The Legislature established the IDLA in 2002 to expand course offerings to rural schools, and enrollment in the online program has grown by about 50 percent every year, reaching about 9,800 this semester, according to Nick Smith, IDLA’s director of education programs.

Smith, a former principal in the Bliss School District, said rural schools such as Notus have been at the forefront of online education in Idaho, and they offer lessons as districts around the state prepare to meet new graduation rules requiring students to complete two online classes to graduate.

After all, IDLA is one of the course providers that districts will turn to as they require online classes.

For the rest of the article, go to Online education finds bigger foothold in Idaho

Meanwhile, task force members like Cliff Green, regional vice president for the for-profit Insight Schools, see opportunity.

“It’s been hard to come into a state and compete with subsidy,” Green said, referring to IDLA. “Now, whoever has the best product will win.”

For the rest of the article, go to Money concerns drive technology reforms in Idaho schools

The Idaho Digital Learning Academy provides high-quality online courses to students starting in the seventh grade. Each virtual classroom has a real-time teacher and principal to assist the participants.

Classes may qualify for university credit or simply supplement the local curriculum.

For instance, when Glenn’s Ferry High School lost its Spanish teacher, the 14 students in the class were able to continue through an online course taught by a real Hispanic instructor.

For the rest of the article, go to Opinion: Improving education through technology

“I’m disappointed and we’ll have to get creative, unfortunately,” Buhl School District Superintendent Byron Stutzman said. “There’s not a lot we can cut out. We can cut more textbooks, but we have to turn the water and heat on for our students so they can learn. It’s going to come from the salaries piece.”

Stutzman said elective programs will be cut with the teachers who once led them, but new online learning opportunities will fill in some of those gaps.

“In my thinking, the positions that are open will be offered online or through blended learning, which will mean bigger class sizes,” he said. “But wasn’t that part of the Students Come First plan? We can utilize the Idaho Digital Learning Academy, which allows us to offer variety to students.”

For the rest of the article, go to Idaho voters will pay $77.3 million to support local schools. Should the Legislature re-examine funding in Idaho?

It was fast fingers for Ali Garrett as she logged onto the Idaho Digital Learning Academy on Tuesday morning for her health occupation class.

“I personally think online classes are good for everyone,” said the junior.

For the rest of the article, go to Local High School Requires Online Courses

Garrison said providing students the opportunity to take courses through IDLA that aren’t offered in Castleford “probably equalizes the playing field with the bigger schools,” but noted that students tend to score lower in online courses than they do with face-to-face instruction.

For the rest of the article, go to Rural schools may face tech disadvantage in meeting Luna’s proposal

Q: Will kids take online classes at home or at school? A: The online courses will be part of the traditional school day. The school will decide where and how to provide them. The state will pay for the mandated online classes. The classes will save money because it pays less per student for online courses than it does for in-class instruction.

“It costs less to deliver them, but the success rate is there,” Luna said.

Q: So, if it’s cheaper and effective, how long until more classes are offered online and fewer are taken with a teacher in the room? A: “I don’t want the perception that there’s some sinister plan that someday all learning is going to be online and that we won’t have schools,” Luna said. “I suspect some people may accuse us of going through that. I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. There’s always going to be a place for teachers. They are the most important component.” Q: Do Idaho Democrats agree? A: No. They leveled some of those very complaints against Luna on Friday.

For the rest of the article, go to Larger classes to pay for technology: Learn more about Idaho schools Superintendent Tom Luna’s reform plan

The software eliminates the central component of old-school videoconferencing — a device called the multipoint control unit — and replaces it with a router that costs thousands less and uses significantly less energy.

Healthwise, a Boise nonprofit that develops content and patient education for health companies, will begin testing new technology from HP, which is partnering with Vidyo, in January. Healthwise wants to use videoconferencing to meet with clients nationwide.

For the rest of the article go to, Idaho invests in videoconferencing

For the rest of the article go to, Wallace science students selected for state honor

Online classes through Idaho Digital Learning Academy cost $75 a course and if you take them through the Twin Falls School District during normal class time, they’re paid for.

For teachers like Barry, they only make $100 a student, adding up to about $2,000 each class.

Even though Barry explains that’s not much, she’s glad to be on the other end of the computer that your child may be learning from.

For the rest of the article, go to Online Education: Does It Really Work?