High School Teachers’ Motivational Factors To Teach Pp Letourneau Maddox 2009

Dr. Therese Letourneau and Dr. Joseph Maddox

“ Online learning through virtual schools is one of the most important advancements in attempting to rethink the effectiveness of education in the United States” (NACOL, 2006)

In 2007-2008 1,030,000 K-12 students were enrolled in online learning Picciano, A. G. & Seaman, J. (2009). K-12 Online Learning: A 2008 Follow-up of the Survey of U. S. School District Administrators. Needham, MA: The Sloan Consortium.

The study explored the perceptions of online high school teachers regarding what factors motivate them to

teach online.

What are the motivating factors that drive a high school online teacher to work in the online teaching environment?

This study will increase the understanding of what motivates current online teaching staff.

Understanding this topic will help to recruit and retain online teachers to met growing demand by students to provide online courses.

“ Unless students (and teachers for that matter) are motivated, they will reject the rigor of any learning task and abandon it before achieving success.”

Christensen, C.M., Horn, M. B, and Johnson, C. W. (2008) Disrupting Class, How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns. New York: McGraw Hill. p.7

Qualitative

Phenomenological

Phenomenology is the philosophical movement dedicated to describing an experience as it presents itself to the person telling his or her story.

Sample

Data Collection

online open-ended questionnaire

Data Analysis Procedures

Ethical Considerations

Four Major Themes Emerged

Personal Impact

Teacher Student Relationships

Professional Development

New Challenge

Family

Flexibility

Less Stress

Time

“ My personal family situation as another factor that influenced my decision to teach online. My inability to be with my family in an emergency situation prompted me to start considering other educational opportunities.” - Teacher Two

“ Lifestyle is definitely a key factor. I can work any time; I’m not tied to a 7:00AM-3:00PM schedule in a building.” -Teacher Eight

Individualized Learning

Recognition

“ I feel I am truly able to a one on one educator to each and every one of my students. I feel that students are very seldom “left behind.” – Teacher One

Collaboration

Positive Work Environment

Job Opportunities

“ Professional Development is excellent, also enjoy collaborating with my peers.” – Teacher Six

Making History

Technology

“ I strongly believed that this learning platform was just beginning to take off and getting in on the ground floor would present future opportunities for promotion with an every growing organization.” - Teacher Two