Frequently Asked Questions

General

What is the Digital Learning Commons?

The Digital Learning Commons (DLC) is a nonprofit organization working to improve access to educational opportunities and learning resources by providing high-quality educational materials, online courses, and technology tools to all students, teachers, and parents in Washington State.

The DLC was launched in the 2003-04 school year on the recommendation of the Washington State Digital Education Initiative Task Force, which was initiated by former Governor Gary Locke. Since then, the DLC has successfully worked with schools around the state. The DLC has been open to homeschool families since the 2006-07 school year.

Is the DLC a school?

The DLC is not a school. Homeschool families join the DLC to make use of a range of online resources to personalize children's homeschool learning experiences, including educator-reviewed and safe reference materials, supplemental curricula to enhance instruction, and over 300 courses in a variety of subjects, including foreign language and advanced-level courses.

Can I get a diploma from the DLC?

The DLC is not a school and, therefore, does not award credit or diplomas.

Can families from outside of Washington State join the DLC?

At this time, DLC membership is limited to Washington State residents.

Signing Up

How do we join?

Simply fill out this short online form. This will take about 5–10 minutes. Before you start, gather the following information:

• Email address.
• Phone number.
• The name of each child you'd like to use DLC resources with.
• A credit card for payment (or you can opt to have DLC bill you so you can pay with a check).

When is the last day to join the DLC for the 2007-08 school year?

November 16, 2007 is the last day to join the DLC.

Courses

Are there limits to how many online courses a parent can enroll its child in?

There are no limits to online courses outside of what each family can afford.

What is the parent's role in an online course?

The parent will:

• Register the student in the online course.
• Assist with use of technology and logging in to the course.
• Facilitate communication with the online instructor.
• Act as the main contact to the course provider and the DLC for questions regarding enrollment.

All courses have an online instructor. Parents do not need to be subject-matter experts (although some course providers recommend this for students at the Advanced Placement level).

Does my child need an email account to take an online course?

No, the DLC will provide a monitored and filtered email account for your child to use to correspond with his or her online instructor. The email accounts are provided by Gaggle.net.

What is the DLC's drop policy?

Drop requests submitted to the DLC:

• Within the first 10 weekdays of an online course's start date will be assessed a drop fee of 25% of the course cost.
• After the first 10 weekdays of an online course's start date will be assessed a drop fee of 100% of the course cost.

Reimbursement of the cost of materials for a dropped course is subject to the return policies of the providers and is not guaranteed.

How does the DLC select course providers and courses?

General criteria for evaluating online courses and providers are based on national research and on research conducted in 2002 by former Governor Locke's Digital Education Initiative for Washington State Task Force.

• Courses should be primarily asynchronous, to allow as much scheduling flexibility as possible.
• Courses should be offered on flexible schedules wherever possible, to accommodate the differing calendars of schools/programs.
• Middle school, as well as high school, courses should be offered.
• A full array of "types" of courses should be offered, including core, credit recovery, elective, Advanced Placement, foreign language, English as a Second Language (ESL), technical/vocational, and college-credit courses.
• Subject, grade-level, and course-type requests from participating schools/programs should be honored wherever possible.
• Courses should be instructed (vs. self-study).
• Expectations, responsibilities, and grading policies should be clearly stated.
• Online instructors should actively engage students and encourage the development of an online learning community to foster collaboration and a sense of belonging.
• Online instructors should be prompt in responding to student questions, assignments, and other communications.
• Online courses should be media-rich, engaging, and interactive and designed to accommodate different learning styles.
• Providers should have above-average completion rates, excellent student support, reliable platforms, and good communications strategies with students and schools.

DLC staff regularly meet with course providers and survey educators and students to ensure high-quality standards.

Technology

What types of technology are needed to access DLC resources?

The specific technology requirements vary depending on the course or resource being used. Most of the DLC's offerings are web-based and only require computers that are able to run current web browsers and common browser plug-ins. More detailed technical specifications can be found in the Technology section of the DLC website.

In addition, each child enrolled in an online course should have access to an available computer for a period of time during the day in order to complete coursework.