Welcome to Montana Digital Academy!

On behalf of the Board of Directors and the staff of the Montana Digital Academy (MTDA) I want to welcome students, parents and school staff to the very first semester of courses offered by Montana’s statewide digital school.  We have been working very hard these past several months to develop and assemble a high quality online instructional program that will offer challenging and engaging courses under the direction of over 60 Montana teachers.  Now we are ready to begin serving the course needs of Montana high school students.

Our online program will officially open to students on August 30, 2010 and MTDA students are invited to start their online experience by working on the student orientation program which will be available to them on that date.  This program, titled Introduction to Online Learning, will take students 5-6 hours to complete and will provide them with an overview of the tools they will be using,  and an opportunity to practice the skills they will need in the online environment.  MTDA online students will learn how to use Moodle, our learning management system, which will be their “online classroom”.   There they will find lessons, homework assignments, videos, simulations, audio clips and many other leaning objects.  Students will learn how to actively participate in class discussions, and of course how to take quizzes and tests to demonstrate their learning and achievement.  Successful completion of this introductory experience by students will help them gain an understanding of how to work successfully in their new online educational world. By learning to “navigate” in this learning environment they will be prepared to begin their online course the following week as MTDA courses will be open to students on September 7, 2010.

I encourage educators, students, parents and other interested people to spend a few minutes on this website to learn more about the opportunities in programs and services that MTDA has to offer.

Thank you,

Bob Currie

Director

Montana Digital Academy

Montana Digital Academy will run a student orientation program beginning August 31st for all new MTDA students.  The orientation program will cover the basics of online learning as well as the Moodle, our learning management system.

Mike Agostinelli, a teacher in the Helena School District, will serve as orientation leader and assist new MTDA students in setting up the tools students will need to succeed in MTDA programs.

Students will be automatically be entered in this orientation course.