The vision of the Aurora Project was to create an internet-based server plateform to support the collaboration of online learning communities. The collaboration could involve a variety of unique learning activities ranging from online university courses, elementary projects, authentic data collection and publishing, online curriculum development and delivery, web site development, and many other options.
As the Aurora Project staff developed the ALCA Community server, the project team also engaged many Oklahoma teachers and others in creating innovative lessons with locally-collected data which would ultimately be shared through ALCA.
Thus, Aurora expanded to include numerous TICG projects, K-12 schools, universities, career and technology centers, for-profit organizations, and content experts throughout the US, all connected through their respective ALCA Communities. At the end of the five-year grant period, ALCA became an association and began the process of setting up individual communities for groups which paid minimal membership fees.
Over two thousand K-16 online lessons, on all subject areas and all grade levels, have been created by ALCA educators. These lessons, plus new ones which are continually being developed, provide teachers a remarkable opportunity for data sharing with distant communities. Other features available through ALCA include professional development workshops, an eSchool, virtual meetings, portfolios/presentations, online forms and surveys, gradebooks, assignment pages, message boards, a virtual library of images and resources, links to other web sites, and more.
The collaborative efforts of all involved have made ALCA a dynamic community of lifelong learners.
