in January--students who have indicated a preference for an "integrated learning experience." According to Blackboard, the pilot program will include online discussions, posting of materials and testing, with teachers setting up specific class modules. By fall 2007, APS is expected to have students and faculty participating in online courses involving core subject areas. The district will also add six specialized areas of instruction to the two currently being offered, including Driver Safety, Nursing, Least Restrictive Environment, Differentiated Instruction, Curriculum Mapping and Internet Safety, as well as three "Student Information System Training Modules."
"We have experienced very positive reactions from students to our online professional development classes. We started the program with one online ESL (English as a Second Language) language class. We have now increased that number to five online classes to meet the demand for additional online offerings. It was clear we needed more online education so we invested in Blackboard's technology to meet the needs of our learners," said Sue Carpenter, Manager of Learning Technologies for APS, in a prepared statement. "Students are not only learning a great deal more through online learning, but also are enjoying the process. As a result, we are expanding into K-12 and adding more professional development offerings."
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About the author: Dave Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's educational technology online publications and electronic newsletters. He can be reached at [email protected].
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