CyberLearning Report
Collier County Education Group
Semester One, 2006-2007
Collier County School District, Naples, FL

January 2, 2007

2006-07 First Semester Report on the CyberLearning IT/Math Academy Program set up with a 95% Grant from the Nonprofit

Result: 25% improvement in student scores in one semester

By Grace Vaknin, Project Manager

 

The Collier County Public School District serves the city of Naples and the city of Immokalee in Florida . Immokalee has a large agricultural area and is the home to many migrant workers and their families. 98% of the students in this area are on free or reduced lunch. We have concentrated the CyberLearning IT/Math Academy Program in this area. Our goal is not only to improve the technology and math skills of our Immokalee Students but also to prepare them for "school to work". The CyberLearning course work lends to IT certifications in areas such as Microsoft office (Word, Excel and Access), Web Development (Dreamweaver, Flash, Adobe Photoshop CS, etc.) and Networking (A+, Novell and Cisco). Our expectations are that some of these students will achieve this certification, allowing them to be competitive as they enter the work force.

 

 

Jaime Hernandez and Grace Vaknin demonstrate CyberLearning Mastery Certificates that his
students earned upon completion of each section of their course work in CyberLearning.
 

 

 

 

CyberLearning Chairman Dr. Appu Kuttan (middle) Congratulates Collier high school teacher Jaime Hernandez (left) and Collier CyberLearning Academy director Grace Vaknin (right)

 As the Super Administrator I entered into training with Deepu Mitra, Program Director for CyberLearning. I initially trained with him intensively for approximately two weeks via webcams and phone conferences. I still am in contact with him almost daily with regard to field issues and updates to the CyberLearning site. In turn, with his initial help I was able to create an Instructional Guide for both the Super Administrator (myself) and the Training Administrators (participating teachers). The teachers and I have worked together to plan out their curriculum for the year, integrating the CyberLearning course work where ever feasible. Each teacher is aware that their students need to begin and end each course with the Skills Assessment Test. This test serves as both the pretest and post test. This test must be done in one seating by the student and takes approximately 30 minutes. It consists of 30 randomized questions that are pulled from a bank of 100. Thus, students sitting next to one another do not see the same questions. The teachers have begun viewing reports to see that their students are on task and to track their progress. These are the reports that will eventually need to be turned into the CyberLearning Center at the end of each semester. Each Training Administrator will receive a stipend from CyberLearning at the end of the first semester and again at the end of the second semester. Also, as an additional incentive each Training Administrator has been personally assigned the CyberLearning course packages for their own use.

 

Students also receive 24x7 live instant mentoring from CyberLearning online mentors. For a nominal hosting/mentoring fee paid to CyberLearning (CyberLearning provides 95% matching grant), the students get a unique opportunity to take a variety of CyberLearning classes which enables them to then master skills and take the certification tests for their particular area of study. In many of the classes the students move back and forth between the CyberLearning course work and a hands-on lab that reinforces the course work. This appears to be a highly successful method of implementation.

 

Many students have already completed the IC3 digital literacy course. This course meets the Federal NCLB (No Child Left Behind) technology proficiency mandates for 8th graders. In addition, it enables the students to obtain a universally recognized digital literacy certification. Such certification will add to their job prospects even if they drop out of school.

 

Currently, I am employed as an Instructional Technology Coordinator and Project Manager, working with teachers and curriculum developers. The costs involved with using CyberLearning, as provided by the National Education Foundation, are far less than the average online curriculum. Most school districts do not have the funds or expertise to offer this type of courseware and delivery. With CyberLearning any school district can now afford to have its own online program packaged specifically to its needs. I strongly recommend that school districts take advantage of the CyberLearning grant to help their students improve their IT and math skills, thus preparing them to enter the 21st century as competitors in the global economy.