Indian River State College Prepares K-12 Educators with New Online Learning Courses

With the recent passage of the Digital Learning Now Act, school districts throughout Florida are facing new requirements to establish virtual learning options, including a mandate that all students take at least one online course prior to graduating high school. In an effort to better prepare the state's K-12 educators for online instruction, Indian River State College (IRSC) will create a series of courses designed to overview the various methods associated with teaching and learning in the virtual environment. IRSC will partner with e-learning provider VSchoolz to deliver the courses.

"As education transitions from traditional classrooms to virtual learning environments, it is imperative for teachers to learn new skills, and become adept in the use of new technologies and associated pedagogy if they are to effectively engage today's students," said Marta Cronin, director of the School of Education, Indian River State College, in a prepared statement.

According to IRSC, courses will be built around standards developed by the International Association for Online Learning (iNACOL) and Quality Matters, providing applicability beyond the state of Florida.  "The fact that the course is built around international standards will make it more applicable to K-12 teaching nationwide," said Cronin.

Design of the first course in the series has been completed, and will be offered later in the spring in a self-paced, online format that leverages various Web-based tools and resources. Teachers will have the option to take courses for college credit or take individuals modules of instruction.

About the Author

Chris Riedel is a freelance writer based in Illinois. He can be reached here.

Featured

  • AI robot with cybersecurity symbol on its chest

    Microsoft Adds New Agentic AI Tools to Security Copilot

    Microsoft has announced a major expansion of its AI-powered cybersecurity platform, introducing a suite of autonomous agents to help organizations counter rising threats and manage the growing complexity of cloud and AI security.

  • modern college building with circuit and brain motifs

    Anthropic Launches Claude for Education

    Anthropic has announced a version of its Claude AI assistant tailored for higher education institutions. Claude for Education "gives academic institutions secure, reliable AI access for their entire community," the company said, to enable colleges and universities to develop and implement AI-enabled approaches across teaching, learning, and administration.

  • central cloud platform connected to various AI icons—including a brain, robot, and network nodes

    Linux Foundation to Host Protocol for AI Agent Interoperability

    The Linux Foundation has announced it will host the Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol project, an open standard originally developed by Google to support secure communication and interoperability among AI agents.

  • open laptop in a college classroom with holographic AI icons like a brain and data charts rising from the screen

    4 Ways Universities Are Using Google AI Tools for Learning and Administration

    In a recent blog post, Google shared an array of education customer stories, showcasing ways institutions are using AI tools like Gemini and NotebookLM to transform both learning and administrative tasks.