Preparing Students for 21st Century Learning
All Saints Episcopal School used TEL Learning courses to help launch their blended learning program and give students experience with online learning.
“To have a student who graduates from high school in 2021, if they haven’t taken an online course that leverages distance or digital learning, they’re not ready for the world. If they’re going to go off into the world, whether that be a college environment or a workplace, they’re going to be asked to learn something in this setting.
And so beyond the academic and curricular value that the TEL partnership brings, it’s the pedagogical value it brings as well. How do we help kids be 21st century learners truly, and in this century, in this moment, be a learner who knows how to use those resources?”
Mike Cobb
Head of School
All Saints Episcopal
About All Saints
Location:
Tyler, Texas
Industry:
Private PK-12
Mission:
Igniting passions to impact our world.
Total number of students:
700
Services used:
Dual Credit
Background
It’s hard for students to know if they want to pursue a career in a field when they have only learned about it from a textbook.
The team at All Saints Episcopal School in Tyler, Tx, is focused on preparing students for life after high school by putting learning into action. Students in the school’s Fab Lab use Design Thinking principles to create prosthetics for actual people. Instead of simply taking a class on entrepreneurship, students run the E-Cafe, learning what it’s like to manage product demand and profit and loss statements. Students use the 150-acre campus to learn more about the natural world, including where their food comes from.
All Saints takes a similar approach to helping students decide what to study in college. They offer 16 Advanced Placement (AP) courses and work with several area colleges to provide college-credit opportunities. By taking advanced, college-level courses, students can decide if a course topic is one they want to pursue in college and beyond. And they can get a feel for what a college course is like while still being supported in their high school environment.
Objective
All Saints wants to provide their students with the experience they need to be successful in a 21st century world. That includes the ability to learn in an online environment, which can require more than just an interest in the material. Students need to be able to problem-solve different platforms and manage their motivation and time differently than in a traditional in-person class.
To help students build these 21st century skills, the school added online options delivered in a blended model. With a facilitator from the All Saints staff, students work through the online course together. The facilitator makes sure the students meet all the requirements of the course and also addresses questions students have. This also guarantees that the All Saints culture is included in every class, no matter where the curriculum is from.
Many schools struggle with launching a blended learning program because of the facilitation piece. They often get hung up on finding people with domain expertise. According to Kyle Edgemon, Assistant Head of School for Faculty and Student Experience at All Saints, that’s the wrong approach.
“All you have to do is have somebody who actually cares about kids and understands the school,” Kyle said. “I had a guy last year who was facilitating Chinese and Latin. I can promise you, he did not have any expertise in those. He was a coach and he actually liked kids. He knew how to build people up and then how to hold people accountable. And he knew our school.”
In the short term, the online dual credit options provide additional flexibility for the All Saints course catalog. Longer term, the All Saints team has a goal for every student to graduate with the skills to thrive in an online learning environment.
All Saints wants to provide their students with the experience they need to be successful in a 21st century world. That includes the ability to learn in an online environment, which can require more than just an interest in the material. Students need to be able to problem-solve different platforms and manage their motivation and time differently than in a traditional in-person class.
To help students build these 21st century skills, the school added online options delivered in a blended model. With a facilitator from the All Saints staff, students work through the online course together. The facilitator makes sure the students meet all the requirements of the course and also addresses questions students have. This also guarantees that the All Saints culture is included in every class, no matter where the curriculum is from.
Many schools struggle with launching a blended learning program because of the facilitation piece. They often get hung up on finding people with domain expertise. According to Kyle Edgemon, Assistant Head of School for Faculty and Student Experience at All Saints, that’s the wrong approach.
“All you have to do is have somebody who actually cares about kids and understands the school,” Kyle said. “I had a guy last year who was facilitating Chinese and Latin. I can promise you, he did not have any expertise in those. He was a coach and he actually liked kids. He knew how to build people up and then how to hold people accountable. And he knew our school.”
In the short term, the online dual credit options provide additional flexibility for the All Saints course catalog. Longer term, the All Saints team has a goal for every student to graduate with the skills to thrive in an online learning environment.
“This is what y’all do. That’s what I like about it. Some of our other partners are large universities that have assigned one professor to be the online learning or the dual credit coordinator. And it’s not what they really do or love. And you always feel that in your relationship with them. You feel like you’re the afterthought. Y’all are doing this every day and it’s who you are. And it shows in the customer service we received.”
Mike Cobb
Head of School
All Saints Episcopal
Solution
All Saints was looking for a partner to deliver high-quality, meaningful content in a flexible way that can be adapted to their school culture. So when the team was looking to launch their blended learning initiative in 2018, their research led them to TEL Education.
With asynchronous courses delivered completely online, All Saints could easily incorporate the TEL Education curriculum into their program. In the past few semesters, six students have completed courses including Quantitative Analysis, Latin, and Introduction to Communication. As the TEL catalog grows, the All Saints team is eager to get more students involved in the blended learning program. Ultimately, they want every student who graduates from All Saints to have taken one or more online classes.
The partnership also set the school up for additional flexibility during the pandemic. One of their international students wasn’t able to come back to campus right away, so the All Saints team enrolled the student in a TEL course to earn the credit he needed.
Key Results
Providing students experience and comfort with online learning environments.
Six students in five courses over four semesters.
Key partner in launching their blended learning initiative