Utah is another example of how states can creatively harness e-Learning to deliver purposeful and engaging online instruction. The Open High School of Utah, a statewide, full-service online charter high school that is committed to the use of open educational resources (OERs), decided midway through its first year in operation (2009-2010) to re-evaluate the provider of its e-Learning platform due to budget constraints and the need for flexibility in designing courses that supported unprecedented levels of individualized instruction within a highly responsive curriculum.

“We were concerned about the cost and the limited potential of what we were using. Considering that we publicly release our OER-based courses, housing them in an LMS where access and portability were difficult didn’t accomplish anything. We were searching for a dynamic LMS that had the features we needed now” says Sarah Weston, Curriculum Director for the Open High School of Utah. “After we were presented with all the different options, it was the features and pricing that ultimately drove our decision. Plus, anticipating the direction that open-source is heading made our decision almost seem like a no brainer.”

For the rest of the article, go to South Carolina and Utah Implement Affordable and Sustainable e-Learning Solutions to Serve State High School Students