Last Updated on May 26, 2023 by Anne-Sophie Reinhardt
Virtual Schools in the US under pressure
Virtual schools in Florida, Kansas, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee are encountering enrollment hurdles and difficult concerns, according to a recent study in Education Week. For example, in Florida, the Florida Virtual School (FLVS), the country’s largest state-run virtual school district, announced a massive layoff of 177 full-time and 625 part-time instructors.
News
- Public Part of VISCED’s Final Report to the Commission now published
The VISCED Project’s Final Public Report has been released. Many of the project team’s accomplishments are highlighted in the report. It also includes a summary of the key findings and recommendations that project partners came up with due to their work.
- How will school education look in 2030?The Institute for Prospective
Technological Studies (IPTS) is seeking suggestions for how Europe’s Open Education can appear in 2030. Experts and practitioners are being urged to write visionary papers and create innovative scenarios for how open education in Europe could appear by 2030.
- European Forum on Learning Futures and Innovation
The “European Forum on Learning Futures and Innovation” will take place in Brussels, at the headquarters of the Committee of Regions. The purpose of the event will be to examine the role of technology in learning to improve the scalability and mainstreaming of ICT in European education and training.
- Project outcome summary available in multiple languages
VISCED project summaries are now available in all partner languages. A summary of the predominance of virtual schools and colleges throughout Europe is included, as well as a definition of a virtual school or college. It also summarizes the important recommendations that the partners have made as a result of their collaboration.
Consortium
- The VISCED Consortium hosted a one-day colloquium that brought together virtual schooling practitioners and researchers. Sero, the project’s coordinating partner, hosted the event on May 22, 2012, in Sheffield, United Kingdom. Quality and crucial success characteristics for virtual schools, as well as sustainability, regulatory frameworks, and pedagogy, were all highlighted that support educational opportunities for single mothers too.
Project
The VISCED project’s partners compiled a list of innovative ICT-enhanced learning projects as well as prominent ‘e-mature’ secondary and post-secondary education providers in Europe for the 14-21 age range. This included a thorough examination at both the worldwide and national levels and research into operational instances of totally virtual schools and colleges. The work’s outputs were analyzed and compared to find relevant criteria and success factors for categorizing and comparing these projects.
This effort is still open to researchers and policymakers, and all of the project’s outputs are available on the VISCED project’s wiki and website, including:
- An inventory of virtual schools and colleges worldwide made publicly available on a research wiki
- A series of in-depth case studies was chosen from the research work’s exemplars: 11 virtual schools and 1 virtual college.
- Very first Colloquium of European virtual schools and colleges (22 May 2012, Sheffield, UK): videos, interviews, and presentations are available online
- Webinar on VISCED Outputs (10 December 2012): recording and presentations available online
- VISCED Handbook – “Virtual Schools and Colleges – Providing Alternatives for Successful Learning” Volume 1 & 2
- Brochure in multiple languages summarising project outcomes
- Setting up of International Advisory Committee
