By Ashlyn O’Hara
Peninsula Clarion
Members of the school board’s small schools committee were briefed Monday about the kinds of remote learning opportunities made available to students.
The committee, officially formed earlier this year, includes Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education President Debbie Cary and board members Virginia Morgan, Patti Truesdell and Zen Kelly. The group is tasked with advising other board members on how to best support the district’s small schools.
KPBSD’s virtual learning and professional development coordinator, Amanda Adams, said Monday that the district offers distance education and hybrid courses, with priority given to small schools with limited access to classes.
Distance education courses are asynchronous and taught online throughout the school district. The district offers more than 65 courses that are standardized across departments and are monitored by the National Standards for Online Teaching. Using distance education courses, learning is targeted to each student and focuses on dialogue with teachers.
Hybrid courses are synchronous courses offered in a digital format. The courses offered depend on demand and are taught either fully online or through connection to a course in a brick and mortar school. The hybrid model relies on a collaborative learning community.
There is more demand, Adams said, for the distance hybrid program, through which students connect to a virtual class and participate with other online students.
That’s over the brick and mortar program, through which students remotely participate in live classes happening in person. Adams told the Clarion earlier this year that KPBSD is currently working to expand its hybrid learning program.
Adams said that students interested in taking advantage of remote learning opportunities can talk to their counselors or school administrators. Schools are encouraged to share where there are needs for additional remote learning opportunities for the program to address.
More information about the district’s remote learning opportunities on the district’s virtual learning webpage at kpbsd.org.
Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.
