Avon-Maitland Distance Education Centre
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The Avon Maitland Distance Education Centre (AMDEC) is a distance education program in Ontario, Canada. It is administered by the Avon Maitland District School Board (AMDSB). It is Ontario's first secondary school which offers credits toward an Ontario Secondary School Diploma online.
AMDEC courses have 20 modules (full credit) or 10 modules (half-credit courses). Most students spend the entire the school year (September-June) to complete a course, but a course can be completed in 10 weeks. Students can work at their own pace (within specified parameters). The responsibility to finish the work rests on the student. If a student does not meet the minimum requirements for module completion (less than 2 modules per month) then they are at risk of being removed from the course. Two is the maximum number of modules allowed each week. This ensures students benefit from teacher instruction and feedback. AMDEC courses are delivered through two systems: the "portal" website and the FirstClass communication system.
FirstClass software is a communications suite, specialized for educational environments. It provides email (with file attachments), conference type open access chats, teacher posting areas, among other features. In FirstClass, each of the student's courses have their own "Classroom" (a folder where all their information for that class is stored). In the FirstClass classroom desktop, a teacher posts notes to all the students in the class and maintains the class calendar. The calendar lists times and dates that a class chat will occur. A vital part of each classroom is the "Assessment and Evaluation" schedule. This outlines all the work the student is expected to do, and outlines specifically what needs to be submitted for assessment/evaluation.
