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On January 1, The Hadley School for the Blind celebrated the upload of its 30th online course, a major achievement for the organization and a big success in the "eHadley" initiative to broaden access and educational opportunities for its students. Throughout the last decade, online learning’s popularity has skyrocketed as educators and students alike explore digital distance education as a viable alternative to traditional curriculum. Hadley was founded on distance education in 1920 and currently offers more than 100 courses to its 10,000 students around the globe in braille, large print or audio.
"Our online courses have all been retrofitted to accommodate online content," says Hadley Senior Vice President Dawn Turco. "There are many benefits to providing coursework online: we lower costs by sending less mail and using less paper and we provide more immediate access to lessons and instruction. Students passionate about learning can take advantage of immediate access to a wealth of knowledge."
Much care is taken as Hadley transforms large print courses into an engaging and accessible learning experience. The instructional technologist in the school's curriculum development department redesigns each course for optimal web experience, taking into account relevant resources to enhance the learning environment, including extra audio, video, podcasts and relevant web resources.
Online courses also help bridge the geographical gap. Hadley mails courses in English to more than 100 countries annually and delivery can take up to several weeks for just one assignment. The patience online courses require is necessary only for instructors to grade each submitted lesson, which can take several days at most.
View the current list of Hadley’s online courses.
© 2010 The Hadley School for the Blind
700 Elm Street, Winnetka, Illinois 60093 - 2554
Toll-Free: 800-323-4238 Phone: 847-446-8111 Fax: 847-446-9916
www.hadley.edu | email: info@hadley.edu
