Why develop communities of schools?
Benefits to the learner
- Broad subject choice and greater personalisation of learning as a result
- Flexibility. Students are not confined to a classroom for a certain number of hours on a given day, they can approach their coursework with flexibility
- Fewer timetabling constraints on subject choice
- Working with new people. The opportunity to work with students from a range of different backgrounds and from different parts of the country can be appealing to students who live in a small rural community
- Self-paced learning. For slow and quick learners. This reduces stress and increases satisfaction
- The opportunity to take responsibility for their learning and develop lifelong skills
- Potential for more individualised learning with smaller course groups than in many secondary schools
Benefits to staff
- Professional development in the pedagogical application of eLearning (whether fully online or blended)
- Professional development in eLearning tools (Moodle, Google Apps, etc.)
- An opportunity to teach their specialist senior subject regardless of numbers ‘locally’
- Remote access to meetings and professional development
- The opportunity to connect with like-minded teachers and develop professional networks
- Access to a free online environment that includes an LMS (Moodle), Google Apps for Education and an ePortfolio system (Mahara)
Benefits to schools
- Able to access 45 online courses through the community and over 250 courses through the Virtual Learning Network
- Able to more effectively personalise learning for students
- Professional development of some teachers in the pedagogical application of eLearning
- Involvement in projects
- Able to develop self-managing students
- Access to a free online environment that includes an LMS (Moodle), Google Apps for Education and an ePortfolio system (Mahara) for all teachers and learners.
- Opportunities for teachers to collaborate through the LMS and Google Apps and therefore better cater to the needs of individual students.
- Access to collaborative projects including:
- a gifted and talented programme for juniors
- development of online communities of practice for general teaching staff
- A national Scholarship mentoring programme
- eLearning advice and guidance for school leadership
