Giant Campus Blog

League of Education Voters is a great resource for Washington state parents who are interested in public education. Citizen-founded and citizen-funded, LEV is the only Washington-based organization working to improve education from early learning through higher education. I found this nice blog entry about online education on their site today and thought I’d share. What’s wrong with online learning?.

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.

“If you talk to most people, they will tell you they understand the issues involving education but that their school is just fine – And that’s just not true,” said Lisa Gersh, president of strategic initiatives at NBC (launching Education Nation in September 2010).

The Strong American Schools analysis of data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said that American students rank 25th in math and 21st in science on a list of 30 industrialized nations.

Washington state graduation rate is a staggering 62%.

Answer – Probably not.

Let’s accept the fact that our education system will not change overnight or much in the next 2-5 years. So, consider an option that’s positive and prepares students with the skills and knowledge needed for success in the knowledge-based, global economy – online schooling!

Online high schools are becoming a considerable force in today’s education. Nationally, online students have grown from 2.5 million in 1999 to 4 million today. By 2013, 10% of all “seat time” will be occupied by online instruction and within 10 years, 50% of seat time will be online.

Consider online schooling for your teen!

This past weekend, we participated in the annual Seafair Milk Carton Derby at Green Lake in Seattle, WA.  Check out the photos below. To see more, visit our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/Giant.Campus.  We had a great time and are looking forward to next year’s derby!

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 recent article / report published by WebMD has found a simple half-hour delay in high school start time led to a significant improvement in students’ mood, alertness, and motivation, and increased their average sleep time during the week, according to a new study.

Judith A. Owens, MD, MPH, at the Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, R.I., and colleagues studied 201 students in grades nine through 12 attending a Rhode Island high school where the class start time was changed from 8 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. for a two-month period. Students completed online surveys before the change in class time and then after.

Owens and her team found that:

* The percentage of students getting less than seven hours of sleep per night dropped by 79.4%.
* Students reporting at least eight hours of sleep per night increased from 16.4% at the start of the study to 54.7% after two months.
* The percentage of students who reported feeling at least somewhat unhappy or depressed dropped from 65.8% to 45.1%.
* The percentage of students who reported feeling annoyed or irritated throughout the day also dropped, from 84% to 62.6%.
* Reports of visiting a health center for fatigue-related symptoms decreased from 15.3% to 4.6%.
* Sleep duration increased on school nights by about 45 minutes and the average bedtime on school nights was 18 minutes earlier.

The findings are published in the July issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Online schooling provides the flexibility of school study times – when teens are most alert and happy!

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.

Tuition-free Giant Campus of Washington Gives High School Students Insight Into High Tech Careers, Offers Full-time Enrollment

Washington State High School Students Can Now Earn a Diploma While Pursuing Interests in Digital Arts, Computer Science, and Business & Innovation

SEATTLE — May 26, 2010 — Giant Campus, the nationally recognized leader in innovative technology education programs for youth and adults, today announced the availability of full-time enrollment with Giant Campus of Washington, a public and tuition-free online school program of Columbia Tech High School in the White Salmon Valley School District. Giant Campus of Washington is accredited with the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools (NAAS), and is the first online school in Washington state to offer both core curriculum and elective concentrations in digital arts, computer science, and business & innovation to Washington high school students statewide.

“The availability of full time enrollment with Giant Campus of Washington is an educational milestone for Washington state,” said Jerry Lewis, Superintendent, White Salmon Valley School District. “Never before have students been able to enroll full time in a tuition-free school that offers core curriculum and a broad selection of elective courses in digital arts, technology and business—all entirely online. Washington state students have the rare advantage of sampling 21st century careers, helping them make more informed educational and career decisions.”

Giant Campus of Washington students meet graduation requirements entirely online using their home computer. Every lesson, question-and-answer session, quiz, assignment and teacher-student interaction happens via a virtual learning environment. A variety of virtual campus activities, such as field trips, after-school clubs, student organizations and contests, help students gain strong teamwork, collaboration and problem-solving skills. Online guest speakers and a news hub help keep students up to date on various technology and business topics of interest.

Read more here: http://www.giantcampus.com/about/press-room/articletype/articleview/articleid/73/tuitionfree-giant-campus-of-washington-gives-high-school-students-insight-into-high-tech-careers-offers-fulltime-enrollment/

Last Thursday we visited our partner school district – White Salmon Valley – in White Salmon, Washington. We were there to meet with our colleagues on the district staff, but we also dropped in on a group of students who are taking our Game Design I course. Columbus High School, part of the White Salmon Valley district, has offered a hybrid online classroom experience for its students  for the past five years.  Under the guidance of Marian Udelhofen, CHS students take classes ranging from AP Calculus to Computer Literacy from instructors located around the country. Students appreciate the flexibility of the online courses and they enjoy having extra time to delve beyond the basic course requirements. Here’s a shot of two Game Design I students, who are working with GCWA’s Mr. Miller this semester. So far, the students have given Mr. Miller a major thumbs up!