Virtual Classrooms

Between January and March at Eau Claire Area School District in Wisconsin, less than 20 percent of middle school students took all-virtual classes instead of hybrid, but they accounted for 39 percent of F letter grades.

After a lawsuit alleged the state of New Mexico failed to provide necessary devices and connectivity for students to participate in remote learning, a judge has ordered the state to assess the cost and get it done.

Though it already had enough devices for each student prior to the pandemic, the East Baton Rouge Parish school district now has 60,000 computers for 40,000 students as newer technologies are integrated into lessons.

Officials in Lubbock Independent School District already had a system in place to provide devices to all of its students last year when COVID-19 school closures kicked the program into overdrive.

For years, the Dougherty County School System has been staffing classrooms virtually with teachers from other locations through Elevate K-12. Nationwide teacher shortages bode well for the longevity of the program.

Having invested more than $100 million in the online-only community college Calbright, launched in 2019, the state of California found only 12 students had graduated after the first year, with nearly 400 dropping out.

To stem the loss of students looking for flexible or online learning options, the Vigo County School Corp. in Indiana wants to start a commercial, statewide program that could begin at the elementary level next year.

Lincoln Public Schools in Nebraska have approved the purchase of more than 600 Chromebooks for its remote learning program, which the district has no plans to continue beyond the 2021-2022 academic year.

As the state legislature begins negotiations over next year’s budget, educators and elected officials are discussing whether to keep remote learning as an option once everyone goes back to school in the fall.

In partnership with the nonprofit Niswonger Foundation, the state will provide free online Advanced Placement courses to about 5,000 students. Officials say the program will reduce barriers to AP enrollment.

The ed tech company is looking for teachers and administrators to participate in its sixth annual State of Technology in Education survey, which will assess adaptations schools have made in the past year.

More virtual schooling has meant more network vulnerabilities, and a webinar this week recommended that K-12 districts consider monitoring tools such as ManagedMethods to accomplish what limited IT staff cannot.

In an effort to retain students who learn better from home or have COVID-related health concerns, Hamilton Southeastern Schools in Indiana is preparing two virtual-only options for the coming school year.

The school board of Charles City Community Schools, Iowa has approved the launch of a new 'Innovative School Campus' that will allow students to personalize schedules for remote and in-person learning.

Gov. Mike DeWine tasked Ohio's schools with creating extended learning plans to make up lost ground from the past year of remote education, and the result will be heavy reliance on summer programs and virtual options.

The Australia-based cloud security company’s new platform for K-12 schools allows staff to filter and monitor content accessed by students on school devices, with the goal of cyber safety and flagging worrisome behavior.

An updated report from the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology found schools are improving their support for virtual learning, but cybersecurity remains a looming concern as schools embrace ed tech.

Klassly, a social media platform that facilitates communication between parents and teachers, nearly tripled its worldwide users in 2020. Now developers are working to attract more clients in the U.S and Canada.