I read about an event this week that I think is fantastic!  This winter has brought much winter weather to the east coast, and in some cases, many snow days.  Sometimes the unexpected number of snow days leads to having to make up the instructional time later during the spring.

Pascack Hills High School in Northern NJ today is having their first “virtual school day” today.  Students will use laptops issued to them by the district (already part of their program, which would be a necessity for making a program like this one work) to log into their classes and complete assignments posted on the class web page by their teachers.  In some cases, they will be using Google Docs to collaborate on assignments with other students or do peer editing, in others they will complete an assignment and email a digital picture of their notebook to their teacher.  Students also get to continue their learning on a a day they otherwise would not have gone to school.

Hopefully, this virtual learning day is successful for them, and hopefully as the access to learning devices increases, can be something that will spread to other districts and states.

Articles read include:

Bergen Record Online article (http://www.northjersey.com/news/bergen/Virtual_school_looms_today_for_Pascack_Valley_High_School.html?c=y&page=1)

News 12 New Jersey article:  http://newjersey.news12.com/news/pascack-valley-regional-high-school-district-to-hold-virtual-class-on-snow-day-officials-hoping-to-avoid-a-make-up-day-1.7051404

The Tech Integrator