RUS Grant Awards Announced June 6, 2012

Opening up the world to school children in rural Colorado: The Northeast Colorado Board of Cooperative Educational Services (NE BOCES) has received a $271,774 grant to purchase distance learning equipment that 12 school districts will use to share classes interactively. The grant will also place new equipment into the elementary and middle schools, introducing distance learning to these grade levels for the first time. The NE BOCES will expand course offerings and professional development opportunities throughout the 12 school districts.

Brush School District RE -2(J) received a $285,778 grant for the North Central Colorado Distance Learning Center.  The Center is a consortium of rural school districts which will use the funds to purchase the technology necessary to link the schools into a distance learning network. The network will enhance learning and knowledge in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The consortium will also connect the school districts with leading subject matter experts in fields such as green technology, medicine and energy to expose them to issues in the global economy.

Read the announcement....

The Distance Learning Project in the Governor's Office of IT will be installing eleven new pilot sites for interactive video distance learning this summer. These sites will join the Steamboat Springs School District, Huerfano School District, and the Gardner School District as new sites for interactive video distance learning in the coming school year. The Distance Learning Grant Project will also begin implementing a statewide Clearinghouse and scheduling system for interactive video distance learning in late summer, with full utilization targeted for the first quarter of 2013. OIT will also introduce a preliminary version of a layered GIS map of interactive video distance learning sites in Colorado in July. Be sure your site is included.

Update Regarding the RUS-DLT Grant Award

The Northeast Colorado Board of Cooperative Educational Services (NE BOCES) recently received an RUS-DLT grant on behalf of their twelve member school districts.  Districts in the NE BOCES include AkronR-1, Buffalo RE-4J, Frenchman RE-3, Haxtun RE-2J, Holyoke RE-1J, Julesburg RE-1, Lone Star #101, Otis R-3, Plateau RE-5, Platte Valley RE-3 Wray RD-2 and Yuma-1.  These twelve districts span five rural counties in Northeastern Colorado. The goal of the grant is to expand the current distance learning system providing more learning opportunities for students and teachers. This will be accomplished through the addition of video endpoints that are computer based providing anytime, anywhere access that will enable sites to both receive and originate two or more classes simultaneously.

Additionally, funds will be used to purchase hardware to record and archive course content allowing students who have missed a class the ability to review it at another time.  These capabilities will allow teachers to build on their instructional practices as they develop blended learning environments to broaden education and learning opportunities. Through the additional capabilities, districts will be able to extend learning opportunities to elementary and middle school students whom currently are unable to participate in distance learning activities due to capacity limitations.

Currently the NE BOCES member districts share courses originating from the needs of the districts and/or the interests of the students.  The districts are looking to expand the electives currently offered and provide more flexibility in student schedules.  Bandwidth and hardware are the necessary components needed to support the delivery of content; but beyond that, the limitations go only as far

as the minds creating them.  

For more information please contact Arlene Salyards at:

asalyards@neboces.com

"Broadband breaks down traditional barriers so that teaching and learning happen in new ways." - NationalBroadbandPlan 

Education is a core focus of the National Broadband plan.  It is also a major focus of an EAGLE-Net BTOP sister grant, Colorado's Public Computer Centers managed by the Colorado State Library, along with support for general digital literacy, job seekers, eGovernment resources, eHealth, and more. This program is establishing new and enhanced public computer centers in 88 locations around the state to provide access to the internet and computer training for Colorado residents. While this program has been highlighted in previous EAGLE-Net newsletters, this article highlights the impact of the public computer centers on education at all levels.

It is being reported that online and digital learning have many positive impacts, such as: "Students are more engaged and able to develop 21st Century skills" as stated in a recent report from Intel. Additionally, more and more people are heading online for their education: In 2010, over 6 million higher education students were taking at least one online class as reported by Pearson. There is even a nationwide celebration of teaching and learning through digital media and technology, called Digital Learning Day, and they had this to say about the connection between digital learning and student achievement: "...digital learning emphasizes high-quality instruction and provides access to challenging content, feedback through formative assessment, opportunities for learning anytime and anywhere, and individualized instruction to ensure all students reach their full potential to succeed in college and a career."

As we continue to open more computer centers across the state, we're directly supporting online and digital learning in all levels of education (K-12, continuing education, higher education, or even informal learning).  Many of our locations regularly see users that are there to take online college courses. Libraries are partnering with universities to deliver classes to rural communities. Adult education centers are using their Computer Centers to provide support and further assistance to their students. In fact, preliminary numbers from our project surveys indicate that 12% of those that use our computer centers are using them to do schoolwork. 

Read the full article...

To learn more about the Colorado Public Computer Centers, please contact:

Jamie Hollier at 303-866-6123 

or by email at:

jamie@coloradovirtuallibrary.org 

Your Partner in Finding Quality Educational Resources and Professional Development

eNetColorado is a consortium of school districts, BOCES, and educational partners who work together to find free or low-cost quality educational resources linked to Colorado standards and provide professional development that supports 21st century teaching and learning. eNetColorado is the only state-wide group that works collaboratively to build shared resources for all Colorado educators. eNetColorado supports this mission through DREAM, Colorado on iTunes University, and an Online Learning site.

eNetColorado's DREAM (Digital Resource Exchange and Marketplace) provides an online space where teachers can search, create, and share resources tied to Colorado standards. DREAM provides a "marketplace" to find free and low-cost educational collections such as Khan Academy, PhET simulations from the University of Colorado, America Museum of Natural History, NASA, Smithsonian Education, and Colorado Lessons on Local Government from the Colorado Municipal League. These resources also can be rated by teachers and assigned to individual students or an entire class. To try it out, sign up for a FREE DREAM account. 

Colorado on iTunes University allows school districts and educational partners to provide free digital resources such as videos, podcasts, and PDF files. At Colorado on iTunes U, teacher-created videos for flipped classrooms, unique resources from educational partners such as History Colorado and Denver Art Museum, and professional development videos from school districts can be found. In the last six months, there were over 32,000 downloads of Colorado iTunes U content and over 15,000 live streamings were viewed. 

Article by Raishay Lin, Contributing Editor, eSchoolNews

School districts should provide a minimum of 100 megabits persecond (Mbps) of bandwidth for every 1,000 students and staff members within the next two years, and federal lawmakers should provide more funding to help make this happen, according to a report released May 21 by the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA).

The report, "The Broadband Imperative: Recommendations to Address K-12 Education Infrastructure Needs," explains how the ongoing shift to technology-rich learning has sparked rapid growth in the nation's educational broadband needs.

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