K 12 Online Final K 12 Online Next Generation November 2008

Liz Pape, President and CEO, Virtual High School Global Consortium Anthony G. Picciano, Hunter College and Graduate Center, City University of New York Julie Young, President and CEO, Florida Virtual School Online Learning in K-12 Education: The Next Generation Panel presentation at the 14 th Annual Sloan Consortium Conference on Online Learning

Panel Presentation Outline
Introduction
K-12 Online Learning: What the Data Says and
Implications for American Education
Virtual High School Global Consortium
The Florida Virtual School
Questions/Discussion

K-12 Online Learning: What the Data Says? - Anthony G. Picciano & Jeff Seaman Studies were conducted in 2005-2006 and 2007-2008. The purpose of these studies was to explore the nature of online learning in K–12 schools and to establish base data for more extensive future studies. (A study of online learning in the American high school is planned for 2009). They were among the first studies to collect data on and compare fully online and blended learning (part online and part traditional face-to-face instruction) in K-12 schools. Issues related to planning, operational difficulties, and online learning providers were also examined.

K-12 Online Learning: What the Data Says? The major research questions that guided these studies were: What is the nature and extent of online and blended learning in K–12 schools in the United States? What is the perceived importance of online and blended learning for K–12 school programs? What are the issues and barriers that impede the development of online and blended learning in K–12 schools? Who are the major providers of online and blended learning courses to K–12 schools? Survey responses were followed-up with telephone interviews with selected respondents.

K-12 Online Learning: What the Data Says? In conducting these surveys, it was determined that there needed to be a separation of online from blended learning courses. In the absence of any standard definitions for online and blended learning, the definitions used by Allen & Seaman for the Sloan Consortium studies of American higher education were adopted, namely: Online — courses where most or all of the content is delivered online. Defined as at least 80% of seat time being replaced by online activity. Blended/Hybrid — courses that blends online and face-to-face delivery where a substantial proportion (30 to 79%) of the content is delivered online.

K-12 Online Learning: What the Data Says? Major Findings
1. Almost seventy percent of the responding public school districts are offering online courses:
63.1% had one or more students enrolled in a
fully online or blended course.
57.9% had one or more students enrolled in a fully online course.
32.4% had one or more students enrolled in a blended course.
Over 60% of school districts with students enrolled in online courses anticipate their online enrollments will grow. Over the next two years districts predict online enrollments will increase by 18.6% and blended enrollments by 22.9%.
The overall number of K-12 students engaged in online and blended courses in 2005-2006 was estimated at 700,000 with 470,000 in
Grades 9-12.

K-12 Online Learning: What the Data Says? Online v. Blended Learning Within the sample, the data show that overall higher percentages of students are enrolled in online courses than blended courses. Table 3. Online Enrollment by Grade Level Fully Online Blended/Hybrid Total N % N % N % Grades K–5 2733 16% 538 5% 3271 12% Grades 6–8 1793 10% 3980 36% 5773 20% Grades 9–12 12625 73% 6519 59% 19144 67% Other 198 1% 56 1% 254 1% Total 17349 100% 11093 100% 28442 100%

K-12 Online Learning: What the Data Says? Why Online Learning Respondents report that online learning is meeting the specific needs of a range of students, from those who need extra help to those who want to take more advanced courses and whose districts do not have enough teachers to offer certain subjects.

K-12 Online Learning: What the Data Says? Who are the Providers? School districts typically depend on multiple online learning providers. Online Instruction Provider Fully Online (percentage of districts with fully online courses using this provider) Blended (percentage of districts with blended courses using this provider) Your district (i.e., delivered centrally from the district) 20.2% 37.1% Cyber (i.e., online) charter school in your district 9.8% 6.7% Other schools in your district 6.4% 15.7% Another local school district, or schools in another district, in your state 22.0% 29.2% Education service agencies within your state (e.g., BOCES, COE, IU), not including the state education agency or local school districts 24.9% 18.0% State virtual school in your state (i.e., state-centralized K–12 courses available through Internet- or web-based methods 34.1% 11.2% State virtual school in another state 13.3% 3.4% Districts or schools in other states (other than state virtual schools) 5.2% 3.4% Postsecondary institution 47.4% 38.2% Independent vendor 31.8% 25.8% Other 2.3% 1.1%

K-12 Online Learning: What the Data Says? Who are the Providers? School districts typically depend on multiple online learning providers. Table 8. Number of Online Learning Providers Being Used Number of Providers N % 1 47 26% 2 56 30% 3 32 16% 4 or more 53 28% Total 188 100% Missing 2 Total 190

K-12 Online Learning: What the Data Says? Concerns? Respondents mentioned a number of concerns in offering online courses. Table 5. Percentage Summary of Responses to: How much of a barrier the following areas would be (or are) in offering fully online or blended learning courses?

K-12 Online Learning: Implications
Growth of Online Learning in K-12 especially in the High Schools
Online Learning and the Public School Reform Agenda
Opportunities/Challenges for Teacher Education

K-12 Online Learning: Implications
Growth of Online Learning in K-12 (especially in the High Schools)
If present growth continues – within 5 years there will be 2-3 million
online K-12 students.
Michigan’s Online Learning Requirement Policy (Merit Curriculum)
Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators and Students Statewide (ACCESS) - Every public high school student in the state will have access to distance learning courses by 2011.

K-12 Online Learning: Implications 2. Online Learning and the Public School Reform Agenda
K-16 Collaboration
Accelerate Time to Completion
Extended School Day
Job and Economic Skill Development
(Modeling Beneficial Uses of Technology)

K-12 Online Learning: Implications 3. Opportunities/Challenges for Teacher Education
Pre-service Programs – Include Online Learning in the Curriculum
In-service Programs – Professional Development in Online Learning
Beyond the Technology – Growing Research and Literature Base on the
Pedagogy of Online Learning

The Virtual High School Global Consortium Model Liz Pape Virtual High School Global Consortium

About VHS
A non profit global consortium of over 500 high schools offering innovative online courses
Currently in 13 th year of operation and 12 th year of online course delivery
Originally funded by the Federal DOE through a 7.8M tech. grant – five years of research & development

About VHS
In 30 states

The VHS Model
VHS’s global consortium model – partnership with high school in online education
cooperate, not compete
Supplement, not supplant
Preparing classroom teachers to teach online &/or develop online courses
Member school classroom teachers in TLC/NIM
Online design standards and online delivery standards
21 st century skills development
Teaching skills for both classroom and online
Learning skills through virtual global classrooms
Accountability – hard data points and survey input

VHS Leadership & Recognition
Accredited by Middle States Commission
Courses NCAA initial-eligibility certified
USDLA 21 st Century Best Practices Award 2005, 2007 and 2008
USDLA Best Practices K-12 Course 2005 and 2008
Blackboard Course Content Award 2005 & 2007
NCTET Community Builder Award 2004
Stockholm Challenge 2001 Award

How the VHS Consortium Functions
Participating school provides:
1 NetCourse teacher @ 1 teaching period per day
1 VHS Site Coordinator
Internet access for students
VHS provides:
Over 200 standards based courses across all content areas
Professional development training and mentoring
Hosting of the virtual school
Technical and administrative support

Teachers
Teachers come from member schools
All teachers are certified and teaching in content area
Teachers complete a graduate level course in online course delivery (NIM or TLC)
First year teachers are paired with a faculty advisor/mentor
Ongoing professional development through ProGrEss: professional growth essentials

Site Coordinators
Site Coordinators are the glue that makes the program work
Could be someone from guidance/ teacher/administrative staff/paraprofessional
Manages enrollments, grade reporting, student monitoring, student support
Manages materials

Professional Development Options:
NIM (Netcourse Instructional Methodologies):
Trains teachers in the pedagogy and practice of online teaching and how to modify and deliver an existing VHS NetCourse
TLC (Teachers Learning Conference):
Trains teachers in the pedagogy and practice of online teaching and how to develop a new VHS NetCourse
SCO (Site Coordinator Orientation):
Trains school staff in how to support students as they participate in their online course

How is VHS Unique ?
The VHS instructional model is built around an interactive experience in which students learn from fellow students as well as the teacher – cohort-based instructional model.
These are virtual classrooms conducted globally
No more than 25 students

On a 15 week semester-based schedule
Each self paced lesson begins on a Wednesday and ends on Tuesday
Teachers and students may live in different time zones
Students can access course any time from any computer in the world
How Courses are Conducted

How Courses are Conducted
We recommend the course be scheduled as part of the students’ day
Students are monitored by a school Site Coordinator
Teachers and students communicate via a written discussion area located in the Web classroom

What do VHS students learn?
Content/curriculum
Access to courses not otherwise available
Information literacy skills
Online collaboration
Online teams and group projects
Multimedia presentation skills
Critical thinking, project-based learning
Global citizenship skills
Extending the learning experience beyond the classroom walls
Online discussions with students of different cultures

Essential 21st century skills: the 7 Cs according to the Oracle Education Foundation
Critical thinking and problem solving
Creativity and innovation
Collaboration, teamwork and leadership
Cross-cultural understanding
Communications and media fluency
Computing and information communication technology (ICT) fluency
Career and learning self-reliance

VHS Quality Benchmark Indicators Program

VHS Program Evaluation
What is measured?
Mission statement
Annual goals
Strategic Plan
How is it measured?
Hard data points
Self-reported data
When?
Continuous improvement loop

Mission and Focus
The VHS mission is to develop and deliver standards-based, student-centered online courses to expand students’ educational opportunities and 21st century skills and to offer professional development to teachers to expand the scope and depth of their instructional skills
The focus includes :
Effective online course design and delivery
Professional development for online teachers
Quality control/quality assurance
Infrastructure for course delivery
21 st Century Skills development for Millennial Generation students

Course Quality Measures
AP pass rates: 66%
AP exam take rates:73%
Course completion rates: 79%
Credit recovery rate (summer):63%
Satisfaction with VHS course quality:
92% superintendents
100% principals
98% Site Coordinators
Course features, teacher satisfaction:
92%: engagement in course work
78%: collaborative learning
97%: 21 st century skills development

Professional Development Measures
Professional development grad rate: 91%
1 st -semester teacher success rate: 87%
% of all teachers remaining with mentor: 5%
Satisfied with VHS professional development
99% principals
Applying VHS pedagogy to f2f teaching
79% teachers

Program and Services Measures
Membership retention rates: 90%(08/09) 88%(3-yr cumulative)
Course seat utilization: 85%
Satisfaction with electronic communications: email
Teachers: 99%, SCs: 96%
Website
Teachers: 97%, SCs: 98%
Newsletter/Annual Report
Superintendents: 86%/68%
Principals: 78%/79%
Teachers: 79%/54%
SCs: 84%/54%

Online Learning Implications: Why
Should
Teachers
Care….or Change?

“ By 2010, the codified information base of the world is expected to double every 11 hours”
Tom Inman, IBM Corp.

A 21 st century model
Education will not be confined to:
A single place, time or person
Memorization or linear learning
The intellectual elite
Childhood

Guide on Side
Project-based learning
Learner-centered
Learn-in-context
The Web/Teaching 2.0 model P S S S S S T Note: Adapted from a presentation by Tom Carroll, CEO, NCTAF, Nov 6, 2006, VSS Symposium
Web 2.0
According to a recent Pew report, "fully half of all teens and 57% of teens who use the internet could be considered Content Creators.“
Dynamic
Crowd intelligence

How can teachers evolve teaching strategies to meet 21 st century teaching and learning needs?

21 st Century Teaching Best Practices (21CTBP)
Audience: f2f classroom teachers who wish to teach online or develop online components for f2f classes
21CTBP courses:
21 st century Teaching & Learning
Web-enhanced Classroom
Online-extended Teaching
Web 2.0: Collaborative Instruction
Capstone Project: Online Teaching Internship

21 st Century Teaching Best Practices
6-week long online courses (3 grad credits each)
Multiple offerings during school year
July 9, 2008
October 15, 2008
January 14, 2009
April 15, 2009
Pricing model fosters team approach

Summary
We are not teaching students what they don’t already know!
Instead we are guiding students to apply their technology skills to their academic lives, while also developing 21 st century global citizenship skills and awareness.

Breaking ground in the past Planting seeds for the future Florida Virtual School www.flvs.net

change policy mindsets funding

results
Open enrollment
24/7/365 access
Time and pace flexibility
Performance vs. attendance
Increased teacher availability
Performance-based funding
Online peer collaboration
Funding follows student
Free access
Monthly conferences

symphony of skills
Prisoners of Time
Working on the Work
Quantum Learning
21 st Century Skills
Literacy Skills

future view
Individual
Personal
Game-based

Questions

Questions/Discussion!

K 12 Online Final K 12 Online Next Generation November 2008

by apicciano on Nov 05, 2008

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

1 Embed 1

Statistics

K 12 Online Final K 12 Online Next Generation November 2008 — Presentation Transcript