A virtual school environment is more effective if the parents are partners in facilitating the learning. For the purposes of this project, parents are named the Learning Coach. This presentation illustrates a mix of strategies and activities for students, including school directed, Learning Coach facilitated, and independent learning tasks. In the middle grades, students become more independent and self-directed learners, but still require direction and monitoring. This mix of online, Learning Coach (parent) directed, and independent study may be considered a form of blended learning. A definition of blended learning systems combines face-to-face instruction with computer mediated instruction (Graham, 2006). Blended learning is also defined as combining face-to-face classroom instruction with distance learning techniques (Koohang, Behling & Behling, 2008). Blended learning has many forms, but is considered to be the merging of online and face-to-face teaching, using a variety of instructional strategies, and "the blending of learning into students' lives" (Jelfs, Nathan, & Barrett, 2004). For virtual schools, the blended learning approach may include online instructors as facilitators and the parents as a Learning Coach, with online experiences and self directed off-line learning activities. A primary goal of the presentation is to identify promising practices for what should be delivered online (computer mediated), what should be delivered face-to-face (Learning Coach), and what should be independent for students as it applies to students enrolled in a virtual school environment. The intended result is increased efficacy of the parent as Learning Coach through the use of technology in a virtual school environment.
