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T+L: Smarter Connections for 21st Century Learners


What is the Place of Virtual Online Learning in Our Schools?

Through a growing number of online courses and virtual schools, more students are learning in cyberspace. But why should schools embrace these new technologies when the jury is still out on their impact on student achievement? And what criteria should schools use when setting up online classes for their students? Read the transcript of this lively online discussion from NSBA's T+L² Conference in Denver with moderating expert Liz Pape, president and CEO of the Virtual High School, a nonprofit collaborative of more than 250 high schools in the U.S. and abroad.

NSBA writes:

Welcome to today's online discussion with Liz Pape! According to the U.S. Department of Education, 36 percent of the nation's school districts now offer distance education courses. Of those, 47 percent reported using the Internet to deliver these courses. Virtual learning is clearly a growing trend that schools are embracing. Let's get started on our discussion.
A school board member from Olympia Fields, Illinois asks:

What is preventing districts from embracing 24-7 distance learning, tutorials and other technology driven tools for expanded learning opportunities for students as well as parents and community members? It seems like it would be a no brainer to want to have these programs in place.
Liz Pape writes:

I think that you have to look at this from several perspectives. School administrators may not be aware of the growth and benefits of online learning for their students,as it is still relatively recent. They may not have had any training in how to evaluate online courses or teachers, so may be fearful of entering these waters. For teachers, there is still a lack of professional development, both pre-service and in-service. Until we can provide teachers with the professional development and tool kit for this, they will be slow in adopting the tool for their teaching.
A school district administrator from Ridgewood, NJ asks:

Blackboard.com has been in our district for almost three years. The hybrid online courses started off with 7 courses three years ago and has mushroomed to over 50 courses in our high school. We also have students using blackboard.com in both of our middle schools. The greatest advocates have been the teachers using this online course developing tool. My question - How do you keep the online participants engaged and motivated to use these great learning tools? What are the best strategies and practices used today to keep a high rate of engagement?
Liz Pape writes:

Congratulations on getting an online component into your district's courses! In order to keep your teachers engaged, make sure to give them ongoing opportunities to collaborate with one another, and give them ongoing professional development to grow their online teaching skills. For example, in VHS we have a 3-year Professional Growth Model, which includes self-assessment, peer review, and new skills development in our COVE (Community of Virtual Educators). This is an online collaboration space outside of our online courses spaces.
Liz Pape writes:

For students, you can keep them engaged in their online courses or online components of their face-to-face courses through: engaging course design which fosters/supports high levels of student-student interaction, and team work/project-based activities. Effective and interactive online course design can go a long way to keeping students in online courses. I believe that it is one of the most critical elements in having high course completion rates in online courses. In addition, through asynchronous online course delivery, students get a feeling of control over when and where they take their online course, which they like and want. A side benefit is that they are also gaining independent learning and time management skills which will be of benefit in their higher education.
A school district administrator from Maize Kansas asks:

What methods are commonly being used to evaluate online courses prior to approval for delivery to students
Liz Pape writes:

This is something near and dear to me! There are currently no approved national standards for online courses, nor is there a great deal of research on this matter. However, there are some guideposts out there for administrators who are thinking of buying/leasing online courses. The NEA has published a Guide to Online High School Courses. It is available for download at: www.nea.org/technology/onlinecourseguide.html
Liz Pape writes:

SREB has also published Guidelines for Online Courses, available at:www.sreb.org - follow their publications link. If you can't find it, send me an email and I will send you the pdf. I can be reached at: LPape@goVHS.org
Liz Pape writes:

A third resource is: WCET's EduTools project, which did the Online Course Evaluation Project. Go to www.edutools.info and follow the OCEP link.
Liz Pape writes:

We (K-12 online course providers) need to continue to work on developing more standards in the area of online course design, online course curriculum standards, and the professional development standards for online teachers.
Liz Pape writes:

Also keep in mind that if you are going to purchase seats in online courses that are being delivered by an outside vendor, you also need to review the online course teacher's certification, experience and training in online course delivery, and, lastly, expectations around their presence and instruction in the online course.
A superintendent from Hope, Indiana asks:

Our school district is small and rural. We do not have the resources to offer all of the courses that our students are interested in taking. Online courses may be the method by which our students can participate and learn versus settling for courses that do not serve their needs. I do believe that educators can design a pre & post test to measure learning. I would be interested in hearing what others say about this subject. Phil
Liz Pape writes:

I emphatically agree - online courses are a great way for a small, rural school to level the playing field for their students. Over 40% of the schools that belong to the VHS Collaborative are rural schools, and over 80% of them are smaller than the US average high school size. This is a great way for you to achieve the optimal: small, intimate learning environment for your students balanced with a limitless selection of courses to meet their individual learning needs and styles.
Liz Pape writes:

You might want to consider working with nearby school districts to build a small online course consortium - every school might offer a course and share the seats in the courses among the consortium schools. VHS has had a lot of success with building consortiums through regional groups like ESAs, BOCES, ESCs or Intermediate Units.
Liz Pape writes:

You could certainly work with your teachers to build some pre and post course assessments to identify effectiveness of the online courses.You might also want to consider building a Readiness for Online Course Survey instrument for your students - not to identify which students will succeed in online courses, and therefore eliminate those who won't, but to instead provide additional support and services for those who want or need to take an online course but may not have all the habits of mind that they might need for success in such an environment.
A reporter from Arlington, VA asks:

What would be the 2 top compelling reasons a school district would opt for online or virtual courses for their students?
Liz Pape writes:

Do I have to stop at 2 reasons? LOL I think the first reason to use online courses is to be able to offer courses to students that would otherwise not be available at the student's school, either because there are not enough students interested in taking the course, or because the school doesn't have a teacher with the background/training to teach the course. A second reason for offering online courses would be to offer courses that would better meet the student's learning style, or would better meet their learning schedule. For example, students who have difficulty dealing with the stimulation and distractions of a classroom, might do better in the more focused learning environment offered by online courses.
Liz Pape writes:

Other reasons for offering online courses: the ability for students to learn with technology, instead of learning about technology - having an authentic need within the course to learn how to build a web page as part of an online group project. Offering online courses can also help to develop students' 21st century/ICT skills - the ability to work collaboratively online, work in online teams, communicate effectively online, with an appropriate online voice, and develop Internet Literacy skills. Online courses which emphasize building a virtual classroom with students from high schools across states can also develop students' global awareness and global citizenship skills. For example, because VHS's member schools are from many states and countries, we have students in our online classrooms who are from all over the world. These students are interacting online with one another, throughout the semester. Not only are they gaining access to courses not offered at their school, they are also gaining new classmates, from all over the world!
A state school board association staff member from Des Moines, IA asks:

For those now offering this learning medium, how are staffing and content issues handled?
Liz Pape writes:

There is no one consistent way that staffing and content issues are being handled among all the virtual schools or schools providing online courses. Some schools are purchasing seats in online courses and those courses are being designed and delivered by the vendor, which means there is very little control by the school administrators once the vendor has been selected.
Liz Pape writes:

Another option is for a school district or virtual school to design their own online courses (they will need to either develop their own course standards or select from those that have been published, see the previous answer with NEA, SREB and EduTools URLs). These courses can then be delivered by teachers at the district who have been trained in online course delivery.
Liz Pape writes:

Other virtual schools are hiring their own teachers to deliver online courses that the virtual school has either designed or leased. Florida Virtual Schools uses this model - they have full and part-time online teachers delivering their online courses to Florida students who are either in public or private schools or home-schooled.
Liz Pape writes:

Another option is to work with a consortium of schools to develop and deliver online content. If the consortium is a multi-state consortium, there may be bricks-and-mortar school policy issues that may be a problem. For example, some states still have regulations that their students must be taught by state-certified teachers. This type of policy tends to be restrictive to the dissemination of online courses. I recommend reviewing the Keeping Pace II Report, which compares all 50 states and their online initiatives and policies.
A school board member from Traverse City, MI asks:

As a school board member in a state that pays by a per student foundation grant, I am interested in getting homeschool students online so that we can meet their needs and enhance our foundation allowance. What is the current cost for a student to get a one grade level online education? I realize it will differ somewhat by grade, but an average would suffice for me.
Liz Pape writes:

I'm not sure what you mean by one grade level online education, but I can tell you that typical costs for a one semester online course range from $200 (subsidized cost by state or district) to $500 per student.
A school district administrator from Indianapolis, IN asks:

We are considering offering online courses to students in our 2 high schools. We are looking at a model of 4 days of online course and 1 day of face to face with our students. Is there any other school or District using a similar model?
Liz Pape writes:

Yes, there are other schools and districts that are now offering a similar type of hybrid model of course delivery. They feel that the face-to-face meetings help to keep students on track in the online courses. I'm hesitant to publicize this information without their permission, so please send me an email and I will give you additional info.
A public information officer from Montgomery, AL asks:

Are there any statistics about the use of e-books in today's classrooms? Is it possible that this could be a cost savings for schools and/or enhance student achievement?
Liz Pape writes:

It's not clear how many textbook publishers are ready to embrace electronic versions of their texts, although McGraw Hill, Simon and Schuster, and Random House have all launched electronic divisions, according to ESchool News. There are still struggles with developing the business model for pricing e-books.
A state school board association staff member from Alexandria, VA asks:

I understand that there are a variety of virtual school providers, from state-run public entities to private and nonprofit opperatives. Do you know how many virtual schools/consortium of schools currently exist and what the field looks like?
Liz Pape writes:

31 states currently have some type of online learning going on in the state, and there are 21 state virtual learning initiatives either in existence or in the planning stage.
A school board member from Guymon, Oklahoma asks:

This all sounds very progressive! What, if any, are the research-based objections to the trend?
Liz Pape writes:

Yes, it is very progressive and does offer tremendous potential for transforming education for our students. However, there is still a very strong need for on-going research and standards!! NCREL (North Central Regional Education Lab) recently funded 8 research projects in K-12 online education. The synthesis was published this past weekend and presented at the Virtual Schools Symposium this week. It should be available on the NCREL site fairly soon. It does a great job of outlining the areas of further research that we all need to continue to do to make online teaching and learning effective for all students.
NSBA writes:

That wraps up our discussion for today. Thanks very much for all the terrific questions and discussion! If you would like to contact Liz Pape, send her an email at lpape@govhs.org. Thanks again.