Giant Campus Blog

 

In prepared remarks at the release of Harvard University’s “Pathways to Prosperity” report (Full PDF of the report available here), the Secretary said he wanted “to suggest two takeaway messages…. 

First, for too long, career and technical education has been the neglected stepchild of education reform.  That neglect has to stop.  And second, the need to re-imagine and remake CTE is urgent. 

CTE has an enormous, if often overlooked impact on students, school systems, and our ability to prosper as a nation….  The mission of CTE has to change.  It can no longer be about earning a diploma and landing a job after high school.  The main goal of CTE 2.0 should be that students earn a postsecondary degree or an industry-recognized certification and land a job that leads to a successful career.” 

At Giant Campus we’re building and creating CTE 2.0.   Classes and curriculum for students to get jobs in today’s world, whether they are Technology, Digital Media, Business, Engineering or Science related.

More information on the Secretary’s comments is available Here and the Secretary’s speech is available Here.

Check this out parents! Does your high school student have a knack for marketing or wish to start a business? Our marketing and entrepreneurship classes combined with DECA is a great way for your teen to prepare for the future – college or career! We’re now offering Emerging Leader Scholarships to qualifying students who are interested in taking their business skills to the next level.

Giant Campus Emerging Leader Scholarships (Fall 2010)
Scholarship Deadline – September 17, 2010

DECA Scholarship includes:
-One full year (value $750) of Marketing (I & II) or Entrepreneurship (I & II) class – Giant Campus Academy
-DECA membership (value $18)
-Class Transcript – for high school resume & college admittance

To qualify, students:
-Must take one year of Marketing or Entrepreneurship classes
-Must agree to be an active contributor in our online DECA chapter
-Current high school does not have a DECA chapter

Call an Enrollment Advisor by September 17, 2010 – 888.904.2267

DECA members can begin their experience as early as the ninth grade by enrolling in a marketing or entrepreneurship course. They can retain their membership in DECA as long as they are actively pursuing courses in one of the content areas. As part of a high school chapter, DECA members can take full advantage of DECA activities while preparing themselves to be college and career ready upon graduation.
By leveraging their DECA membership, members can become:
-Academically prepared for college and careers in marketing, finance, hospitality or management
community oriented by gaining an appreciation for the benefits of service and their potential impact on the community and world
-Professionally responsible with ethics, integrity and high standards
-Experienced leaders by practicing key leadership skills such as goal setting, consensus building and project management.

Learn more about DECA here

DECA Picks Giant Campus for First Ever Online High School Chapter
2009 Washington DECA Advisor of Year to be Giant Campus’s DECA advisor

SEATTLE — August 17, 2010 — Giant Campus (www.giantcampus.com), a nationally recognized leader in innovative technology, marketing and business education programs for youth and adults, today announced that it has formed the first online DECA chapter in coordination with Washington DECA. DECA is a student organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management.

“Giant Campus is a perfect partner because it’s located right in our backyard in Seattle, is one of the leading online learning companies and has been preparing students for business-related careers since 1997,” said Washington DECA Executive Director Shanna LaMar. “We recognize that business no longer takes place entirely in-person and that’s why we’ve decided to launch this first- of-its-kind chapter, where students from all over Washington State can collaborate through a mix of virtual and in-person meetings.”

By being part of Washington DECA, Giant Campus’s marketing and entrepreneurship students will have the opportunity to participate in DECA competitions and events worldwide. As part of the program, students will operate their own online store, and will work in teams to create and present business and marketing plans at competitions. Lori Jacobs, the 2009 Washington DECA Advisor of the Year and a business and marketing education teacher at Auburn High School, will guide Giant Campus chapter participants through each of these competitions and events in her role as Giant Campus DECA advisor.

“I’m looking forward to helping launch a chapter which promises to change how our young business leaders learn life-long skills,” said Jacobs. “With the Giant Campus chapter, the barriers of geography, and a dedicated advisor are gone. Students in rural and metropolitan areas, and in private and public schools will have a platform to share ideas on a daily basis.”

Membership is open to all Washington State high school students who meet DECA membership requirements, do not attend a school with a DECA chapter and enroll in one of Giant Campus’ business courses. For fall, students taking Introduction to Entrepreneurship or Introduction to Marketing are eligible to join the online chapter.

“Being handpicked by DECA to launch this online chapter is an honor,” said Giant Campus Founder and CEO Pete Findley. “At Giant Campus, we are committed to providing a robust business and marketing curriculum for our students, and DECA membership is a key element to our program.”

Introducing five new online high school classes focused on technology and business innovation and one of them will involve green design and technology — the only online class of its kind! Read more about our new classes and how educational organizations can license for this fall! View the class videos here.

It’s official – The Northwest Association of Accredited Schools (NAAS) has accepted Giant Campus of Washington. Our school is granted full accreditation for the next six years! Joe Pope the Washignton State Committee Executive Director said “I truly appreciate your hard work and dedication to the accreditation process and I wish you continued success over the next six years.”

A quick video with author of Clayton Christensen discussing innovation in education. Its interesting how disruptive technology typically serves an opportunity for where there is no solution and then it transforms into mainstream. The PC and technology transformation is a wonderful analogy to how the world of education will change in the next 15 years.

I’m the Chief Financial Officer here at Giant Campus and I’m pretty passionate about changing the way middle and high school education is delivered.  I’m particularly interested in the Hybrid education model because as a father of six (yes, it’s the Brady Bunch) and a finance guy I see the lack of educational choices and how education funding continues to be cut.  I wholly appreciate the conflict created by lower school funding and the struggle by school administrators to balance the budget. But there is a better way. 

The Hybrid education model is still in its infancy but brings significant promise to traditional schools struggling with providing students relevant breadth and depth of choices in courses while facing significant funding pressure.  I define the Hybrid model as a traditional school that contains a room(s) with multiple computers connected to the internet with a teacher or teacher’s assistant monitoring students where they are afforded the opportunity to take approved online classes.  By implementing this model, students are able to choose from a wide variety of courses with highly specialized teachers that otherwise would not have been available.  Schools are able to save money by reducing headcount and instead offering online courses which generally are less. There is a better way.

I’m going to use my son’s high school as an example.  His school is in a district that is one of the better funded and higher performing districts in the state of Washington.   It’s a four year high school that has approximately 1,250 students with the usual activities ranging from drama, band and all the usual sports.  They have a reasonable technology program offering single classes in graphic arts, web design, digital photography, video/tv production and interactive media.  In languages, they offer Spanish, French and Japanese.  They also have a reasonable number of AP classes.  It’s the general store of education, a mile wide and an inch deep, in most subjects outside the core math, language arts, sciences and social studies. A student that wants a concentration in computer science or perhaps Chinese has zero options.  As a parent that believes China is going to be an economic powerhouse, I’d like my kids to learn Chinese and well…the computer science education…do I need to say more? It’s not available at his high school.  There is a better way to offer more breadth and depth in specific subjects with dynamic teachers and do it for less.

I think full online schools are wonderful for some students.  They offer a great breadth and depth of classes.  However, most students need and want the socialization of a traditional high school.  My kids fall into that bucket.  The hybrid model offers a student both. It’s a better way.

I will assume for argument sake that 75% of the 500 high schools in Washington and in the country don’t go as wide or as deep as my son’s high school because they are smaller and don’t have the same financial support. This applies to both public and private schools.  Those students are further disadvantaged because they don’t have the same opportunity. Rural students find themselves captured in that ugly cycle of minimal opportunity.  Parents who actively take part in their child’s education may supplement or educate at home to make up for the deficiencies but that is limited.  In Washington, there is an alternative if your school doesn’t employ the Hybrid model yet.  Students can drop a class at their resident school and enroll in a Giant Campus course taught by a world class teacher.  Its part of the public school system so it’s free and the credits are transferable to your student’s transcript.   There is one catch.  Your school district can be more interested in protecting its valuable funding and deny your child the choice to take these great courses even though it’s in the student’s best interest.  Check out our classes and if you find them compelling, ask your counselor if they will let your student take a class through an inter-district agreement. 

I encourage you to push your school administration to adopt the hybrid model. You’ll find that the quality of education will improve, kids will be more engaged in classes they enjoy and the school will save money by reducing teacher headcount.

Darien Brown, a Giant Campus alumni won this year’s UW Business Plan Contest with his business YongoPal, an English language education service designed for South Korean students. Darien took home the top honors during the the 13th annual award ceremony a total of 92 business plans from 15 colleges and universities were submitted for this year’s competition. Good going Darien! Read more here.

A special report from Education Week was recently published in April, 2010 backing up blended or hybrid learning is proving to be effective because it plays to students’ strengths and weaknesses. Districts and states are embracing online learning. And as one educator puts it “There are so many technology resources out there, why wouldn’t you want your students to gain access to them?”
You can read more about how e-learning is making a difference here: www.edweek.org/go/elearningp

A high school English teacher from Iowa who incorporates everything from singing to Facebook in her lessons has been recognized by President Barack Obama as the nation’s top teacher.

Read more here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/29/sarah-brown-wessling-teac_n_557251.html