Chapter 11 : K–12 Online Learning: Sustainability, Success, and Sensibility

1. Chapter 11 : K–12 Online Learning:
Sustainability,
Success, and Sensibility

2. • At present, K–12 online learning programs are
primarily a North American phenomenon.

3. In the United States and Canada, education of students
between the ages of 5 and 18 usually occurs in
elementary and secondary schools, in classes that
range from kindergarten through 12th grade. Together,
these schools are referred to as K–12 schools.

4. Online learning is a type of distance education, or
formal study, in which teacher and learners are
separate in time or space.
Distance education may be electronic, such as
online or video-based study, or non-electronic,
such as print-based independent study.

5. Online learning has advanced through several
generations of development to reach its present-day
structure. It incorporates the computer, e-mail, fax,
telephone, and Internet “to deliver instruction offering
flexibility, adaptability, collaboration, synchronous and
synchronous, communication, response to rapid change
in information, student-directed and independent learning
possibilities, and face-to-face opportunities”.

6. It offers a change in the time and space in
which students learn.

7. This chapter will focus on the progression of online
learning from its earliest days to the present and offer
recommendations for future practice. It will also use
information from previous chapters in this book to
further confirm the need for sustainable and sensible
models that will lead to the success of online learning.

8. The Foundations of K-12 Online Learning
In the early days of virtual learning, the quality of
communication and interaction between teachers,
teacher and student, and student and student was
criticized. Again, the definition of communication and
interaction was based on historical educational
experiences that insisted on a face-to-face
component.

9. What online learning did was to broaden
the definition of communication and interaction,
encouraging more student participation in
a less daunting space and supporting a change in the
role of teacher from all-knowing sage
to facilitator or coach .

10. The definition of communication and interaction was
further expanded to include a community of practice
that “changed the isolated locale of the classroom into
part of a global classroom environment” So, what has
been the impetus that has made online learning a
rapidly growing phenomenon?

11. Current practice
• Most recent estimates of American public school
enrollments in online learning courses are as high as
328,000, the definition of enrollment does not calculate
students in full-time online schools and includes students
enrolled in dual-registration programs

12. Factors to online enrollments
• scheduling issues in conventional learning environments
• unavailability of specific courses at registered school
• need for enrichment or remediation
• inability to attend conventional school because of illness
• commitment to sports or fine arts
• preference to learn using computer-mediated instruction
• disenchantment with conventional learning environments

13. Content Development
• Teachers have reported that creating online
courses is a considerable undertaking that
consumes a great deal of time, content
differentiation to accommodate diverse learner
needs has often been limited in online courses.

14. • A good instructional design will be established through
exploration and inclusion of internet resources and
that the World Wide Web can provide resources to
support teaching and learning.

15. • online course development has the promise to impact
conventional teaching and learning practice and build
capacity specific to information, communication, and
technology skills, but that content development cannot be
the responsibility of teachers.

16. • the models of content development must include
principles and strategies based on researched learning
theories that match with student needs.

17. Professional Development
The need for teachers to continually upgrade their
technology skills, ensure effective instructional
design practice, and keep up with the day-to-day
requirements of being a virtual school teacher
leaves little time for professional development.

18. Online courses can provide unique preservice
and inservice opportunities for teachers,
reflecting the anytime/anyplace structure of
online learning and learning theories that
demonstrate effective practice based on
research and evaluation.

19. These professional development opportunities also
build in a community of practice permitting a just-in-
time answer to questions that might arise, such that
strategies can effectively be implemented
and sustained.

20. Inherently built into content development initiatives
is the promise that teachers can learn
through the review of existing online courses and
can gain an understanding of online classroom
dynamics and provincial or state curricula. This is
unique to online learning and is not available
in conventional classroom settings because face-to-
face teaching is not recorded or shared with
colleagues.

21. Courses can be repurposed to include different strategies,
Internet links, and other content that
can be again shared with new teachers.
Postsecondary institutions are still wrestling with models that
can provide online teachers with
a practicum experience that permits understanding,
implementation, and evaluation.

22. Technology Requirements and Accessibility
Educators have long wrestled with hard and soft costs
associated with changing technology. The gathering,
retrieving, creation, and sharing of resources dictates
what technology requirementsand level of functionality
are necessary to engage and support online learning
and effectively integrate technology into conventional
teaching and learning practice.

23. Funding and Resources and Collaborative Learning
Networks
Within the online learning context, collaboration has been
difficult, and it continues to be so.
Many Canadian provinces and American states have
created semi-marketlike environments, as
online schools and programs provide fee-for-service
options outside of learners’ school districts.

24. Future Directions
The greater global community is to varying
degrees embracing online approaches, it is within the
online learning environment that the greatest dissonance
is being evidenced.

25. Many factors contribute to this dissonance, including:
1. ecology that supports maintaining the program
2. models of content development and
professional development
3. technology requirements and issues of accessibility
4. funding
5. the establishment of collaborative learning
networks and research

26. 1. Student achievement within online schools and programs
should be a prioritized research focus to ensure that positive
outcomes are being realized, documented, and used
to support future practice.
2. Schools and school districts that have teachers creating
online content should build in mechanisms that would permit
teachers to work exclusively on the creation of online
resources without the added responsibilities
of teaching and learning.
Recommendations

27. 3. Commercially produced or licensed content should be
customizable so as to meet diverse learners’ needs.
4. Intellectual property rights and copyright issues require
ongoing research and develop-ment to inform policy.
5. Teachers should be provided with appropriate models of
professional development that build on a community of
practice and include both technologicaland
pedagogical components.

28. 7. Policies at provincial and state levels should be created
to support collaborative learning networks, reduce
redundancy in efforts, and realize cost efficiencies.
8. Ongoing and consistent research must also inform policy
and practice and should be funded by all levels of
government and within school districts to facilitate,
enhance, and direct effective practice.
6. School districts should be provided with added funding
from federal, state, or provincial governments.

29. 9. Postsecondary institutions should reassess and review
existing preservice options and include approaches
specific to online learning.
10. Postsecondary institutions, school districts, and
governments should include online learning within
their business plans and incorporate outcomes,
strategies, measures, data, and performance
targets as part of these plans.

30. In conclusion, in every chapter of this book it is evident that
great progress has already been made in online teaching and
learning. It will simply get better and better in the future.
Steady growth in online learning and the realization. It is vital,
today, that we improve the efficacy of online teaching and
learning policy and practice, because tomorrow starts the
next phase of our communities’ evolution, a phase in which
the future will be celebrated because the promise of
ubiquitous, technology-enhanced teaching and learning is
finally realized.