RICHARD BLAND COLLEGE OFFERS ITS FIRST MOOC
RICHARD BLAND COLLEGE OFFERS ITS FIRST MOOC-ENHANCED COURSE THROUGH A PARTNERSHIP WITH COLONIAL HEIGHTS PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Petersburg, VA – This summer, Colonial Heights Public Schools and Richard Bland College of William and Mary have formed a partnership to offer a mathematics recertification course for elementary teachers. This pilot program utilizes a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) developed by Stanford University to enhance the teachers’ learning experience. Through this partnership, K-5 Colonial Heights Public School teachers enrolled in this MOOC-enhanced course will receive a full tuition waiver, allowing them to receive recertification points and three hours of undergraduate credits.
This hybrid education course combines How to Learn Math, a Stanford University Free Online Course with three face-to-face meetings and three online meetings. The total instruction time, including the time spent in the Stanford course, totals 40 to 45 hours, which is equivalent to a traditional, three-credit hour course. Online meetings will be held through Main Street Virtual Learning (MSVL) software, which specializes in face-to-face teleconference interactions.
DeAnna Moreau, the instructor for the course and the Colonial Heights Public School’s Math Coach said, “Teachers who enroll in the course will learn effective techniques for delivering math instruction to elementary-aged students in engaging and interactive ways, and they will take away from the course a lesson plan that can immediately be put into practice. Teachers will be able to share the lesson plans they create with their colleagues in the class through the MSVL platform. All lesson plans will address Virginia Standards of Learning in Mathematics.”
“This innovative recertification course is part of a strategic partnership with Colonial Heights Public Schools that we hope to use as a starting point for the delivery of an array of high-tech, low-cost recertification options for teachers in the region and throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia,” said Tyler Hart, Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Strategic Initiatives at Richard Bland College of William and Mary.
Richard Bland College of William & Mary is a selective, residential, two-year College that provides a rich learning experience at a reasonable cost for students preparing for transfer to highly ranked colleges and universities. Richard Bland students rate our professors among the best in the region, yet tuition and fees are among the lowest. The academically rigorous programs are grounded in the liberal arts tradition of one of America’s oldest and most prestigious public universities, The College of William & Mary. The College boasts NJCAA intercollegiate athletics, signature programs, and a small and diverse student population of 1,500 on a picturesque 750 acre campus located just outside historic Petersburg, Virginia, two hours south of Washington, D.C. and a short drive from Williamsburg and Virginia Beach. For more information, visit www.rbc.edu.
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