Virtual Itasca Area Academy of Learning (VITAL) is an online learning community created by eight school districts around Itasca. They offer state-certified online course provider, offering accelerated, credit recovery and vocational courses more than 400 students.
Four years ago the Itasca Area Schools Collaborative (IASC) set out to find a way better to serve students despite declining enrollment – and declining funds. A recent article in Blandin Foundation’s at Home newsletter highlights the success of the program by focusing on how the program has me the needs of individual students.
Also they list “two key factors helped IASC reach its objective: a carefully managed growth strategy, and a $525,000, three-year grant from the Blandin Foundation.”
It is interesting to read the impact of technology and the education process for the students and the teachers – both in the online classes and the traditional courses.
I was a librarian and I think that moving the catalog online was a great opportunity for libraries to start to do lots of things differently. Some changes were not at all related to technology – but the change brought about by technology opened the door to other improvements. It seems as if that’s the same with education. Lots of changes directly stem from technology; some don’t.
