Principals tour VLA in open house

STEUBENVILLE -- Visiting administrators from several school districts got a look at the latest tools available from the Jefferson County Educational Service Center's Virtual Learning Academy during an open house and tour.

On March 7, the administrators were welcomed to the VLA office, located on the lower floor of the R. Larry George Training Annex building located near the JCESC headquarters on 2023 Sunset Blvd. This followed a principals' collaborative meeting on the upper floor.

VLA Director Mark Masloski showed the visiting administrators several new courses and modules and let staff speak about the potential benefits to their students.

Brant Starkey, VLA staff member, spoke about a Current Events course, offered through the VLA's partnership with PBS Learning Media and NewsDepth and aimed at encouraging teenage students to take a view of life beyond the immediate and present.

"This kind of forces them to see that there's other things that are going on in the world," he said, adding that the course is filed under social studies and includes quizzes and videos. "Every week there's a new episode and we upload the questions and answers."

Harry Vande Velde, owner of the Springboard series of modules, showed them the Play of the Day module. Vande Velde said the module is useful during homeroom or intervention periods and guides students through daily exercises about motivational quotes. The module includes biographies of the people who made the quotes, as well as ways the quotes can be applicable to goal setting.

"Administrators love to know that there's options available for them to be proactive in their building to meet the needs of all students and faculty," he said afterward.

Elizabeth Nelson, a graduate student from the Franciscan University of Steubenville and an intern with the VLA program, spoke about the use of gaming in education, pointing out the use of video games to spark critical thinking in students and encourage them to mediate on their emotions while playing. She said the exercises include designing their own character based on a personality test. Masloski said the program was funded through a socioemotional learning grant.

Noah Fuller, another graduate student from the university and a graduate placement with the VLA program, shared information about a conservation science course for grades nine through 12 to launch next school year. He said the elective course will focus on the North American model of wildlife management including hunting, fishing, trapping, boating and shooting sports.

"It covers how to do these activities and ways to responsibly do them in the context of the environment," he said. "It also covers a lot of related skills."

Masloski said a quarter credit can be earned on different activities like fishing and boating. He said options include virtual labs and offline activity labs.

"If it's approved through the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce for the third Science credit, I think that benefits everybody," he said.

Masloski said VLA has an abundance of accessible resources.

"Teachers can use as part of the curriculum or the curriculum itself," he said.

He related some of the applications.

"All you guys have students that's in VLA that's not in your building for one reason or another. They're using our courses," he said. "I would look at VLA courses as a textbook, workbook, video guide, student guide for your teachers."

Masloski said his staff are available to visit schools to assist in using VLA tools.

Harrison Central Elementary Assistant Principal Donnie Madzia commented afterward.

"It was very interesting. We've just got to make sure we get it out to our staff back at Harrison to be able to utilize this material. I think it's a good thing, we just need to know a little more about it," he said.

He said the current events module has potential. He added his district frequently works with the VLA and receives weekly informational e-mails.

"Each one of these things has a nice option our teachers could use up at Harrison," he said.

Edison Local High School Assistant Principal Josh Leasure was impressed by the Play of the Day module.

"I think that would be really good for the kids," he said. Leasure said he would also share some information about gaming courses with district staff.

He said the VLA has been a valuable resource.

"We use VLA for what we call direct supervision. In-school suspension," he said.

Toronto Junior/Senior High School Principal Betsy Jones also was interested.

"We currently use VLA right now in our school mostly for credit recovery, but we do like some of the new offerings that they give our kids. I appreciate the current events and I appreciate the Play of the Day, so we might be looking into these things."

The Virtual Learning Academy is an online curriculum provider offering more than 300 core and elective courses to students in grades K-12. VLA serves all students including those who are credit deficient, home bound, home schooled, etc. JCESC VLA can serve as a stand-alone program or implemented within already existing curriculum. To learn more about the JCESC Virtual Learning Academy, visit the website at jcesc.k12.oh.us/vla.aspx, contact VLA staff at vla@jcesc.org or call (740) 283-3347, extension 100.