Gifted Education Goes Online:
Distance Learning with Northwestern’s Gifted LearningLinks

At a time when schools often have difficulty meeting the needs of all of their gifted students, families are likely to pursue out-of-school options for obtaining appropriate coursework. The Center for Talent Development’s Gifted LearningLinks program plays a vital role for the hundreds of students annually who enroll in its online courses for gifted students.

Parents and educators who are unfamiliar with the web can find it difficult to imagine how one learns in an online environment. Removed from a traditional classroom, Gifted LearningLinks instructors use technology to translate face-to-face teaching to the virtual classroom. Teachers use the Blackboard Course Management System to create a password-protected website exclusively for members of their class. Through Blackboard, students can access their syllabus and assignments anytime, from any computer with Internet access. Blackboard provides a forum for class discussion, both live and asynchronous. Teachers can even write tests that, in some cases, can immediately be scored and can inform students of why their answer was incorrect.

Gifted LearningLinks classes also access a full range of support services through Northwestern University. For instance, Gifted LearningLinks’ American Studies instructor selects film and sound clips from the entire Northwestern library catalog, allowing students to examine not just historical texts but also art and music. In another example, a new Gifted LearningLinks course in Musical Theater is making its debut this year, thanks to the ability to stream cast recordings online. Both courses enable Gifted LearningLinks students to access those materials as easily as if they were on-campus.

Blackboard strongly differs in content delivery from much of the computer-based learning software available in elementary and secondary education. Used by colleges and universities, Blackboard is intended to assist teachers in distributing serious academic content. Most Gifted LearningLinks classes are textbook-based, and while animated demonstrations are used when helpful (in a virtual biology lab, for instance), teachers do not use educational technology to hold students’ attention or motivate them to learn.

For this reason, Gifted LearningLinks students undergo an admissions review to ensure that all students have the academic skills and self-discipline to complete a challenging course with minimal supervision. In contrast, most distance learning programs do not require applicants to submit standardized test scores, essays, report cards, or teacher recommendations. Of course, academically talented students generally have the necessary qualities to succeed in a serious online course: they are hard-working, motivated, and have interests in specific academic subjects.

As technology continues to improve, more students will seek opportunities online to augment their studies. Although it is not an option many parents or educators may have considered until recently, an online class can give students just what they need: the right course at the right time.