Topic 6

Research into the Facilitation of K-12 Online Learning

Do you agree that facilitators play an important role in online learning? Why or why not?

I agree that facilitators play an important role in online learning. Since the teacher is in a remote location, the facilitator is present while students are online. In a face-to-face course it is important to create a community environment. This is just as important in an online course, but is much more difficult to do. A facilitator is key in helping to build a connection and keep students from feeling isolated. They are there to support students, answer questions, troubleshoot technology problems, communicate with the teacher and parents, assign a participation grade, and make sure students do not cheat. In Claire de la Varre’s presentation entitled "Teaching Presence in a Blended Learning Environment: Contributions of On-Site Facilitators," she includes a list of expanded responsibilities of facilitators that are most important for students success in online learning. The expanded responsibilities of the facilitator are to create a positive environment, attend to individual differences, encourage students to interact with other students, encourage students to contact the teacher, support and motivate students, and model time management and organization skills. In her study, Claire de la Varre found that facilitators categorized as a “good” facilitator were ones who did not undermine the authority of the teacher, kept in touch with the teacher, responded quickly to teachers, and had built a relationship with students. Facilitators who showed a genuine concern for their students and kept them motivated had students who dropped out less often than facilitators that undermined the authority of the teacher and did not have a good relationship with students. Students in K-12 online learning are still learning the skills needed to be a successful online student, such as time management and organizational skills. It is imperative that students have a facilitator to support them.

Before reading about facilitators and hearing Claire de la Varre’s presentation, I did not know the role of the facilitator was so important. When I think of K-12 online learning, I envision a student sitting at home alone on a computer. After learning more about the facilitator, I realize how having a facilitator could mean the difference between a student being successful or not in online learning. Facilitators provide the human connection that students need to feel less isolated. They are their advocate and students feel they have someone on their side.

References

de la Varre, Claire (2011) Teaching Presence in a Blended Learning Environment: Contributions of On-site Facilitators. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WgjuzjWdtRU

Irvin, M. (2012). Research into the Facilitation of K-12 Online Learning. Retrieved from  http://virtualschoolmooc.wikispaces.com/facilitator

Topic 5 Research into the Teaching of K-12 Online Learning

A Closer Look at Cyber Charter Schools

Contributed by Dr. Allison Carr-Chellman

Professor of Education

Department Head, Learning and Performance Systems

Dr. Carr-Chellman describes cyber charter schools as a public school that any child may attend at home and online. They are accredited in the state where they exist, have state testing, and have curriculum in K-12. She shared the statistics on how rapidly online learning is growing, ranging from 40,000 students taking at least one online course in 2000 to 4 million in 2010. The number of students taking online courses full-time is 250,000. She goes on to describe the type of students taking these courses as ones that are struggling in the classroom, some are actors/actresses, and some may be highly gifted. She mentions that there are several unanswered questions about these types of schools. It is unknown whether cyber charter schools are better, the same, or worse than traditional schools. They are also uncertain as to whether this is a way for some insert religion into education. The most surprising fact is how much money some are making. Cyber schools send materials to students, such as a computer and a stipend to pay for an internet connection each month.  The money that is needed for a child to attend a cyber charter school comes from the district the child traditionally attended school. Dr. Carr-Chellman says that the traditional school still has to pay the teachers, keep the lights on, and do what it takes to take care of the students still in the traditional school, while sending money to cyber schools for students who have left. She gave an example of how much money was being sent to cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania, who has 40,000 of the 250,000 full-time students taking online courses. In 2008, $600 million was being sent to cyber charter schools. Although cyber schools are non-profit, curriculum and materials developers are for-profit corporations. One corporation’s CEO recently made $2.6 million in one year.

Georgia Virtual School Teacher Education Research and Trends by Dr. Joe Cozart

Contributed by Dr. Joe Cozart
Associate Director of Strategic Planning
Georgia Department of Education
Office of Technology Services

Dr. Cozart begins by telling about the Georgia Virtual School. He says teachers are evaluated three times a semester. Administrators input data into a teacher information system so that they can pinpoint areas a particular teacher should work on, as well as where teachers need support school wide. He says they use a program that teachers can use to get live support to enhance their teaching. They also track student performance very carefully. If they see a problem area, they can go in and enhance content to help students be more successful. They can even sometimes tell where students will struggle before they get to a particular content area. Dr. Cozart says that in the future, they expect to be able to use data to implement interventions from the very first day of school.

After listening to these two videos, I feel excited and apprehensive at the same time. I hope someone will find a way to fund cyber charter schools without taking so much money from the traditional public schools. I think students who need to go to a brick and mortar school, particularly the younger grades, should have access to one. On the other hand, I was excited to hear about programs that some schools use to quickly tailor a program for students that best fit their needs. This is a great way to maximize a student’s learning time. It is exciting to hear about the wonderful things available to students and what is in store for them in the near future!

Resources

Georgia Department of Education. Georgia Virtual Teacher Education Research and Trends by Dr. Joe Cozart. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gukez6XyHBo&feature=player_embedded#!.

Learning and Performance Systems. A Closer Look at Cyber Charter Schools. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4L_wfX3MzRE

Topic 4

Critique the iNACOL National Standards for Quality Online Courses based on the literature related to asynchronous course design (both K-12 and higher education).

I was not familiar with the National Standards for Quality Online Courses before reviewing them for this topic. There was an older version of standards and there was a need to develop a newer version of standards. The standards can be used for any type of online instruction. Blended learning includes a variety of online learning, ranging from the face-to-face teacher teaching with digital tools to a complete curriculum being online. I think these standards are very important to online learning. The standards ensure quality instruction for students and help them to be successful.

The standards have certainly helped me in my coursework as an online student, like a clear course syllabus should be included in the course and resources that enrich course content should be available to students. Those are just two examples of standards that I can relate to personally. I have struggled with courses that did not give a clear syllabus. It is very difficult to know exactly what is expected of you if it is not made clear at the beginning of the course. Having resources to provide background knowledge into something that we are discussing is very helpful also.

I feel that standards are imperative for any kind of learning because they support the learner when used properly. The learner is the reason for learning and teachers need to make sure they are doing all they can to help students thrive.

References

International Council for K-12 Online Learning. (2007). National standards for quality online courses. Vienna, VA: Author. Retrieved from http://www.inacol.org/research/nationalstandards/iNACOL_CourseStandards_2011.pdf

Topic 3

1.  What did the report tell you about the current state of research in K-12 online schooling? What surprised you? What was confirmed for you?

There is still a lot to learn about K-12 online schooling. Most people want to know if online learning works, but the real question is under what conditions does online learning work? Online learning is not for everyone. Students should be self-motivated and need to be trained for online learning. They also need parent support during the program of study. Students who have and use their own technology tools daily do not know how to use the tools for online learning. A successful program must be willing to train, not only their staff, but the students too.

In listening to Dr. Ferdig, I was surprised to hear how schools are unwilling to change the way they are teaching teachers. Since technology is the way of the world, we really need to get schools onboard to train future teachers. One way teachers could be trained is with the simulation idea Dr. Ferdig shared during the video. Teachers could use the simulation to get a feel for what it is like to be a teacher in the real world. This would be a great exercise for teachers in the beginning of their program to see if it is something they think they would like to do for a living.

The thing that was confirmed for me was the fact that online schools are growing despite the fact that some people do not think online learning is better than face-to-face learning. Hopefully, we will continue to see growth that we’ve seen over the last decade. I relish the opportunity to learn more about the online schools and can’t wait to become part of the reform.

References:

Ferdig, R.E. (2012). Research into K-12 Online Learning. Retrieved from http://virtualschoolmooc.wikispaces.com/research

Topic 2

According to some, distance education did not start with virtual schools as someone might think. Instead it started with sending student materials through the mail beginning in 1840. People have different definitions for distance education. The definition given by Verduin and Clark (1991) states that distance education (DE) occurs while students and teachers are separated, which supports the idea that DE has been around since 1840. Others include the internet as part of the definition for (DE) and, obviously, this would not fit into the timeline that dates back to 1840.

I support the idea that students must achieve equivalent outcomes to justify providing educational choices. Before reading the information on this topic, I was under the impression that online schools have a low student performance. I did not have this belief myself, but rather this was my thought when I read the activity I had to do for topic 2. Then, as I was reading the information for this topic, I found out that studies show no significant difference between the performance and outcome of students in brick and mortar schools and online schools. I was appalled at this finding.

Another concern of online learning is whether distance education can provide differentiated instruction to include advanced placement and opportunities for students with special needs. From what I have seen, most schools offer these types of programs for student success. I think that is the beauty of online learning because they can focus more on individualized instruction with the help of curriculum providers, like K12 Inc.

The previous issues mentioned have apparently been concerns for a while and studies have shown that student performance is virtually the same for distance education and brick and mortar schools. I think the underlying issue is people are afraid of change and technology is ever-changing. These issues probably will not go away because some people will always fear the unknown.

Topic 1

I selected 5 online learning programs and found the following:

Georgia Cyber Academy

Georgia Cyber Academy is a full-time online school and is powered by K12 Inc., which is a for-profit provider of curricula, content, tools, and infrastructure. They also provide social gatherings, enrichment, and support for students with special needs. GCA is a public school and there is no tuition.

Laurel Springs School

Laurel Springs School is a private online school. Tuition ranges from $2,300-3,000 a year for K-8 and up to $8,000 for high school. It operates much like the brick and mortar school, but is online.

Gwinnett Online Campus

I am interested in the Gwinnett County Online Campus because this is the county in which I teach.  I have not heard much about these online courses even though I teach in Gwinnett County. I’m not sure if that is a result of me not being in the county for very long or not. They currently have a full-time charter school for grades 6-12. Grades 4 and 5 will be included starting 2013-2014 school year.. The charter school requires students to be online Monday through Friday, but they have flexibility about when they are online during that time frame since the classes are asynchronous.   There is a supplemental program where students are typically enrolled in a brick and mortar school and take classes outside the school day. There are also students in the full-time charter school that take additional classes through the supplemental program. Some students take classes free of charge as part of their regular school day. When students take classes outside the regular school day, there is a charge $225 a class.

Chicago Virtual Charter School

This school is also powered by K12 Inc. and is a blended learning program. Students meet once a week face-to-face and online the remainder of the week.

Georgia Virtual School

Georgia Virtual School is a program of the Georgia Department of Education's Office of Technology Services. Local schools pay for courses for their students who take courses as a part of their regular school day. There are FTE funds available on a first-come, first-serve basis for Georgia private and home school students.

In summary, I am surprised at the amount of online learning that is happening around the country. At the same time, I am excited about the technology movement in our schools.Our students are surrounded by technology and it is our job as educators to make sure we are preparing them for their future after graduating high school and college. I would like to be a part of an online program in the future and I look forward to learning more about the online world in this MOOC.

Hello!

My name is Vickie Cochran and I am a graduate student at the University of West Georgia. I am participating in the Virtual School MOOC 2012: Introduction to K-12 Online Learning Research as a part of an Introduction to Distance Education course. I look forward to being a part of the MOOC, which is all new to me. This is an exciting opportunity for me as I continue to investigate the world of online learning!