Sunday, November 8, 2009
Flash traffic!
I just realized minutes ago that I have a copy of Adobe DreamWeaver CS3 that I bought for one of my Colloquium sessions. I can build prototypes of pages for review in a portfolio. Now all I need to do is find some free webspace where I can store them and view them. The big trick, however, is going to be time management and prioritizing--my dissertation comes first. This is just fun stuff!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Here we go now!
I'm ready to start work on this virtual Christian school. It's perhaps the most exciting vision I've had since our physical school at the Dream Center. I see a potential for parents, churches, and currently practicing private schools to give children the curriculum they need in a nurturing, safe environment. The mastery paradigm coupled with the programmed environment are already found in several hard copy curricula. Some have even moved into the electronic arena, albeit a bit slowly for my taste. However, they may be working with constraints of which I am not aware.
At the Dream Center, we initially set a tuition cost to the parents of $25.00 per month. We did so because most of our students came from low income families who could not afford normal private school tuition. In Texas, the small town economy that my first private Christian school operated under allowed for tuition costs of $250-300.00 in the early 1990's. In the late 1990's, my experience in Los Angeles was more between $400 and $1000.00 per month. In 2001-2002 in New Jersey, our tuition was more on the order of that in Los Angeles. In order to accomplish our lower tuition level at Dream Center Academy, we had to secure private philanthropic support. By the end of our 5th year, we had increased our tuition to $40.00 per month with incremental discounts for sibling students.
What I am considering here is a system of Software as a Service (SaaS) which would require considerable outlay of finances, time, equipment, and personnel in the initial stages of development, but after deployment conceivably could be scaled back to a maintenance mode of operation. I envision minimal tuition costs, like we used at Dream Center Academy, with some additional fees for record keeping purposes.
These are the main issues that I see at this time:
At the Dream Center, we initially set a tuition cost to the parents of $25.00 per month. We did so because most of our students came from low income families who could not afford normal private school tuition. In Texas, the small town economy that my first private Christian school operated under allowed for tuition costs of $250-300.00 in the early 1990's. In the late 1990's, my experience in Los Angeles was more between $400 and $1000.00 per month. In 2001-2002 in New Jersey, our tuition was more on the order of that in Los Angeles. In order to accomplish our lower tuition level at Dream Center Academy, we had to secure private philanthropic support. By the end of our 5th year, we had increased our tuition to $40.00 per month with incremental discounts for sibling students.
What I am considering here is a system of Software as a Service (SaaS) which would require considerable outlay of finances, time, equipment, and personnel in the initial stages of development, but after deployment conceivably could be scaled back to a maintenance mode of operation. I envision minimal tuition costs, like we used at Dream Center Academy, with some additional fees for record keeping purposes.
These are the main issues that I see at this time:
- Curriculum: is there a curriculum available that could easily be converted to online format? I know of two, but they are proprietary and cost could be prohibitive for what I have in mind.
- Subject Matter Experts: initially, HR needs will be greater for development. Networking with the necessary people could prove daunting. However, use of the technology on which the project will eventually be disseminated (e.g., instant messaging, video conferencing, document sharing, cloud computing, etc.) can alleviate distance development applied to distance learning.
- Control: one of the key factors in a programmed environment is the control of the student's learning process through clearly defined and rigidly enforced procedures. I have seen many physical schools fail through lack of follow-through on procedures. However, since Instructional Design is my expertise, it appears to be one of those puzzles I so much enjoy working on.
- Support: Of course, this begins with financial support. This has the potential to change the lives of many young people, literally around the world. One individual financial backer may not be enough. It may require a consortium of individuals and groups with the wisdom to see how this can positively impact not only their own need for quality employees but also for the enhancement of culture and society world-wide. Logistical support will be second in line. This will entail a unique infrastructure for Christian education, but one that is becoming increasingly ubiquitous in the business world of e-commerce. The third support requirement is administrative. Planning and organization are critical to success; if we fail to plan, we plan to fail. Keeping track of the development of an entire online grade-school curriculum will be difficult but essential.
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