South Dakota is leveraging a statewide distance learning center to link students to core courses
08/05/2016
When the first day of school rolls around in August, Webster math teacher Lori Wagner won’t be heading back to the classroom.
Instead, she’ll be heading to her basement.
Wagner is one of nine new teachers hired by the Center for Statewide E-learning at Northern State University with a $1 million budget increase. The money is courtesy of the Blue Ribbon Task Force and, more specifically, a half-cent sales tax increase passed during the legislative session. The bulk of the new money is to increase K-12 teacher pay at public schools, but the distance learning center is also a beneficiary, able to increase services.
Wager has set up a virtual classroom in her basement. She’ll be teaching Algebra II and possibly pre-calculus to students across the state.
“Being able to take a position like this, and being a certified math teacher with 27 years of experience, I can take that into their classroom without anybody leaving or moving and making it a positive impact on these kids,” she said.
The new teachers and the classes added are different than the offerings the center has had in the past, said E-learning Principal Mary Cundy. They are core courses required for high school graduation in South Dakota.
“The courses are all new,” Cundy said. “There was a lot of work to be done. The new teachers have actually been working from home during the summer.”
The Center for Statewide E-learning chooses its courses based on what schools need, which is determined by polling, Cundy said.
Previously, course offerings have been geared more toward high achievers — foreign languages, Advanced Placement courses and even some college-level courses. The courses are taught over the Dakota Digital Network, with students and teachers connected via cameras and monitors.
The teachers will be in Aberdeen next week for training on the equipment and about how distance learning differs from a traditional classroom setting, Cundy said. The teachers who have been hired all have years of classroom experience, she said.
The nine teachers hired, plus a 10th new teacher added through the Confucius Institute to teach Chinese, essentially double the staff at the Center Statewide for E-learning, Cundy said. There previously were 11 teachers, all of who are returning.
Of the nine new teachers, only one — Lisa Peterson, who taught at Roncalli High School — will be teaching from the Northern campus. The rest, like Wagner, will be teaching from home.
“They’re all over the place — Rapid City, Timber Lake, rural Pierre, Mission Hill,” Cundy said.
Started 15 years ago, the Center for Statewide E-learning has worked to fill gaps at smaller, rural South Dakota schools, she said. The offerings have helped level the playing field between large and small districts.
Now courses will be available to help fill the void when districts can’t find teachers, Cundy said.
That’s exactly how Waubay High School is using some of the new course offerings, Superintendent Dean Jones said. The school has taken advantage of classes like pre-calculus and physics, but this year all of its language arts courses will be taught via the Center for Statewide E-Learning.
The school had trouble filling the language arts position, and is subscribing to E-learning classes that are part of Dakota Digital Network, Jones said. The students in Waubay will be the only students taking those particular sessions of the language arts classes.
There will be a paraprofessional in the classroom to help students and keep things in line, Jones said. Classes are small at Waubay — about 50 students in grades nine through 12.
“It’s not like you have 25 or 30 in a classroom,” Jones said. “The smaller schools and the more rural you are, these are options you’re going to have to utilize to be able to keep up with the core classes.”
By KATHERINE GRANDSTRAND