Kingston Middle School joined the DLC last fall and Principal Susan Wistrand began to make the most of their membership from day one. She understands that the key to her students’ future success lies in her ability to leverage all she can for them at this crucial developmental stage.

“The National Association of Secondary School research tells us that students’ success in the middle school years is often the key to academic success in high school,” says Wistrand, “The DLC’s resources make it possible for my staff members and students to reach academic success with quality online resources. Some of our challenges include our students lacking access to computers at home and our school budget preventing us from having the most current technology.” By joining the DLC, Wistrand was able to use the money she saved to shore up her school’s digital hardware—more computers and other necessary equipment.

Train your staff for free—early and often

The DLC provided free training for Wistrand and her staff at the start of the school year, outlining and demonstrating the powerful teaching and learning resources included in the school’s membership. “My staff members have requested additional content area trainings and library resource trainings on our professional development days. Our librarian and I attended a Seattle DLC trainer training that was wonderful. All of these free trainings have provided meaningful and relevant professional development that staff can immediately implement into their teaching practices,” she says.

Differentiated learning and assessment is key

DLC materials support individual students working at their own reading level and at their own pace. Many of the resources support individual practice, formative and summative assessment, and provide a means of tracking student progress. “Students are engaged in interactive learning which is far more appealing and engaging to them,” Wistrand explains, “My teachers facilitate the learning process and meet students’ levels with ease.”

Teaching resources help struggling students master core concepts

“We have a before-school support program that uses ExploreLearning Gizmos to meet our struggling math students’ individual needs. The program enables students to manipulate the data so they understand concepts visually and at a much deeper level. Students and parents can also access these resources from school, home and any public library computer, which builds on that valuable home-school partnership for success. This is particularly important given many of our families do not have access to computers in their homes,” says Wistrand.

Math staff members use the interactive math Gizmos as a supplement to group to help students visually understand complex concepts.

Library databases support those social studies CBAs

Kingston social studies and English teachers and their librarian use DLC library resources with students as they complete research projects and OSPI’s state-mandated social studies classroom-based assessments. The DLC search engines enable students to locate primary resources and resources that fit their reading level and their research project choice.

Online Courses? Oui!

Wistrand has even introduced online courses at the middle school level: “We have numerous students taking French online because budget cuts required us to eliminate this foreign language from our offerings. We hope to encourage students to take more advanced courses or intervention type courses next year.”

Help them envision a concrete path to success

Kingston’s counseling staff uses DLC career planning resources that were purchased at a reduced rate with their membership. Wistrand sees career planning as an integral part of her work with middle school students. “Because many of our students come from disadvantaged homes, it is extremely important that we help our students set goals and plan for those goals that lead to success in high school and in their post secondary plans,” she says, “The DLC resources enable our staff members to help all students rather than just a few.”

“In my 35 years of working in education in three states,” Wistrand reflects, “this is the most cost effective and exciting program I have had the privilege of working with and implementing in schools. My staff and I have great plans to further expand these resources in our middle school.”

Evie Wonderly. Even her name sounds heroic. Take a determined secretary from a very small district… two high schools with limited teachers to teach elective and required courses… add the Digital Learning Commons (DLC)… and you’ve got the plot of a great technology success story.

When Cape Flattery School District joined the DLC in 2007, it was interested in solving one sticky problem: providing students with online alternatives for courses that Clallam Bay and Neah Bay Schools were not equipped to offer. Wonderly, who was working part-time in the district office, took on the role of overseeing the district’s DLC membership, acting as a liaison between teachers, students, and the DLC. “I have an elementary teaching license,” she says, “so getting back in the classroom to assist teachers and students with the DLC was a natural fit for me.”

Making history with online courses

In that first membership year, Wonderly’s primary focus was online classes. She began to address the needs of her students and her over-extended teachers with online elective courses. This year, though, things stepped up a notch or two. Wonderly is using an online course, Pacific Rim History, to fulfill a history graduation requirement for a third of the population of Clallam Bay High School.

“Twenty-five of our 36 high school students are taking online courses and half of those are fulfilling their Washington State History requirement,” says Wonderly. “We have three full-time and two half-time teachers at Clallam Bay High School. There just aren’t enough hours in the day for the two history/English teachers to slip in a Washington State History class. So we decided to give this a try, a “hybrid” online class.”

Students are registered for the online class but there is one actual class period at Clallam where they work together. An on-site monitor helps them understand their assignments and emails questions back and forth to the instructor of the online class. “Internet Academy has been fantastic. They let us have students work together on projects and they give us any information that we need to clarify assignments,” says Wonderly. She augments online sessions with experiential learning to pull in the students and engage them in things beyond their computers. In-class visitors from the Makah Cultural and Research Center talked about some of their native traditions and resources; a truly “hands-on” session centered on the art of Washington State cooking.

All levels of learners in one room

Over at Neah Bay, another 20 students are taking online courses through the DLC. Some of them are also fulfilling a graduation requirement. “They have an interesting thing going for their Spanish program,” Wonderly explains, “They have one class period but students at many levels, so they use online classes with one in-school instructor. Students receive the content that they need at their level without the instructor trying to teach two or three different levels at the same time.”

Her most impressive success story involves a student who will graduate this year because he made up one year of course work with online classes. She adds, “Last year, he was classified as a sophomore, but he took online courses beyond his regular workload and he’s scheduled to graduate on time.”

Teambuilding works

Wonderly credits some of the success in the Cape Flattery School District to the DLC’s School Support team: “The support I get from the DLC is amazing… I’m always emailing questions; we’ve had people come out and do trainings with us. And it kind of works the same way with the students. The more support we can give them, the more success they have with the online classes. We call the DLC for support and the students call us for support, and if you keep that chain going, that’s what makes the program successful.”

We couldn’t think of a happier ending.

Moshe Calm earned a perfect score on his AP Chemistry exam and aced early entrance to Illinois Institute of Technology and Eastern University.

Justin Miller tackled AP Calculus and Statistics to better his options of getting into one of the best engineering schools in the country. His top pick at the moment is Caltech.

Both of these brilliant young men are fast-tracked for a career in engineering and they are getting there, in part, because of DLC online courses sponsored by the Amgen Foundation. Beginning last spring, the Amgen Foundation granted the DLC funds to cover the costs of Justin and Moshe's online AP-level math and science courses, along with 20 other Washington high school students studying math and science online.

DLC fills the learning gap

“Moshe took the AP Chemistry exam and got a five… a five!” says Debora Gurrad, his DLC Teacher/Mentor. Gurrad helped steer Moshe toward the online AP course when Kingston High School cut the AP Chemistry class he needed. “The online courses were good and he is an amazing student. With the help of the online teacher and the support of Kingston Chemistry/Physics teacher Josh Haza, Moshe was able to succeed with a very demanding curriculum.”

A similar situation arose for Justin. Oroville High Principal Steve Quick explains, “We are a small school and we don’t have enough interest in AP classes for us to offer them any other way than online. Technology is a great option. Online courses provide flexibility with scheduling and availability.”

Quick loves online learning and the options it gives his school and students: “I've been involved with the DLC almost since it started. It's one of the great things that have happened to education in Washington State in my opinion.”

Online learning is individualized learning

Moshe found that his online teacher was “responsive and the online discussion boards with other students were helpful.” Justin agrees: “I really like the format of my Aventa Statistics class this year. You get to take the worksheet as many times as you need to get 100% to ensure that you really have the concepts before you take the tests. This class has a lot of support opportunities, like discussion boards, so you know what you are doing and can stay informed.”

Accountability and support for math and science students

“Since Moshe’s class was sponsored by Amgen, funds were freed up for another student to take a DLC online course. I think he would have taken it anyway, but it was a great thing for the school that Amgen sponsored the course,” says Gurrad.

Quick adds, “Amgen sponsored an AP Calculus class last year for Justin. This year, they sponsored his AP Statistics class. The Amgen support helped us to offset costs, but it also gave Justin another set of eyes on him while he was working; he knew he was accountable.”

What do you do when you encounter that one team member who just doesn’t pull her weight? It’s a common problem in our fast-paced world, where life has become project-oriented and deadline driven. Everyone’s in the same boat but your oar seems a bit sodden as you watch your co-worker casting for trout or working on her tan. How do you hold her accountable? Why didn’t she ever learn the rules that you follow?

Hold them accountable, but bring on the fun

Andrew Miller, one of TAF Academy’s ninth grade English and Social Studies teachers, believes that project-based learning holds everyone accountable for themselves and the group in which they find themselves. In fact, Technology Access Foundation is so strongly committed to project-based learning that they created TAF Academy centered on that theme; four additional public schools based on this model are in the developmental stages. Technology is the key to it all and Miller uses the Digital Learning Commons (DLC) to make it happen and make it fun.

“There is an instant buy-in with technology. Everything is in the workspace, online. They prefer to go and look it up rather than me giving them a packet of paper. My students will say, ‘I don’t want to look at a paper.’ But, if that same information is in an online workspace, it just hooks kids. I’m not sure why…,” Miller muses, “I think there really needs to be a case study about why online has such a positive connotation. They associate it with only good things.”

Integrate the DLC right into the project

For every project, Miller makes a workspace in Catalyst Tools and integrates other DLC resources, such as library databases or teaching resources into that workspace. “I try to have all of my research accessed through the DLC, and I instruct my students on how to use the different research tools,” says Miller, “The biggest success story is that they take that workspace and make it the “go-to” space for all the sheets or references or links they need. They also create a workspace for the team itself and create a contract of the rules of their group which they sign. They use discussion boards to communicate about the work or issues that arise.”

Miller tries to make the activities as technologically stimulating as possible. The groups still have to read the assigned book, but they might collaborate to make a podcast, create a blog, or some other outlet for writing that uses online tools. The DLC and an open mind take the “formal” out of essay writing. Miller still makes them write traditional essays to build skills, but he uses supplemental tools to “show that it is all writing—good writing—and online is just another way to write.”

What if someone isn’t rowing the boat?

There is no where to hide in Miller’s rowboat. Students who are home sick can access project status in an instant and upload their assignments to stay on track. The team member down with the flu, or a bad case of procrastination, is held to task by his peers within the team workspace. It’s genius. Ultimately, Miller wants them come to their own understanding that goofing off is a waste of their time.

He elaborates: “We even had a few students who were suspended for behavioral issues, and we talked about how to solve the problem for the teams because I did not stop the project or change their deadline. So, they reflected and came up with a plan to talk daily and give the people at home a way to stay involved. It is just evidence that they’ve owned the process. They give me access and I can see what they did, share it with their parents, and monitor their choices throughout.”

Relevant learning leads to integration

Miller says that his students love Catalyst Tools and using discussion boards. The relevancy of project learning and technology has led his students to use the DLC for activities beyond assignments.

Reflecting on this success, he says, “They are making workspaces for everything now. We were doing a creative writing project and some of the kids made their own creative writing workspace totally outside of our class where they share their writing with each other. They said, ‘Look what we did!’ Another student made a current events workspace where she posts articles and makes discussion boards. Kids go there to comment or just say hello. It’s kind of cool.”

Integration inspires creativity. Creativity inspires involvement. Involvement inspires community success, not just within Miller’s classroom but well beyond.

Learn more about TAF Academy.

TAF Academy, founded by the Technology Access Foundation, welcomed its first wave of Federal Way students with a new approach to student-based education. The DLC was there from the start, partnering with TAF to ensure swift and creative access to digital resources and tools for students and teachers.

Andrew Miller, a ninth grade English and Social Studies teacher at TAF, talks about his work and the ways in which TAF's DLC membership has supported this budding school.

Ending a vicious cycle

The whole idea behind TAF is getting under-served populations access to technology. Miller cites "Stuck in the Shallow End: Education, Race, and Computing," a 2008 MIT case study of certain schools with high populations of Latinos and African Americans that demonstrated the lack of technology access for those students. He summarizes: "Consequently, technology careers become non-ethnic careers. It’s a vicious cycle. We believe that we need to lead the charge to give kids access to technology in useful and meaningful ways. Make it real to them so that they use it as a good tool for digital literacy and innovation so we can bridge this gap."

DLC membership assures student buy-in

Without the DLC, Miller says that his students would be lost--literally--as they randomly searched all over the internet for information. They wouldn't have a tool to keep them all on task; they would be without storage space or a way to hold each other accountable. And most importantly, they wouldn't buy in to the curriculum if it wasn't digital. "Without the DLC, they just wouldn’t be as excited. It generates a level of excitement, play, and curiosity that I love," says Miller, "The technology is all there and it gives me a way for assessment that is complete."

Student-based learning in a nutshell:

Miller's freshmen are given a task around an essential question that is evaluative, inquiry-based or open-ended. A recent project in his classroom centered on the question: How has the casino industry impacted the culture of the Northwest Native Indian populations? Their next question, How can I stop AIDS from killing my friends, family and community?, allows his students even greater freedom of expression and project choice.

Grouped in collaborative teams, his students must create a product to reflect what they’ve found or to make change—a briefing, a brochure, a pamphlet, etc. "They are in charge of figuring out what they need to find, where to find it, how to put the data together, what to do with the data. They get to choose how the product is produced and what they have to do. So instead of me telling them what to produce, they have to choose to demonstrate what they learn," Miller says.

This type of learning feeds into their strengths; students gravitate to those skills where they naturally excel or have a strong interest. Taking the best of workplace collaboration and style, student-based learning creates community within the classroom. It's not just about the product, but also the process by which the students learn about a subject and themselves.

Learn more about Miller's work with project learning and DLC's Digital Tools.

Technology Access Foundation, a Seattle nonprofit committed to preparing under-served children of color for success in education and in life, was co-founded by Executive Director Trish Millines Dziko. A DLC board member, Millines Dziko and her staff worked for more than a decade to create TAF Academy's personalized public instruction. The small school serves grades six through twelve, focusing on a rigorous Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) curriculum, as well as the leadership intangibles that give young people the skills to "create the world that they themselves envision."

Specialized tutoring is not only for those students who can afford it.

Every student in a DLC member school now has a private tutor accessible to them four nights a week for free. DLC tutors are available online via live chat for personalized homework help. Creative teachers, like DLC Tutor Josh Levine, think and teach outside of the box of traditional tutoring and extend their reach to students who need them the most.

Levine, a graduate of the University of Washington with a degree in geography and urban studies, has been a DLC tutor since 2006. He also teaches Hebrew and Jewish history at Temple Beth Am Religious School in Seattle.

“When I first started tutoring for the DLC, we emailed every student individually after receiving their questions by email. It was harder to gauge success from student to student," he explains, "Since switching to live chat, our work is much more in-depth because if the students are not clear, you can ask them for clarification and they let you know what they need right away in real time.”

Advantages over traditional tutoring

“Another teacher at Temple Beth Am Religious School tutors in person for private clients,” Levine says, “When I go to the library to tutor via computer, I often see him tutoring students in person. There are many disadvantages to working in person: the kids might not show up, or they are in a bad mood, or they’re tired, or they forget their books. Or, on the other hand, they are asking him too much and they need more than the hour he is prepared to give.” Levine believes that online tutoring makes the most of everyone’s time and resources. The DLC tutoring program is versatile and allows students to get help at their own pace and at every hour of the day.

One student at a time

Since mid-October, Levine has tutored several students a day using the new platform.” An average online tutor session is an hour long, while other students log on for only 15 minutes to get a quick confirmation or have a question answered. “Usually students will log on with one question and then think of more,” says Levine, “Or, they’ll do their homework and I’ll give them pointers or help them along. Some students work for two hours straight. They just want to go through everything to make sure that they are doing it right.”

How does it work?

Most of the students he works with are looking for assistance with math homework or test preparation. And while Levine specializes in math, students contact him most often for questions about social studies, business and Spanish. Three other tutors round out the DLC team, covering a variety of subject areas.

“You start to get an overview of the problem your student is having in the chat box, and then for math you can use the text boxes and the line, arrow or free draw tools to map out the problem,” he explains. Levine usually selects a different color of text to respond, pointing arrows or circling things to draw the student’s attention to successful answers or to things that need to be fixed or revisited.

Success story: the geometry of pizza

Levine helped one student understand geometry when all other options had failed:”I had one student that was having a lot of trouble with geometry and the way that it was explained in class and in his textbook didn’t work for him. He wasn’t able to visually understand some of the rules and theorems about angles. Even though geometry is very visual, it doesn’t always work on paper. So by drawing in live chat, I was able to animate the problem to illustrate the different rules and laws for triangles, circles and squares. I was able to draw pictures to make a shape, like a pizza. So, then, the angle would be the size of the slice of pizza that he’d get. He really liked this approach, it made sense to him.”

Levine sums up the new platform and direction for tutoring at the DLC: “I think that students get more out of this system, and I teach better with technology and live chat.”

Learn more about the DLC tutor program.

One year ago, Shoreline school district rolled out a 1 to 1 laptop program: all students in grades five through twelve were given a laptop computer to use for school work in the classroom and at home. Along with those brand new computers came the Digital Learning Commons and a plethora of resources. For Janet Paden, sixth grade teacher at Brookside Elementary School, these were the “best tools” to enter her classroom in 19 years.

“The first year with the laptops, we went further, faster, deeper, and better than I have ever been able to go in 19 years of teaching,” said Paden, “We get these kids for maybe five hours a day and so much time is wasted--fire drills, assemblies. The laptop is the only tool, besides a book, where you can make every moment of their day valuable; which is what we are all trying to do. It’s an amazing tool.”

Data project goes digital

A data collection project was her breakthrough to the DLC. Last spring, her students engaged in an electronic survey and data analysis by using the DLC’s WebQ survey tool. Students worked in groups of three to collect and collate answers to the question “Who are we at Brookside?” Paden explained: “We worked together as a class to create an electronic survey. Then the beautiful part was that my students took their laptops down to the primary grades and taught the younger students, one-on-one, how to use the survey. We were able to collect so much more data than we’ve ever been able to collect before. I used to do this same process on paper, turning their cubbies into a data warehouse with all those slips of paper. It was crazy.”

Another use of WebQ involved keynote presentations which incorporated online quizzes as links at the conclusion of each report. “The presenters had to analyze the main points of their own work in order to make the survey,” said Paden, “And the listeners had to be on the ball to answer the questions. It was a win-win for everyone.”

Other digital tools

From there, Paden moved on to other tools within the DLC’s Digital Tools suite. Collect It saved her enormous amounts of work and a considerable amount of paper. “I was really intrigued with electronic paperless grading as an effort to save paper. But, I discovered that I could write comments right on their digital work and could give very specific feedback in the areas that they need. They are still young enough that feedback is really motivating to them. They get to make changes and resubmit, with comments that they want me to see. I have that whole paper trail that never gets lost, taken home, or recycled.”

Mastering that, Paden moved on to GoPost for student discussions. She intends to use it for her civil rights topic in social studies and sees this online discussion as a means for self discovery for her students.

Gizmos make short work of her goals

One of Paden’s core beliefs as an educator is that her students should be focusing on the subject at hand even after they’ve finished the assignment of the hour. If it’s math time and a student finishes early, it’s still math time. She uses ExploreLearning Gizmos to provide her students with extra activities that are fun and formative. “Right now, we are working on fractions. I print the study guide and make it into a packet with three fraction Gizmos for each student. So in their downtime when they have finished their work, they make their way through those online Gizmos using the study guides.”

This year, her goal with the laptops was to have valuable activities in each subject area so that there was never a moment when her students were not engaged. “That was my goal for the entire year. Then we had the training on the laptops and the DLC’s Gizmos and other resources--I had met that goal by the end of September,” Paden said, “Do you believe it? I’ve been working on this goal for 18 years and I’ve completed it in a month! The Gizmos are a huge part of that because math is the hardest one. It has to be something they can do independently. Once I had these electronic activities to use, it was just so easy.”

Substantive work

Through her work with the DLC, Paden has embraced the whole intent of technology integration in the classroom. Reflecting on the possibilities ahead, she said: “I went home last year feeling better about what I’d accomplished than I had in 19 years, so I am passionate about what we can do with kids through technology. The laptops are not babysitters or a way to get iTunes. This is substantive work; they are able to get to high level thinking for much greater chunks of the day. And this is just my first year… just the tip of the iceberg compared to what I am going to be able to do with the DLC.”

Mark Clements recently completed the DLC’s Teacher2Teacher (T2T) Collaboration Program, our year-long professional development cohorts that are offered free to participating members across Washington State.

As the principal of a K-12 home school resource center within the Battle Ground School District, Clements leads a core team of 50; 20 certified educators and 30 paraprofessionals, including parents. River Home Link’s 465 students access their online classes and resources through the DLC.

Clements’ enthusiastic embrace of the skills he gained through T2T has led to significant growth in his own work, that of his team, and ultimately, the students they serve.

Focus on learning

“I believe that the principal should be an instructional leader so when I saw the opportunity that T2T provided—answering the question How can I integrate technology into effective learning opportunities?—I knew I wanted to invest my time,” says Clements, “I also had a staff member who was interested in that as well. Having a team made synergy possible at my site.”

Clements already had a fairly strong grasp of DLC resources and he found T2T to be “more about enhancing learning.” This training style resonated with his personal philosophy. “The concept of T2T is incredibly important because the focus is on learning and not on the tools that enable learning,” Clements reflects, “As a profession, we tend to see teaching as activities, and we hold activities sacred instead of focusing on learning and seeing that activities can be adapted to further learning.”

Roles that T2T leaders play

A T2T teacher leader, or “instructional leader” as Clements defines it, assumes many roles within a school:

• Facilitator: Plan meetings; provide teachers with technology-rich lessons.
• Collaborator: Assist teachers in writing/adapting standards-based lessons, activities or units that are rich in technology.
• Consultant: Expertly model effective ways to integrate DLC tools; team-teach a lesson; present meaningful uses of the DLC and provide examples of student work at staff meetings.
• Coach: Build relationships and trust; help your cooperating teachers become independent learners; use communication skills to focus on student learning.

A year-long exploration

At a three-day retreat last summer, Clements met his fellow collaborators and instructors, the cohort group that would explore the concepts of peer coaching, powerful teaching, and resource integration that are the cornerstones of the T2T program. The group continued their study with two follow-up reunions and a DLC discussion board where they extended their learning online.

From theory to practice

Taking what he learned in T2T, Clements combined other resources and attained a higher level of understanding of the material. “The goal is to make it practical and that worked here. I’ve actually used the T2T concepts and applied them to a study group in my church with incredible success,” says Clements. He even uses T2T protocols at district negotiation meetings.

“In traditional lesson design and practice, we tend to forget that opportunity to reflect and [these] protocols provide a very simple yet powerful way to bring reflection back into lesson planning and the classroom. Teachers have taken that concept and used it,” Clements recalls, “I visited a social studies classroom where seventh and eighth grade students were giving oral reports. I saw students who were actively engaged in the student presentations, rather than just acting like they were listening, waiting for their turn. Kids went from complete disengagement to active listening and engagement. This is truly exciting stuff because that is what we are all about.”

Build your team, trust them, and have fun

Clements believes that it is important to attend a T2T cohort with a team from your school. “Kent Graham and I, on a daily basis, could remind each other--or choose to ignore each other,” he jokes, “We are digital immigrants, so just having him here is helpful. Collaboration among staff is a real benefit.” Email announcements, staff meetings, and demonstrations by internal “experts” on DLC resources are a few of the ways that Clements broadcasts and implements T2T principles.

His staff has new perspectives on lesson design because of T2T and some teachers are beginning to share that knowledge with home school parents. “We are a parent partner program and part of that is curriculum. They are my unpaid staff members and they are deserving of professional development as well,” says Clements. That comes in the form of regular consultation meetings and twice-yearly formal in-service workshops where technology integration and lesson design are hot topics.

T2T tipping point

While Clements “had a blast” participating in T2T, the program has given him much to consider and has influenced his long-term planning. He’s included T2T as a substantial component of his five-year vision for River Home Link. “We had two people attend the cohort and the DLC has been great about bringing trainers to the school. If we have the option of more training in T2T, I would bring in a parent and another teacher, doubling our internal team from two to four; that would provide a possible tipping point for moving the learning forward at a faster pace.”

Cohorts begin anew every August

Interested in our upcoming Eastern or Western Washington T2T cohorts? Learn more.

Kellie Glaze comes from a logging family that has made its livelihood off the land for generations. When she’s not at school, she’s assisting her 72-year-old father with the family business. But Glaze doesn’t traverse Washington’s forests; she works on another frontier. “We’ve been loggers for a long time, but now this old, old industry is completely computer driven. My father needs me to navigate for him,” says Glaze, “My personal world has shown me that my students, even those who do not want to go to college, will not be able to make a living if they can’t develop computer skills.”

The theme of digital competency for all students weaves its way through Glaze’s conversation as she contemplates Pullman High School’s successful first year of membership in the DLC: “Last year, a student was getting a national science award and was on her way to college at Princeton. As I ran down the hall after talking to her, I went zapping by the cafeteria and there were two students learning how to walk. These are high school students with high needs in walking stanchions within 100 yards of one of the most brilliant students I have ever worked with. This is what today's educators get to do, and what a neat thing that is. The DLC can help us help all of them.”

Walking their way through something new

Glaze finds that DLC online courses and resources create great flexibility for her students. Pullman is using online courses to offer students additional electives, schedule flexibility, regular core classes and special education support. She’s “particularly impressed” that DLC vendors are vetted and provide follow-up.

“We’re trying to walk our way through something new,” Glaze says, “We’ve had special needs students who are willing to try and special needs teachers who are willing to learn. Our regular classroom teachers are using the Apex [ClassTools] curriculum for enhancement. The DLC gives us differentiated learning for our math curriculum, for our credit recovery, WASL prep, for our kids who can’t be matched into a regular geometry class. We can use Apex to match things up individually. The grid work is there, even though our teachers are doing the mentoring.”

DLC aiding students with special needs

Pullman’s special education program has been enhanced by the DLC. “Our students with special needs are working at an elementary school level of ability in math—a fourth, fifth or sixth grade level,” says Glaze, “We’ve matched digital curriculum through the DLC to great success. We’re now experimenting with other classes, but math has proved very successful.”

Glaze relates another success with two autistic students, one taking an online math course and the other, geography. Both of these students, at two ends of the autism spectrum, have thrived. “The social awkwardness has been taken from them, they can communicate as they feel comfortable and it has been absolutely ideal,” remarks Glaze, “They can find success without all the other peripheral issues that arise. The DLC has worked. I see more and more of that happening.”

DLC membership leads to roll out of “flex education” throughout the district

Next year, Glaze’s district is cutting her loose from her responsibilities at Pullman to develop “flex education” throughout the district, using the DLC and other resources like Running Start and advanced placement enhancement. “We will be giving them an archaic education if we don’t get our act together,” Glaze says, “When you are supposed to move on stuff, you gotta move on stuff.”

This strategy may include a home school link, working with parents, looking at credit recovery, looking at how to serve students who can’t come to school because of health issues, and other options that Glaze is just beginning to imagine. “When the students’ needs drive you, then you can do all kinds of things,” she muses, “There is where the possibilities are. We have to get them moving forward… the whole spectrum of them moving forward.”

The Digital Learning Commons has opened a door of opportunity for Calen Thompson, a sophomore student at Naselle-Grays River Valley High School. Thompson is pushing himself to take rigorous courses that will impact his future college and career paths. Currently, he is enrolled in a regular tenth grade schedule with an additional science course, an advanced math course, and an online course through the DLC.

Librarian Lori Dearmore, who is the DLC team lead and Teacher/Mentor at Naselle, encouraged Thompson to try online learning. “Calen wanted his high school transcript to stand out among others, so when considering his foreign language course options, he asked if he could take Chinese,” says Dearmore, “We are a rural K-12 school with approximately 310 students. There is only one foreign language class offered and it is Spanish. Calen explained his desire to attend the Air Force Academy after high school and how studying Chinese would affect his future.”

He enrolled in Mandarin Chinese in the fall of 2007. One class period each day was spent working on his coursework in the school library. Weekly progress reports consistently showed his average class grade to be between 97-98%. “It’s easy as long as you keep track of things,” says Thompson, “Make sure you are prepared to work alone and that you are self motivated.”

Online learning leads to the halls of Olympia

In January, Dearmore and Thompson had the opportunity to join DLC representatives and visit with state legislators. While in Olympia, Thompson described how the DLC had given him the opportunity to take a course not otherwise available at his school. He described how the Chinese class will help with his future plans and how the online delivery of instruction is a benefit to his learning style.

Thompson encourages other students to try online courses: “If your school doesn’t have a class, it is a great way to go. I’ll take one more year of Chinese through online language courses.”

During the visit to Olympia, Thompson learned about the page program available to students during the legislative session. He applied and was accepted as a Senate page for Brian Hatfield of the 19th Legislative District. Giving up his mid-winter break to work as a page and learn about the legislative process is just another example of Thompson’s drive to succeed. “Eventually, I’d like to go into government and politics, so the page program was fun,” says Thompson, “I got to do a lot and meet a lot of people.”

“The Digital Learning Commons has provided Calen an opportunity to enhance his learning and take a rigorous course online,” says Dearmore, “In doing so, his high school transcript will stand out among his peers.”

This summer, Thompson is a member of the Youth Conservation Corps, working for Wahkiakum County’s Julia Butler Hansen Wildlife Refuge. Butler Hansen was a force in Washington State politics from 1939 to 1974. Thompson plans to follow in her footsteps as a public servant. He’s planning to secure his next position in Washington, D.C. Dearmore and the DLC have full faith that he’ll make it happen.

Lori Dearmore entered this success story in the DLC’s spring contest and she and Calen were the winners of two iPod Nanos. Thanks to Lori, Calen, and Naselle-Grays River Valley High School for their membership in the DLC. If you have a success story you’d like to share, please contact us at dlcinfo@learningcommons.org.

Brenda Gilman, librarian at Shorewood High School, spends most of her time trying to get 1,800 students to become skilled library researchers. But, if it takes more than four clicks to find what they need, Gilman’s students tire of the hunt and settle for what’s on the first ten hits of a Google search. Both she and Ballard High School Librarian Debbie Arthur lament this electronic path of least resistance. Yet, their Seattle-area schools rank very high in student usage of DLC library resources. We took time to learn what they do to overcome the overuse of mainstream search engines.

A playful learning process

Gilman knows that to be taken seriously by any teenager, you must occasionally prove that you know something they don’t. She wins them over to DLC resources by making it fun, fast and credible.

“When I model it,” she says, “I use an example that works like a dream.” She and a student will sit down to research a topic on adjacent computers. Within no time, she’s found the answer through DLC sources while her student is still weeding out irrelevant references on a mainstream search engine. She describes the DLC as the “invisible web” that isn’t available to everyone. Speedy exclusivity is often the hook that gets the student invested. “I try very hard to get them to put DLC in their toolbar because then it is as fast as Google or Wikipedia.”

In addition to her one-on-one game plan to create skilled researchers, Gilman visits all ninth grade science classes to help with a current events component. “I went in for 20 minutes in each class and pitched Today’s Science. The kids loved that resource, especially when searching by date,” she says.

A DLC scavenger hunt for freshman

Each September, Arthur hosts an online scavenger hunt for incoming Ballard freshman, many of whom are shy and slightly overwhelmed. She uses humor and mystery to make the orientation engaging and memorable. Arthur jokes, “I get one shot at them for 45 minutes and so they sit there thinking, 'What did she say? Who is this crazy woman?' They look like deer in headlights.”

Arthur’s scavenger hunt may raise eyebrows with Ballard’s freshman, but this orientation is important because it triggers their usage later. Within this game, her students are given a list of questions and are told that the answers lie within the library databases of the DLC.

She asks very specific questions: “I tell them to go to DLC and do a search in the orange box. Go to Grolier and tell me where Collin Powell was born. Now, go to SIRS and tell me how many magazine articles came up around Collin Powell. Then I send them to netTrekker d.i. You have to make it real world, more interactive.”

One orientation may not quell the urge of some students to use mainstream search engines, but Arthur believes it sets the tone for the next four years. She reinforces that along the way. Later on when they are working on a project, she will say, "‘Remember Digital Learning Commons."

Best results come when resources are embedded

In creating “smart researchers” who “create better products for academic achievement,” Arthur enlists the aid of classroom teachers, encouraging them to embed DLC resources into their assignments.

A recent spike in usage of the DLC at Ballard was tied to a debate project that is assigned to most ninth and tenth grade classes. Students choose a debate topic of their choice and are directed by their teachers to go to SIRS Pro & Con Issues or the Facts on File Issues & Controversies resources. Arthur recognizes that if a teacher finds a source that gets good results from the kids, they are more apt to include it in an assignment.

Over at Shorewood, Gilman couldn’t agree more. A district-wide mandate for technology training enabled Gilman to introduce the DLC and pitch it to some of the power hitters in her school. “When you build it into the assignments, it is the best training of how to use these resources, both for the teachers and the students,” she says, “We are fortunate to have an outstanding social studies department where they do a lot of grade-level teaming, so most freshmen have used the DLC.”

The ultimate winners

“My whole goal is that when students leave Ballard, they understand that all databases have information that you can’t get from the free internet,” says Arthur.

Gilman encourages her Shorewood students to look at the long term benefits of using DLC resources. She believes that savvy teens leave high school and are able to seek digital information no matter where they find themselves—in jobs, in colleges, at the local library—and that is her mission. Her students are comfortable with library databases and can have fun in the process of fact finding, whether they are doing research for a vacation or writing a thesis.

That maturity and sense of personal ownership of their work takes time. Recently, a junior came up to her and said “You know, you made us do all that stuff and I’m actually starting to use it now.” For Gilman—and her student—it was a well-earned victory.

How do parents and students respond when the results of a student's Learning Style Inventory (LSI) are shared with them? Parents: "You really nailed it." Students: "Whoa!"

What's a Learning Style Inventory (LSI)? It's a Bridges tool offered through the Digital Learning Commons. The LSI asks students questions to determine how they best learn and results in data that helps teachers tailor their teaching to individual students' needs.

At Insight School of Washington, every student takes the LSI as part of orientation, including special education students. Anne Teresa Urquhart, the Special Education Coordinator at Insight, shared the above quotes with the DLC. She goes over LSI results with each student and his or her parents as part of the student's IEP (Individual Education Program).

LSI an eye opener

"When I go over the LSI, the parents and kids look at me in shock and awe. It's an eye opener," Urquhart says. "The LSI also helps me understand how to meet the student’s learning needs and to give them pointers on how they can help themselves learn the material."

Urquhart offers the following examples:

• Tactile students can run their finger under the text to aid learning.
• Kinesthetic students benefit from full mobility.
• Some ADHD students work better in dim lighting and get distracted by bright lights.

Quiet library environment or group work?

Urquhart says that when she worked in brick-and-mortar schools, her students were always asking to go to the library to work. She never really knew if they wanted to go for the quiet or to chitchat with friends.

"When you have this kind of information from the LSI, you can sort your class," Urquhart says. For example, students who benefit from quiet can go to the library to work on a project while students who do well in groups can stay in the classroom to collaborate.

Who motivates your students?

Urquhart says of the LSI: "I think it's pretty cool. Especially things like scores in persistence, motivation, and responsibility."

What motivates a student: parents or teachers? Urquhart says, "If it's parents, then it's important for the teacher to have a good relationship with that student's parents. If it's teachers, then a teacher knows that building a positive relationship is important for the student's success. If it's neither the parent nor the teacher, then the teacher needs to find intrinsic motivations to help the student learn."

The LSI also helps teachers determine how much information a student needs to move forward. Urquhart explains: "There are some kids who if you give them an assignment they'll figure out what they need to do on their own. There are others who if they don't have enough information, they'll just freeze up and procrastinate. So the Bridges LSI will also tell you that: how much detail and how much structure individual students need."

What time of day does a student learn best?

"Whether students are a morning, afternoon, or evening person comes across strongly in the LSI too," Urquhart says. For students who are afternoon people, for example, Urquhart suggests they work with their counselor to schedule their toughest subject for the afternoon and their easiest subject for the morning.

Online students, like Insight students, can use this information to decide when to work on which subject during the day, since they can do their coursework as early, or as late, as they want.

"There's a wealth of information in the Learning Styles. It's beneficial to everyone: counselors can use it, teachers can use it," Urquhart says. "If you have students that you need to put on a learning plan because of No Child Left Behind, there's a lot of good information there that you can include in that learning plan that can help both the students and parents at home."

Getting up to speed on the LSI

Urquhart recommends that administrators train teachers to use the LSI with real students. She suggests that teachers choose five students representing the full spectrum—from students who are really struggling at the low end to students who are doing really well at the high end.

Once those five students have taken the LSI, teachers should go over the results together. "It's much easier to see how the LSI works if you use it initially with students you've worked with for a few months. The LSI sheds light on things you may not have thought about and validates other things."

Urquhart adds in closing: "It's like 'whoa' not only for the students but for the teachers too."

Provide training to a middle/high school serving nine students in a small village in a remote part of the state? No problem. In the DLC's eyes, all schools deserve the same level of support no matter where they're located or how many students they serve.

That's why one of our staff members, Michael VanHenley, recently traveled to Chelan and took a sea plane to Lucerne, and then a community bus to Holden Village School to work with Dave Sather, who teaches nine students in Grades 7–12.

"This visit really illustrated how quickly a school could expand educational opportunities for their students. All of a sudden this extremely remote school had access to online courses, curriculum, and research tools," VanHenley says. "I think these students have a great thing going, living in a small self-sufficient community...I have no doubt that they will gain some unique perspectives as well as a great education."

Differentiating and supplementing instruction

"Having Michael come up was helpful, if not crucial, to better understand everything that was of use for me as a teacher," Sather says.

The training covered the DLC's library resources as well as the breadth and depth of Apex Learning ClassTools. As a result of the training, Sather better understands how to use DLC tools to both differentiate and supplement his instruction. And ClassTools makes it easier for Sather to monitor students' individual progress.

Sather is responsible for teaching all of the subjects with the occasional help from "village experts," who teach lessons on topics such as poetry, Spanish, and carpentry. Sather says that "the DLC is very much another teacher on site."

Tested and validated online resources

"I like the DLC because it has everything there—tested and validated. There is nothing worse than Googling something, or spending time writing lessons, and hoping it will fit for your students and where they are at academically," Sather says.

Sather explains: "I don't have time to research a lesson on, let's say, mitosis for three different reading groups. The DLC allows me to easily—on one website—come up with those lessons designed for those specific students."

Students benefit from flexibility

At Holden Village School, flexibility is important for a number of reasons. For one, students are working at different levels. For example, three of the students are taking AP English while the others are learning certain topics for the first time.

"The DLC allows those older students to dig deeper into a subject without going through a 'basic lesson' for the younger students," Sather says. "And students enjoy the flexibility of when they can do the work and the rigor it presents."

Holden Village students are in many ways learning in an ideal setting. They say that one of the benefits of working in a small classroom is that their teacher knows where they are at individually and can adjust lessons to their needs.

We at the DLC are pleased to be able to help teachers like Dave Sather use our tools to do just that.

"The DLC has given us the ability to offer a wider curriculum, which is especially helpful in broadening opportunities for our kids," says Angie Gage, Lake Quinault High School's Online Ed Mentor/Registrar.

"We don't have the teaching staff to cover every area, and a lot of our kids are looking for electives and there are great electives available online," Gage explains. Students are taking everything from art to criminal law to AP English.

Online courses mean more choices

"I know online courses are here to stay...They offer a small district like ours a wider variety of choices to really encourage the kids and make it about learning and not just putting in your time so you can go to college to do what you really want to do."

Gage explains that although teachers would love to be able to offer more options, such as AP classes, they just don't have the extra time. Since some colleges require high school students to take AP classes, online courses are a good solution for a small school district, and, as Gage points out, a wonderful way for students to get a sense of what college will be like.

Registration system streamlines administration

Prior to joining the DLC, Gage says that she and the principal had to do their own administration of online courses. "It was a bit of a nightmare. It required a lot of work on our part. When the DLC became an option, it streamlined our whole process."

The DLC's online registration system means that Gage only has to deal with one point of entry rather than having to access each provider's system. She can also check in on students' grades through the same system. "My record keeping, thanks to the DLC, is very simple."

Gage also provides the principal and parents with weekly progress reports for each student taking an online course.

Students gain valuable organizational skills

"Half of the battle with online classes is learning how to organize yourself," Gage says. "It's a really wonderful skill. Every kid should take an online class just to learn how to do that."

If a student starts to fall behind in an online class, he or she has to attend Lake Quinault's Saturday School. Students are given two weeks to bring their grades back up. Gage is happy to report that they don't see many failures in the online program.

"If we didn't have the DLC, our program wouldn't be as successful as it is. Getting kids registered and started on time is so crucial to success. And this is so easily accomplished now with the DLC."

"If we're going to purchase online courses and resources like library search engines and WOIS, it makes sense to go through the DLC because they've already done the legwork to find relevant, easy-to-use, quality resources. And the DLC saves us money," says Steve Quick, principal of Oroville Junior/Senior High School.

Oroville rejoined the Digital Learning Commons for the 2007-08 school year, which will be its second year as a member-school.

Giving staff more resources to choose from

To introduce staff to DLC resources this past fall, Quick facilitated short presentations followed by hands-on time at staff meetings. Although teachers are sometimes reluctant to try new resources, once they realize that the DLC doesn't take anything away from them but instead gives them more resources to choose from, they are more open to exploring.

Some teachers are using SIRS Top 10 Leading Issues with students who are working on research projects. SIRS, one of the DLC's library databases, offers a number of helpful tools for students doing research. "SIRS walks students through the steps," Quick says.

Quality counts in online courses

When Quick joined Oroville as principal, students were enrolled in online courses through providers that he didn't feel offered the quality of the providers the DLC works with. So this past fall, students began taking their online courses through the DLC. "The courses were cheaper too," Quick adds.

Oroville isn't able to offer Advanced Placement, so online AP courses are popular at the school. Students have a class period built into their schedules for their DLC courses, and Quick monitors their progress through the reports sent by the providers.

Quick says he also pushes the DLC with parents by including information in the parent newsletters. "The DLC has lots of great resources," Quick says, "for teachers, students, and parents.