Techtorial Objective: To learn more about the exciting ways that technology is being used in classrooms across South Dakota.

South Dakota’s Virtual Learners Did you know that right now, over 4400 of your peers in the state of South Dakota are taking virtual high school classes? They’re taking online classes, linking up via the state’s DDN (Dakota Digital Network), using discussion boards, forums, chatrooms and wikis to collaborate and correspond with each other and their teachers. They are preparing for the environment they’ll step into at all SD Public and Private Universities. Are you getting left behind???

What is a Virtual High School (VHS)? A virtual high school is simply a school with no geographical limits. Online courses or distance learning courses provide an effective alternative for credit recovery, meeting graduation requirements, resolving class scheduling conflicts, students who are not succeeding in the traditional environment, and home-bound and alternative students. VHS offers amazing flexibility! Anywhere you have a computer with an Internet connection you can login and learn. Teachers post materials for student completion and communicate via chat, , and discussion boards to answer questions.

. Did you know that South Dakota has two different virtual campuses for high school students? That you too could take classes at home in your pjs at 1:00 AM?? South Dakota Virtual High School The Virtual Campus—housed in Rapid City View the commercial! The Virtual Campus South Dakota is making headlines because of our virtual high school opportunities. See High School Goes VirtualHigh School Goes Virtual

Important terms in a VHS Digital native=“native speakers of the digital language of computers, video games and the internet. As a native, you were born into it.” All of you are digital natives! Digital immigrant=those not born into the digital world but at some point later in their lives became fascinated with and adopted new technologies. All of your teachers are digital immigrants! Blog-a website where entries are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject such as food, politics, or local news; others function as more personal online diaries Podcast--A podcast is a digital media file, or a series of such files, that is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers.

Important terms in a VHS Wiki-A wiki is a medium which can be edited by anyone with access to it, and provides an easy method for linking from one page to another. Wikis are typically collaborative websites; Wikipedia is the best-known wiki. Wikipedia can by edited by ANYONE ANYWHERE and therefore is NOT allowed as a source for academic research.collaborativewebsites A Discussion Board or Internet Forum is a web application for holding discussions and posting user generated content. Internet forums are also commonly referred to as web forums, message boards, discussion boards, (electronic) discussion groups, discussion forums, bulletin boards, or simply forums. See Quick TopicQuick Topic

What does a Virtual Classroom look like? View “Online Learning” Virtual schools make available a world of new courses -- from obscure electives to Advanced Placement classes -- that challenge students intellectually and open up new doors educationally. View “Online Learning”

Pros and Cons of VHS See Virtual High Schools BlogVirtual High Schools Blog

How else is technology being used in high school classrooms? View No Gamer Left Behind Inventive computer simulations can turn dull lessons into hyper-real experiences – if you can get your teachers to use them!No Gamer Left Behind

A few more facts to think about… Last year 2/3 of all colleges and universities that deliver face-to-face instruction also offered online courses and last year’s enrollment in these online courses was up nearly 25% over Some state legislatures now REQUIRE at least one distance learning course on a high school transcript to prepare their students for their post-secondary education.

How prepared are you for 21 st century learning? If teachers teach today like they did yesterday, they’re not preparing their students for the future. Technology is a MUST! Let’s get started!!