Elluminate Live! A Critical Feature

As I complete the final four weeks of my internship with our local virtual school, I will continue to focus my observations on the methods distance educators use to meet the individual needs of learners. I want to understand all the ways virtual educators differentiate curriculum and instruction to help all children learn and achieve, especially those with special needs. I chose this area of focus because I teach gifted students in a full time, face-to-face magnet program. I want to know if virtual school courses provide gifted students with a viable alternative to gifted face-to-face classes, and if virtual schools provide them with options not available in brick and mortar classrooms. I am also very interested to learn how virtual teachers modify the pace and curriculum to meet the needs of struggling learners.

My virtual teacher loves Elluminate. It's a tool that helps her differentiate instruction when necessary and to give her students opportunities for synchronous learning. In her article "Harnessing the Virtual Classroom," Ruth Clovin Clark describes Elluminate as a synchronous e-learning environment that supports "the projection of still, animated, and video images; instructor-participant audio; sharing of desk-top applications; and interactions using instant polling, chat, and whiteboard marking tools" (Clark, R., 2005). My teacher uses these Elluminate features with all of her students quite regularly, and more frequently with students who seek or need extra attention.

My two experiences with Elluminate so far have been memorable, and I know I haven't seen all it can do yet. I felt surprised when my teacher presented video images (PowerPoint slides, drawings on the whiteboard, or sections of text) while she was talking to me over the telephone. She could see where I was placing my cursor and where I clicked on the screen. She could even see my face as I watched the screen through the video camera on my computer. I've never experienced anything like that before. Elluminate is far more fascinating than iChat or Skype because it has so many additional features.

Even though Clark's article described how Elluminate was used in a corporate training environment, her conclusions and recommendations certainly seem relevant to K-12 virtual education. Clark says the key creating effective virtual learning environments is to maintain student engagement; Elluminate does this quite well. She recommends that virtual teachers maintain a lively pace, visualize their content (avoiding "a wall of words"), incorporate frequent participant responses, and to use small group breakout rooms (Clark, R., 2005).

From what I've learned, it seems clear that Elluminate is a key component of my teacher's virtual classroom and an effective tool for differentiating instruction to meet the needs of all learners.

Clark, R. C. (2005). Harnessing the Virtual Classroom. T+D. 59(11).