Virtual Schools: Potential Solution for Equity and Quality Education for All
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In developing countries, public education systems, which enroll about 90 percent of all primary and 70 percent of all secondary students, face multiple challenges from overcrowded classrooms, lack of an incentives structure to shortage of qualified teachers and resources. These problems are expected to become more serious with the projected dramatic increase in the demand for schooling during the next decades. This presentation introduces virtual schools and the promise they hold in alleviating some of the current public education systems problems in achieving access and quality for all.
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Virtual Schools: Potential Solution for Equity and Quality Education for All
- 1. Dina Ghobashy Global Education Conference November 2014
- 2. Outline Challenges Facing Education For All (EFA) What Are Virtual Schools The Virtual Potential and Benefit The Status Quo Considerations How to Get Started 2
- 3. Virtual Schools What do we know about them? 3
- 4. Poll 1 Are you aware of any virtual schools in your region? 4
- 5. Poll 2 Do you perceive the virtual schools in your region as successful? 5
- 6. If you said no, why do you think these schools are not successful? 6
- 7. If you said yes, why do you think these schools are successful? 7
- 8. What’s Standing in the Way of EFA How to achieve equitable, quality education for all children around the world; and to accomplish this goal within a constrained fiscal environment? Projected dramatic increase in the demand for schooling Child labor. School access and quality can reduce children’s work Gender attitudes and perceptions “everyone has the right to education” Universal Declaration of Human Rights 8
- 9. Virtual Schools for EFA Are Full time online schools An alternative to public brick and mortar schools Schools where instruction is delivered via independent, asynchronous or synchronous means 9
- 10. Virtual Schools Defined ‘‘A state approved and/or regionally accredited school that offers credit courses through distance learning methods that include Internet-based delivery”. Clark (2000) ‘‘A form of schooling that uses online computers to provide some or all of a student’s education”. Russell (2004a) 10
- 11. The Virtual Benefit Provide high quality learning opportunities that might not otherwise be available to students in their areas No space shortage in cyber space Allow for anytime, anywhere learning Extensive yet personalized education Enable flexible schedule and pace Allow for educational choice Professional development opportunity for local teachers * 11
- 12. The Status Quo Full time virtual schools are mostly in USA & Canada Growth in the USA In 2012-2013: 338 full-time virtual schools enrolling over 243,000 students 12
- 13. Considerations Access to devices and the Internet Social Interaction Accreditation Student readiness and retention 13
- 14. Is Online Less Social? Asynchronous communication is slower than face to face and tends to remove feelings of connection In traditional schools, students get to know each other before, during or after class High levels of social presence create a learning environment that is perceived as warm, collegial, and approachable for all involved (Rourke et. al., 1999). 14
- 15. What The Research Recommends Students feel a sense of connectedness and learning when the following exists Strong and active presence on the part of the instructor They perceive an effective instructional design and organization Teachers use both asynchronous and synchronous communication Incorporation of a ‘warm-up’ period into the course structure Group projects and assignments 15
- 16. What Schools Are Doing Online and in-person clubs, labs, camps and field trips The Florida Virtual School has an online Latin club and a Science Olympiad team that practices online and meets in person before big tournaments Michigan Virtual University, which has an online K-12 school, offers summer math and science camps Commonwealth connections academy sends 2 to 3 times a week, an RV converted into a science classroom for students to get in-person lessons and meet fellow students 16
- 17. Accreditation Virtual schools are still relatively new, there are seldom methods of evaluating their effectiveness For public acceptance and scale, virtual schools have to be accredited Governments support in the form of new policies could help virtual schools become more successful. E.g. a policy that restricts the number of students enrolled in brick and mortar public schools 17
- 18. Student Readiness Student factors and learning conditions can predict success in online courses Having a computer at home Students’ past ability Cognitive student characteristics: self-efficacy and achievement and organization beliefs Allowing time to complete an online course What can be done Assess students against these criteria Prepare them for the full time online experience before school starts Provide ongoing support and guidance throughout the academic year Facilitation support and assistance for at-risk virtual learners 18
- 19. Environment Enablers Increased demand for access to quality schooling Broadband plans and extensive 3/4G reach Availability of locations that are equipped with technology resources such as Internet cafes and Tech Homes. These locations can provide a hub for students to study and for social interactions Local schools could also be used as physical hubs for students to study, get support and socialize with their classmates The cost of mobile devices continue to drop making them more accessible to students 19
- 20. Initial Approach Deliver classrooms fully online, cohort model, and paced week by week (not self-paced) Interactions are both asynchronous and synchronous The online school program covers the standard national curriculum and tests, and follows the nation’s academic calendar A computing device and Internet access is provided to each student at a very nominal fee only to instill sense of ownership Social activities to prevent the sense of isolation among online students Ongoing teacher professional development 20
- 21. Criteria for Success Accreditation and government support Ease of scaling to accommodate increased capacity Students readiness for online learning Effective local online curriculum Experienced certified online teachers Adequate pay for online teachers Appropriate student-teacher ratio Independent decision making 21
- 22. Business Models Nonprofit Government as an expansion of the public education system NGO For-profit Private organizations such as K-12 inc., the largest in this sector Social A social business is an enterprise found to serve a social cause. Covers all costs and make profit to pay back investors and support new and ongoing projects Profit can be generated via other online learning opportunities such as tutoring and lifelong learning for youth and adults 22
- 23. How to Get Started Start with a pilot to mitigate risks and learn Proposal: One subject matter Pick a subject with proficiency challenges Select students / schools (treatment and comparison groups) Experienced subject matter online teacher Teacher aide or facilitator in physical school or in hubs such as tech homes/community schools 23
- 24. Pilot Target parents who are committed to providing the necessary support to their children’s education Include students from different socioeconomic levels Avoid school grades that involve high stakes tests Include students who pass the student readiness for online learning assessment before or after basic training 24
- 25. Some Questions for Pilot to Answer Does the age at which students join the online school matter? What is the level of support students need to be successful online? Do they need different preparation plans and support based on their grade? Are parents able to provide good learning conditions for their kids? If not, why? Are students actually learning? What are the online teachers needs and challenges and how best to address them? 25
- 26. Q&A 26
- 27. References Sherman, J. D., & Poirier, J. M. (2007). Educational Equity and Public Policy: Comparing Results from 16 Countries. Montreal: UNESCO Institute for Statistics Lorraine Angelino et.al. Strategies to Engage Online Students and Reduce Attrition Rates Peter Shea. A study of students' sense of learning community in online environments - Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks McInnerney, J. M., & Roberts, T. S. (2004). Online Learning: Social Interaction and the Creation of a Sense of Community. Educational Technology & Society Online High Schools Test Students' Social Skills . As Digital Learning Programs Grow, Educators Hope to Prevent Teens From Feeling Isolated Hackman, M. Z., and Walker, K. B. Instructional Communication in the Televised Classroom: The Effects of System Design and Teacher Immediacy on Student Learning and Satisfaction.” Communication Education, 1990, 39(3), 196–209 Virtual Schools in the US. 2014: Politics, Performance, Policy, and Research Evidence The reality of virtual schools: A review of the literature. 2008. Michael K. Barbour, Thomas C. Reeves A Study of the Effectiveness of the Louisiana Algebra I Online Course. Laura M O'Dwyer; Rebecca Carey; Glenn Kleiman. Journal of Research on Technology in Education; Spring 2007; 39, 3; Research Library, pg. 289 27
Editor's Notes
- “A wide range of results are available showing that increased and eased access to school reduces children’s work in both economic activities and household chores”. Child labor and Education For All. 2008. UCW (Understanding Children's Work), a joint ILO, World Bank and UNICEF project. Education is a key element in the prevention of child labor; at the same time, child labor is one of the main obstacles to Education for All (EFA) Scalable and sustainable solutions need to be discovered and implemented. · Lack of time. Organizational obstacles: In some countries, parents are unwilling for cultural reasons to have their female children study under male instructors or in mixed gender classes. The lack of female instructors and female-only schools or classes thus becomes and obstacle to female participation in schools. Other obstacles include the distances between home and school and the lack of transport, which affects females more than males where female mobility is restricted. Economic reasons, Customs, traditions and attitudes, Cycle of poverty, Lack of motivation to learn.
- Clark (2000) and Russell (2004a)
- Learning opportunities: diverse course offerings, online courses can increase the range of course offerings for students and provide them an opportunity to learn with, and from, students from different geographic and cultural perspectives. Asynchronous allows for think time and engages shy students. online instruction can motivate students who have different learning styles. . Teachers report getting to know their students better, and students who are shy or do not think well “on their feet” tend to contribute more in online environments. The FLVS uses a team of individuals to create each of its web-based courses. The team consists of instructors who act as subject matter experts, web development specialists, project managers, and external instructional designers (Johnston, 2004), for example, instructors can focus upon what students need to be able to learn or do, instructional designers can focus upon engaging activities to accomplish the goals of the instructors, web development specialists can focus upon creating a variety of learning objects that cater to a variety of learning styles to support the activities of the instructional designers, and so on.
- First virtual school: Florida FLVS was founded in 1997 Sources VIRTUAL SCHOOLS IN THE U.S. 2014: POLITICS, PERFORMANCE, POLICY, AND RESEARCH EVIDENCE. The reality of virtual schools: A review of the literature, Michael K. Barbour, Thomas C. Reeves.
- The majority of human communication is non-verbal. Relying on written text only in online schools can either affect the class’s cohesion or create the sense of a lack of community. According to Rourke and others (1999), a benefit of social presence is its ability to instigate, sustain, and support cognitive and affective learning objectives by making group interactions appealing, engaging, and intrinsically rewarding.
- Whether the students feel the instructor is drawing in participants Creating an accepting climate for learning Keeping students on track Diagnosing student misperceptions Identifying areas of agreement and disagreement and helping to resolve these by looking for areas of consensus Reinforcing student contributions and injecting their own knowledge Confirming student understanding The communication of time parameters, due dates, and deadlines contribute to their sense of community as do clear course goals, clear course topics, and clear instructions on how to effectively and appropriately participate in the course Warm up period is an informal setting where students get to become more familiar with each other’s communication style, online personalities, level of commitment and learn how to develop a presentation of ‘self’
- Having a community/social media space for students that is not related to the course might enhance students’ social experience. They can share videos, music reviews, hobbies forums and personal blogs. Synchronous communication such as chat or video conferencing can be used at the beginning of each unit to ensure all students are clear on the lesson objectives and the assignments. This will also allow for interaction between students. At the beginning of the course, an online orientation can introduce students to their new learning environment and allow them to meet teachers and other students. The RV is equipped with computer workstations and microscopes, internet connections, and interactive whiteboards both inside and outside the vehicle. From my own experience: Having a community space for students that is not related to the course might enhance students’ social experience. They can share videos, music reviews, hobbies forums and personal blogs. Synchronous communication such as chat or video conferencing can be used at the beginning of each unit to ensure all students are clear on the lesson objectives and the assignments. This will also allow for interaction between students. At the beginning of the course, an online orientation can introduce students to their new learning environment and allow them to meet teachers and other students.
- In some nations, the government has to review a new school’s curriculum and operation before it grants the school approval to run. To date there are few studies which look at the longitudinal effects of virtual schools. This could become an obstacle in gaining government approval and community support.
- assess students against these criteria and prepare them for the experience of a fully online course. An initial assessment on the technology related factors such as time to study online and technology skills could be done during registration. The results will determine the kind and level of support students will need. Continuous support and guidance will be provided to students throughout the academic year. No student will be denied enrollment due to negative results. Preparation courses will be offered before the school year starts to those students lacking some of the aforementioned skills to enable them to succeed in the online environment. This should also help put all students more on the same level.
- Soon, the cost of a computing device would become equal to the cost of textbooks.
- Learning from current experiences and research. This is a proposed approach. As the school maturity grows; more options could be explored such as providing international curriculum and certificates. Instead of a mediocre one size fits all public education, students and their parents in developing countries will have unprecedented freedom and choice in selecting personal educational opportunities. To enable teachers to be effective online
- Local online curriculum does not necessarily have to be in local language
- Since a social business company’s mission is to address a community problem instead of making profit, I believe this alignment together with its financial stability would allow for scalable social impact.
- This means, they possess basic computer and organization skills and are able to read and write. They should also have access to favorable learning conditions.