RICHMOND, VA, March 26, 2013 – Blended Schools Network (BSN) will be using SoftChalk Cloud and the Google Plus platform to deliver a new massive open online course (MOOC) on “Today’s Blended Teacher: A MOOC made for Community and Curation.”
The course is designed for educators who wish to improve their knowledge of quality blended learning and improve the quality of their existing content while growing their K-12 professional peer network. Each week of this five week course will include a live panel discussion, course materials, curating quality resources and developing and critiquing new lessons. Participants should be willing to spend at least three hours each week reviewing content and sharing ideas. Weekly topics are:
• The State of Blended Learning: How Do We Define Blended Learning?
• Student Centered Learning: Using Inquiry and Project-Based Learning
• Objective Assessment: Using Tests to Improve the Classroom
• Digital Citizenship: Modeling Ethical Behavior to Students
• Disruptive Innovation: Flip Your Instruction
The BSN MOOC will be delivered using the Google Plus platform with content created and delivered via BSN’s Private SoftChalk Cloud Learning Object Repository and Content Authoring platform. All technologies are free to use for all MOOC participants.
The BSN MOOC will begin on Monday, April 15th and will run for five weeks through Monday, May 20, 2013. Anyone interested in participating can register on the MOOC website: Today’s Blended Teacher: A MOOC made for Community and Curation.
SoftChalk LLC is sponsoring a free Innovators in Online Learning webinar on April 3rd entitled “Building Peer Groups with a MOOC.” In this presentation, Mark Radcliffe and Dan Lucas from the BSN network will discuss their goals for the MOOC as well as the week-to-week agendas and strategies. Educators interested in learning about the MOOC planning process should register this free webinar.
Mark Radcliffe, Director of Professional Development for Blendedschools.net, states “This course is designed to connect participants rather than just deliver knowledge. Our goal is to have all participants leave with a new peer group that will persist beyond this course.”
“We are extremely excited to have the Blended Schools Network show how their Private SoftChalk Cloud instance is used to create and deliver content as an important feature of their upcoming MOOC,” says Susan Evans, CEO of SoftChalk. “We look forward to working them on this and other MOOC offerings in the future.”
About Blended Schools Network
Blendedschools.net is a not-for-profit company that empowers schools to teach and learn online by providing K-12 curriculum, learning technologies, professional development and a professional network.
About SoftChalk
SoftChalk, LLC is an award-winning provider of eLearning software for worldwide education and business institutions. Specializing in the development of intuitive, easy-to-use tools, SoftChalk products allow instructors to create powerful and professional-looking content for eLearning and smart classrooms in K-12, higher education and corporate training. For more information, visit www.softchalk.com.
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