Page 86 - Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting in Ontario Schools. First Edition, Covering Grades 1 to 12. 2010

80
E-LEARNING
E-LEARNING
POLICY
E-learning is one of a number of alternative methods school boards can use to supplement traditional classroom teaching in order to deliver credit courses to Ontario secondary school students. (Other alternative methods include cooperative education, the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program, and independent study.) School boards deliver provincially developed e-learning credit courses through the provincial Learning Management System (LMS).
Teachers who teach using online courses and tools, whether through the provincial LMS or another learning management system, must abide by the provincial assessment, evaluation, and reporting policies outlined in the present document. In addition, school boards offering e-learning courses through the provincial LMS must follow the directives for the delivery of those courses outlined in E-Learning Ontario: Policy Document, 2006. The first section of that document provides policies related to board delivery of e-learning courses, including the rights and responsibilities of district school boards, district e-learning contacts, the principal of the student’s home school, the supervising principal in the board offering the course, e-learning teachers, and e-learning students. Provisions in this first section of the document that pertain to the assessment and evaluation of student achievement in e-learning courses encompass assessment strategies, the final examination and/or other form of evaluation, and communication about student achievement with parents and students. The second section of the document outlines policies on the acceptable use of communications tools that are available through the LMS and the Ontario Educational Resource Bank (OERB), including threaded discussions, e-mails, and chats; hardware, software, and technologies associated with e-learning; the technical help desk; and so on. The third section of the document sets out the terms and conditions under which students, parents, and staff members may access and use the online resources and services that make up e-Learning Ontario, including “general behaviour expectations” for all users. (The policy document can be found at http://edu.gov.on.ca/elearning/pdf/Policy_document.pdf.)
CONTEXT
The Ontario e-learning initiative is designed to benefit students and educators by broadening the range of learning opportunities available to all students for completing graduation requirements and preparing for postsecondary destinations. This initiative helps boards to support many key elements of the Student Success strategy by:
• providing students in small, rural, and isolated schools with equitable access to diverse courses and learning resources;