Marketing 101

My views of my schools have been pretty consistent throughout despite having to dig and dig and dig for information in and around the schools' sites.  Over the weeks, I have learned a great deal specifically about my chosen schools and online learning in general, but there were no major breakthroughs or revelations about the actual schools.  Much was actually touched on in the initial "What are the basics for your school?" research.

One minor thing that I noticed that falls outside of most schooling critiques (outside of our group of course!) is how my feelings have changed on their approach to marketing.  At first, I believed that they were taking a hands-off approach where they had what students needed to succeed and if you wanted it, they would be there for you.  Using a slightly caustic analogy - a dealer rather than a pusher.... BUT, after reading closely between the lines over the weeks, it sounds more like they just couldn't execute.  Their poor job marketing shines a very different light on the schools.  If they want to market themselves, then they need to commit to marketing themselves.  It doesn't take endless resources to address many of the short comings of their strategy.  Listening to and incorporating feedback would be a great place to start.

I am comfortable with my school placements given the level of information that was available except for the question about who generates content.  The standard line on the sites is that most content is generated locally by local teachers, but I would find hints, not proof, of content being created elsewhere buried deep within the sites.  This was confusing, but I ultimately went with the most official, highest level value.


Observations:

• Delta Cyber School (DCS) targets the nascent connected home schooling market.  Home schooling isn't just for "end of the worlders" and child actors.  Genius market to go after.
• Hawaii Virtual Learning Network's E-School is meant as an extension to traditional f2f schooling.  It was the second Virtual School in the U.S.
• DCS allows students to participate in all f2f student, social, and athletic events.
• Elementary school kids at DCS use home schooling kits (Calvert Kits).  I didn't know anything about Calvert and would like to look at them in more depth in the future.  The Calvert kits made me wonder why the middle and high school content was produced locally, but Elementary content was purchased?  What does that say about educational techniques at different ages? 
• The sites were underwhelming.  I expected more from both sites.  I feel like redoing their sites as a project!
• Both schools lend/lease computers and other equipment to students working from home.  Corporate sponsors help out here.  This is neat, but I found conflicting information on the sites stating that students are required to have the technology in place before enrolling.
• You can't take the information on the sites as definitive - they said that their courses were made by local teachers, but as you read more and more and deeper and deeper, you find out that a lot of the courses might have been based on content from other sources.  I say might because it was vague whether the content was purchased or just based on external resources.
• Numbers were shaky at best. I found conflicting numbers as I did more research.  Out of context "state authorized" numbers wouldn't align with any of the other numbers on the site.
• Physical education credits can be done at home.  I was wondering how this would work.
• Credit recovery is a huge part of both schools.
• Fee structure is different for each school.
• How do schools make a choice between CMS?  Moodle is open source, but is it free?
• The schools were more structured and not as personalized as I thought they would be.  I don't like how you can't take courses at literally your own speed.  Why shouldn't I be able to mull over a point for weeks until I "get it?"  Sometime little details at random locations in a course can throw you off track.  If you can weather that stormy period however long it takes, the rest of the class might fall into line.
• I noticed that both schools focused on the learning experience with the teacher over the s2s aspects online.  They both have real in person contact, but they did not speak to the point of s2s interactivity online directly.  Why?

A side note that I keep coming back to:
DCS peaked my interest in home schooling, so I started to dig around.


I wanted to know if this one superstar athlete was home schooled with the help of FLVS.  I am not a college football fan, but I knew his name and it struck me as interesting that he has impacted the home schooling movement and peripherally online education in the south.

"Home schooling is definitely reaching a tipping a point in terms of popularity," said Lips. "As more families do it, I think we can expect to see even more families follow that path." 

More families also are learning that teaching their kids at home is easier these days, thanks to the ever-growing network of support groups and the increasing availability of high-tech programs such as Florida Virtual School, which allows public- and private-school students and home-schoolers to take classes or complete an entire school year online.

News of star football quarterback Tim Tebow's experience with home schooling has shined a spotlight on the option. Tebow, who recently graduated from University of Florida, learned at home but played football with a public high-school team in the Jacksonville area.

"Since Florida is friendly to home-schoolers who want to participate in extracurricular activities, and Tim Tebow shows what can be achieved through a home education, he may be giving parents the confidence to home-school," said Ian Slatter, a director for the Home School Legal Defense Association, a nonprofit advocacy group with headquarters in Virginia.

- From the Palm Beach Post

Another snippet on Tebow's effect on the home schooling movement:

On January 7, 2007, Tebow was featured prominently in an ESPN “Outside The Lines” feature on homeschooled athletes seeking equal access to high school athletics in other states. Because a homeschooler’s access to public and private school athletic functions vary by state, Tebow and Washington Redskins defensive end Jason Taylor (who was allowed to play at his local high school in Pennsylvania) argue in favor of extending the right to play for local teams to more states.

Upon becoming the first home-schooled athlete to be nominated for the Heisman Trophy, Tebow remarked, “That’s really cool. A lot of times people have this stereotype of homeschoolers as not very athletic – it’s like, go win a spelling bee or something like that – it’s an honor for me to be the first one to do that.”

Tebow’s example inspired equal access supporters in Alabama to name their bill in the Alabama Legislature “The Tim Tebow Bill”. The bill, which is pending in the Alabama Legislature, will allow Alabama homeschool athletes to play for their local high school teams just as Tebow did in Florida.

In January 2009, the “Tebow bill” was introduced in the Kentucky General Assembly. This bill, which is still pending, is also modeled after Florida state law, allowing homeschool athletes to play for their local sports teams.

Tim Tebow received the 2008 Quaqua Protégé Award as an outstanding home-education graduate.

From http://www.tebowzone.com/about

I never did find out if he took courses at FLVS...