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Real-world Learning
TOA is based on a learning system which situates learning within the real world. Problems provide a shared learning activity that structures the learner’s interactions with the instructional resources and provides a common focus for the interactions of the learner and the expert mentor. Problems serve as the guiding organizer of learning and instruction. The learner begins by studying the problem, seeking to understand the advice given about how to proceed. Depending on the needs of the expert mentor and the learner, all types of interactions may be structured by (but not limited to) one or more of the following: email, telephone, face-to-face meetings, video conferencing, and synchronous communications (instant messaging, chat room).
Scheduling
Students may register and complete a course or module at anytime and according to their own pace. Each course is designed to be a full credit. Students may complete as much of the course as they need. The only timeline or deadline that must be followed is the timetable for taking the SOL test for the course or stipulations as defined by the cooperating school district.
Mentor Support
Expert mentors are assigned to learners as models and coaches for appropriate instructional periods from a single representative problem through a set sequence of problems. Expert mentors are not responsible for managing or monitoring the learner. Rather, expert mentors serve as models and coaches, offering assistance upon request, providing feedback on products submitted by the learner(s), asking prompting, extending, and application questions, and other assorted interactions to support learning. Every mentor in The Online Academy is a highly qualified teacher holding valid state licensure.
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