This is part 2 of the keynote address from the 21st Century Learning & Sharing: Engaging for Success! This is an online conference replacing the annual Virtual School Society Conference that was cancelled this year. The address was given by Susan Patrick former Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education and now CEO and President of iNACOL, the International Association of K-12 Online Learning. She brings a global perspective of how Online Education is changing Traditional educational methods around the world.

Hello fellow educators, its podcast number 109. Last podcast I brought you part 1 of the address given to the Online Conference last week were many of our own staff participated and spoke. Mark Daley and Eric Vanee spoke on "Breaking Out of Boxes" which opened up the discussion about how to create environments and programs that give our students and community their "voice." Richard Bitgood presented "Mastering Mathematics Through Self Paced Learning" introducing the "Mastery Math Method." Gord Robideau and Jeremy Tjosvold spoke on Keeping DL Students Honest & Catching the Ones Who Aren't." Well done to our online educators for your time and work in the conference.

Today I want to bring you part 2 of the keynote address from the conference by Susan Patrick the president of iNACOL. She is the former Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education. 

iNACOL stands for The International Association for K-12 Online Learning with over 3,400 members. The  members represent a diverse cross-section of K-12 education from school districts, charter schools, state education agencies, non-profit organizations, research institutions, corporate entities and other content & technology providers. Heritage Christian Online School is one of those members.

What do they do?

Advocacy - Support activities and policies that remove barriers and support effective online education.

Research - Facilitate, conduct and disseminate research, identify promising practices, and develop national K-12 online learning quality standards.

Professional Development - Offer professional development opportunities for administrators and teachers.

Networking - Promote the sharing of information, resources and expertise across the larger education reform community to drive future directions in K-12 online education.  

Why do they do it? To level the playing field for students through online learning. Our mission is to ensure all students have access to world-class education and quality online learning opportunities that prepare them for a lifetime of success.

They sponsored some of the best research and statistics for what has been happening in K-12 Online learning. Here is a link to last year's research for what is happening in Canada: http://www.inacol.org/research/docs/iNACOL_CanadaStudy_200911.pdf   You can find this document on their website: www.inacol.org/research/reports.

In part one Susan gave a global perspective to the reality of Online and Blended learning in the classroom. In part two she is more definitive about some of the ideas of Blended learning as well as giving us an indication of where we stand in BC as compared to the rest of the world. Here is her address, please forgive the quality as it was given online throughout Canada using Elluminate live:

Audio Only.

Next week I will be back, hopefully with some great interviews from our annual BC Christian Home Educators Convention. I hope to see you there. Please email us your comments and thoughts on this podcast. Also, if you would like us to mail you a free copy of my book or send you the download link for the audio version of, Discipling This Generation for a Digital World, simply send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and let us know what type of an educator you are, home schooler, classroom teacher, school administrator, or interested parent. Please let us know how you heard about the podcast and, of course, please include your mailing address. Thank you for listening and thank you for your commitment to discipleship-based Christian education.