IU to Use Grants to Create Virtual K-12 Courses
(photo courtesy of Indiana University)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana University is using nearly $2 million in grants to help K-12 educators create virtual courses. The university says it is working with Hoosier educators to develop 62 free virtual middle school and high school courses and curate resources for elementary-level courses starting this fall.
IU High School and the Office of School Partnerships at IU Bloomington received a $1.2 million grant from the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund and $750,000 from the Indiana Department of Education. IU says the funding will help create the courses and virtual professional development opportunities, as well as establish and maintain a virtual course repository, and create a virtual educator license addition.
“We just want to be good neighbors and help,” IU High School Principal Rebecca Itow said. “We’re trying to do all we can to help communities, and to help give students a chance to learn.”
IU High School, which has offered all of its courses online since 2012, has shared its curriculum with schools statewide to help with the transition to remote teaching and learning.
Itow said the 62 courses that were developed in the first Course Design Academy used IU High School’s Responsive Online Pedagogical model as a guide.
“What’s really exciting is these are courses that can attend to many different needs,” Itow said. “Teachers can use them as a full course or modify them.”
The Office of Academic Affairs is leading IU’s initiative, which has involved the help of multiple departments and regional campuses including E-learning Design Services, the Office of Online Education, and CURE at IU Northwest.