Most students still push through a seven- or eight-period day, 45-day quarter and 180-day school year. Unfortunately, mandates, physical plant limitations, local political pressures and institutional traditions have limited even the best intentions of rethinking the traditional school calendar and schedule. This is why the flexibility found in virtual schooling environments (1) should be so attractive to educators, students and parents alike. Not bound by the constraints of physical space or out-of-date school calendars, virtual schools can provide opportunities for students to take courses at a time and place that meets their needs

oo often, independent virtual schools might be no more than diploma mills openly competing against local schools.

Instead of competing, virtual schools need to partner with local schools and allow individual students to create what Staker and Horn (2) call a "self blend model."

We leave a digital trail of breadcrumbs and establish our digital selves by sharing, commenting, and communicating like never before

Digital Citizenship is a principle that helps users understand how to utilize technology in an appropriate way

But in classrooms, teachers monitor the activities of students as they always have. In regards to students adding or accessing inappropriate content, we have software that reports this information to us.

8 elements of Digital Literacy

Cultural [Cu] Cognitive [Cg] Constructive [Cn] Communication [Co] Confidence [Cf] Creative [Cr] Critical [Ct] Civic [Ci]

he following is my interpretation of how they might be used for teaching and learning in a primary classroom