AU Blogspot

                  Thanks to clspeace for permission to use this Photo. 

Megan Bowen is an Ashworth High School English Instructor.  You can read some of Megan’s blog posts by clicking here and scrolling to the bottom of the page.  As someone who is always thinking of new and dynamic ways to engage her students, it’s no surprise that Megan has begun hosting classroom discussions on the Ashworth Student Forum.  As an English major myself, I’ve personally enjoyed participating in these interactive discussions and have been very impressed by the insightul perspectives students have offered on their latest reading assignments. 

If you’re an Ashworth High School student or a parent of such a student, we encourage you to participate in one of Megan’s classroom discussions.  Our new student forum provides a terrific environment for students, parents, and faculty to interact—so be sure to join our Forum community today if you haven’t already. 

Megan and I hope to see you on the Forum soon!

Here are the links:

Ashworth University Student Forum

Megan’s Bowen Classroom Discussions

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University 

As pioneers in the online learning field, we here at Ashworth University are very excited to watch the online education format quickly becoming the preferred choice of thousands upon thousands of new students worldwide. With its’ superior convenience, flexibility, and customized learning features; the online learning model is increasingly being seen as the central way to educate and train oneself on your own terms as we move into the future. As our everyday tasks, communications, and experiences continue to move into the “virtual” world, it’s not hard to understand why the online learning revolution has literally transformed the lives of students everywhere.

If you’re interested in discussing your educational options, all you have to do is click here for more information. Our advisors are not sales people. They’re simply here to answer your questions and help you make informed decisions if you think online learning might be a viable option for you. We’ve also just launched the Ashworth University Forum, which is a great place for those interested in finding out what we’re all about to talk with Ashworth students, faculty, and alumni. You’ll find a lot of people just like yourself carrying on conversations there, so be sure to check it out. We look forward to hearing from you!

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University

 
       Thanks to Andrew Kuchling for permission to use this Photo.

The following video is lo-fi from a production perspective, but hi-fi from a content perspective, in that the message conveyed is direct, clear, and accessible to an audience of any age.  Whether you’re a student or parent from a home school background, we encourage you to consider how you relate to the type of learning lifestyle that informs this video’s central message.  Click on the image above to watch.  We look forward to hearing your perspectives.

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University

The following article once again reinforces the importance of Web 2.0 technologies in a progressive educational environment, a message that we have been committed to carrying to our Ashworth University students through our own 2.0 applications such as MySpace, Facebook, Ashworth University Blog, and even our preliminary experiments in Second Life’s virtual world.  It’s nice to see the more “mainstream” educational community is finally beginning to recognize that today’s education is web-based, interactive, and network driven.  Here at Ashworth, we’re committed to these principles and encourage our students and their families to become as engaged as possible in the Web 2.0 revolution: where everyone is empowered to create, learn, and connect on their own terms.

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University 

At Ashworth High School, we place the highest value on the accreditation status of our various program offerings.  From our high school to our masters’ programs, our curriculum development process meets the strict standards set by state, regionally, and nationally recognized accrediting agencies such as SACS-CASI, CITA, and DETC. 

Over the past several months, we’ve been closely following the unfortunate developments in Clayton County’s school accreditation crisis.  As we have a number of faculty, staff, and students originally from and currently residing in your county; this story does hit close to home.  As a school with local community ties, we’re committed to doing whatever we can to provide the citizens of Clayton County with accredited educational options.  

On April 26th, faculty and staff members from Ashworth High School will be hosting open panel discussions from the hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Southlake Mall.  We’d like to encourage students and their families to take a few minutes out of their day to join us for what promises to be a very lively and informative event.  To give you a clearer sense of what these seminars will cover, here’s some of the most important issues we’ll be addressing and program features we’ll be demonstrating:

• Explain the benefits of distance education in today’s world
• Show how parents can fit into a child’s education
• View live demonstrations of course and online tutorials
• Examine our industry leading textbooks, study guides, and course related materials such as lab kits.

This is a great opportunity to meet our distinguished team of experts who develop our accredited curriculum, ask questions of our experienced faculty, and discuss with our student advisors exactly how credits are transferred to our school. 

For more information about this upcoming event, please visit our “Ashworth Options” web page at:

www.AshworthOptions.com

We’ve also created a special hotline number and email box exclusively devoted to answering questions about what Ashworth High School can do for you.

The hotline number is:

877-94-ASHWORTH

The email address is:

options@AshworthHighSchool.com

We’d like to thank you for your time today and look forward to seeing you on April 26th at Southlake Mall!

Sincerely,

Ashworth High School Faculty & Staff

Dr. Lisa Bryde is Ashworth University’s manager of Research and Curriculum Development.  If you have any questions about our accreditation standards or would like to discuss what educational options may best fit your needs, please feel free to contact Dr. Bryde at:

lbryde@ashworthuniversity.edu

                    Thanks to Olivia for permission to use this Photo. 

George Siemens is acknowledged as being one of the most innovative minds in the education field.  Through his groundbreaking analyses of how educators can use technology to their advantage rather than fearing its’ radical capabilities, Siemens has had a major impact on how teachers, students, and just about anyone involved in the education field perceives how our traditional learning models must evolve in order to effectively provide the knowledge and skills most vital in tomorrow’s “connected” world.  In the following slideshow presentation, Siemens outlines some of his main thoughts on what tomorrow may look like if we begin taking the necessary steps to reform our educational system today.  This presentation is a solid introduction to George’s theories.  We’d like to thank him for being an Ashworth University contributing blogger and would like to encourage everyone to check out his amazing elearnspace Blog.  Thanks George!

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University

In yet another sign that the home school education movement is gaining mainstream acceptance, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California has denounced a court ruling restricting the rights of parents who want to home school their children.  The following article outlines the details of this developing story.  Scharzenegger referred to the ruling in question as “outrageous” and stated that “parents should have the right to decide what’s best for their children.”  We here at Ashworth University applaud the Governor’s stance against the governmental regulation of parents’ rights and are happy to see the home school movement continue to gain momentum on the national stage.  As always, if you have any questions about Ashworth University’s Home School initiatives, please feel free to contact us at any time.  Dr. Lisa Bryde, our manager of Research and Curriculum Development, will be happy to advise you on what homeschool options best fit your family’s needs. 

You can contact Dr. Lisa Bryde at: 

lbryde@ashworthuniversity.edu

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University

Making students accountable for test scores works well on a bumper sticker and it allows many politicians to look good by saying that they will not tolerate failure. But it represents a hollow promise. Far from improving education, high- stakes testing marks a major retreat from fairness, from accuracy, from quality, and from equity.
- Sen. Paul Wellstone (1944-2002)

Standardized testing is quite the hot topic, to say the least. I remember spending pretty much the entire semester of Tests & Measures in college debating the validity of standardized tests.

A lot of educational institutions are being accused of “teaching to the test”. If you have to teach to a test, then obviously the test isn’t really testing what it should be, right?

Standardized tests are used for different purposes. We won’t get into the political purposes right now, but we all know that those exist. In elementary, middle, and high schools, they are used to make sure that students are performing at an appropriate level, and they are used to place students in appropriate courses at the appropriate level. These tests should be testing grade-level knowledge, reasoning and problem solving ability, writing skills, etc. A well constructed test does just that – it tests whether or not the test taker has certain knowledge and skills and can apply that knowledge and those skills.

Special thanks to SideLong for permission to use this photo.

I have seen student records where a student is earning decent grades in math courses like Algebra and Geometry, but then they are unable to pass a state exit exam in math. What is the problem here? Is it that the students are not actually learning the material? Are grades being “given” to students? I find it impossible to believe that a student can earn a B in Algebra I and Geometry and then fail a math exit exam that most likely only skims the surface of basic Algebra and Geometry. Is the test bad or are the courses bad?

The only thing I really have to go on to answer that question is that the tests are standardized while the courses are not. We see students across counties and states performing at or above level in their high school courses and then failing exit exams. What are these tests actually testing? I’m not saying the courses themselves are perfect, I doubt they are. Improvements on these courses that are being made are based on how students are performing on these tests though, and that is a little scary. Courses should be designed so that the student learns and understands the material, and the tests should be designed to make sure they have done just that.

If we are teaching to tests, especially bad tests, we are really failing our students.

Nicole Burris
Associate Registrar
Ashworth University

Special thanks to Jan_Tik for permission to use this photo.

Susan Jacoby thinks we’re a “nation of dunces” who are smug about our ignorance.

“There is no quick cure for this epidemic of arrogant anti-rationalism and anti-intellectualism; rote efforts to raise standardized test scores by stuffing students with specific answers to specific questions on specific tests will not do the job.”

Jules Crittenden responds to Jacoby’s slur on schools

“About achievement testing, it’s much decried by those who say it is unfair to the underprivileged, non-English speakers, over-simplifies, forces teachers to teach to the test, etc. I’d suggest it’s unfair to those who don’t study. Requiring children to actually demonstrate knowledge of math, English and science in order to graduate may be the single greatest educational innovation of our time, forcing schools that had demonstrably not been teaching at all to at least teach for the test. And rather than simply encouraging rote instruction, the testing impetus has required teachers to see to it that students grasp the basics and become literate if they hope to graduate, something our prior system did not.”

There’s nothing new about American politicians appealing to the common man. It’s a chicken in every pot, not a copy of War and Peace, after all. I don’t think we’re stupider than in the past, if only because the bar is very low. We certainly have many more years of schooling. (more…)