To access Marcel's year-end report click here.

During the 08-09 year, Marcel has participated in the following activities:

• iNACOL (International Council for Online Learning)--iNACOL is the leading K-12 online organization. Marcel currently participates as the co-chair of the Midwestern committee, which meets once a month to discuss issues, topics, and trends in K-12 online learning. A key topic so far has been on professional development opportunities, as well as emerging trends. Marcel also has served on iNACOL's program committee for the Virtual School Symposium, an annual conference held in late October/early November each year and was a panelist for a pre-conference session on how to start an online program.

*One big topic at the 2008 conference was the book Disrupting Class by Clayton Christensen and Michael Horn. Mr. Horn gave one of the keynote addresses. A key premise of the book is that by 2019, nearly 50% of high school courses will be delivered in an online format.

* Are you interested in learning more about trends in K-12 online learning?  Please contact me as I'd be happy to talk with you or to arrange a presentation for your group or organization.

ITEC (Iowa Technology and Education Connection) Annual Conference--Marcel also presented here on Kirkwood's High School Distance Learning program.

*One of the keynote presentations here by Allan November focused on the concept of information literacy, and the importance of teaching students to be critical consumers of media, as it is very easy today for students to stumble on information that looks legitimate but isnt. For example, did you know that if you do a Google search for Martin Luther King Jr., one of the top sites you get on Google is actually run by a white supremacist group? You can find out more on Mr. November's work at http://www.novemberlearning.com/

*Another interesting session I attended was on the use of social networking sites in K-12 classrooms. A middle school Language Arts instructor has used Ning to do book discussions with schools in California. Ning allows for closed, invitation-only networks.

• IP Video and Web-Conferencing Tools--Marcel is investigating ways that Kirkwood's Adult High School programs could use these tools as ways to deliver courses.

*Did you know that there are free resources for web conferening tools out there? Check out these websites:

http://www.wiziq.com/

http://www.yugma.com/

http://www.mebeam.com/

• Google Groups--Marcel is also looking at ways to connect online course facilitators for the High School Distance Learning Program using Google Groups.