It is the intent of the Maryland Students Online Consortium (MSOC) to review, pilot, evaluate, modify, and recommend online courses for Maryland students. To accomplish this, consortium members are working closely with the Director of the Maryland Virtual Learning Opportunities Program (MVLO) so as to further the goals of both the MSOC and the MVLO. The implementation of the grant goals and objectives fall into two major activities: (1) the support of the work of the consortium itself as members meet to learn more about implementing local online programs for students and (2) the support of local activities in each LEA to plan and implement online learning for students. The latter includes the provision of student courses as well as professional development to subject coordinators, teachers and other staff members who are responsible for the delivery of online courses to students.

Objectives of the consortium are to:

• Assist each Consortium member in the development and implementation of local policies and procedures for the use of online courses for students.
• Identify online courses that meet the individual needs of Consortium members to provide additional learning opportunities for its students.
• Participate in the review, piloting, and evaluation of online courses that have been identified to determine if the courses meet state content standards and the criteria that have been established for courses that will be recommended for use statewide.
• Participate in the development and modification of online courses that have been reviewed, piloted, and evaluated so that they meet state content standards and the established criteria for courses that will be recommended for use statewide.
• Report to MSDE those courses that meet the criteria for online student courses and meet state content standards so that information can be disseminated to all Maryland school districts and, when possible, statewide purchasing agreements can be made available to local school districts.

To date, the MSOC has:

• enrolled students in online courses in 12 of the 17 member districts (through the fall of 2004).
• developed a series of 8 surveys for use with student courses to address everything from predicting student success in an online environment to parent, teacher, and mentor reaction to student participation in online courses.
• delivered 3 sections of a Mentor Course to MSOC districts and have purchased an online mentoring course, an online student orientation course, and an online parent orientation course. All of these courses will be implementing Spring 2005.
• purchased a SAT Preparation Course and are currently modifying the course to meet the needs of the newly revised SAT test. The new version of the course will be piloted Spring 2005.
• provided funding to the MVLO to purchase online Geometry and to modify it in order to meet state standards.
• assisted with the purchase and modifications for a Facilitating Online Learning Course currently being implemented with MSOC districts.
• developed and gained approval for local “guidelines and procedures” in the use of online courses in 7 of the 17 districts.
• reviewed and provided feedback for the HSA Online Course Project.

Lead County: Baltimore County
Grant Director: Thea Jones tjones@bcps.org
MSDE Facilitator: Liz Glowa lglowa@msde.state.md.us

Members of the Maryland Students Online Consortium are:
Anne Arundel, Baltimore City, Baltimore, Carroll, Cecil, Charles, Dorchester, Frederick, Harford, Kent, Montgomery, Prince George's, Queen Anne's, Somerset, Washington, Wicomico, and Worcester County Public School Systems.

For more information about MSOC, contact Thea Jones .
For more information about the Maryland Virtual Learning Opportunities Program, visit the website at http://mdk12online.org.