Mr. Scott Saywell District Principal Alternative, Distance and Continuing Education ssaywell@sd68.bc.ca

Welcome to the SD68 (Nanaimo/ Ladysmith) Learn@home family of distributed learning schools. Presently we have three Distributed Learning Schools: Learn@home K-7, Learn@home Aurora and Learn@home 8-12. Learn@home K-7, located on the Forest Park Elementary School property, and Learn@home Aurora, located on the Gabriola Island at the Gabriola Elementary site, serve students in kindergarten to grade 7. Learn@home 8-12, located on a special wing of Nanaimo District Secondary School, serves student in grades 8 to 12. The deliberate association of our Learn@Home sites with local schools allows our families to access school facilities and resources.

You are not alone in your interest in pursuing distributed or home-based learning. While past involvement in these forms of schooling, sometimes called distance education or elearning, meant you were in the minority, today there is a growing acceptance and steady increase enrolment in these alternative educational choices. Much of the growth is a result of the dynamic and media-rich curriculum available in today's online courses, and of the flexible nature of this education model.

Distributed learning is becoming so prevalent in our secondary schools, post-secondary institutions, and the business world, that all high school students could benefit from taking at least one online course. If they don't take a course now, the chance is great that they will be required to take one sometime in the future.

The Nanaimo/ Ladysmith School District is proud of our history of meeting students' educational need by both offering high quality educational programming and flexible delivery methods - site-based, learn at a distance, self-paced, and computer managed learning. All our programs are hybrid or multi-mode models that allow students to complete course work "at a distance" while interacting with teacher both synchronously (telephone, elluminate live) and asynchronously (email, mail), but also requiring regular, flexibly scheduled face-to-face meetings to discuss student learning and progress.

The Learn@Home families and teachers are an important piece of the educational mosaic.