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 YorkJulie Young, President and CEO, Florida Virtual School

Online Learning in K-12 Education: The Next GenerationPanel presentation at the

14th Annual Sloan Consortium Conference

on Online Learning

1

2

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

3

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.

4

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.

5


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.

6


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.

2. 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%.

3. 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.

7


Online v. Blended Learning

Within the sample, the data show that overall higher percentages of students are enrolled in online courses than blended courses.

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%

Table 3. Online Enrollment by Grade Level

8


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.

Students prefer online course activities

Online and blended offerings are pedagogically more beneficial

Online and blended offerings are financially beneficial

Addressing growing populations and limited space

Certified teachers are not available for traditional face-to-face instruction

Permitting students who failed a course to take it again.

Reducing scheduling conflicts for students

Offering Advanced Placement or college-level courses

Meeting the needs of specific groups of students

Offering courses not otherwise available at the school

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Not Important Neutral Important

9


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%

10


Who are the Providers?

School districts typically depend on multiple online learning providers.

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

Table 8. Number of Online Learning Providers Being Used

11


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?

Limited technological infrastructure to support distance education

Restrictive federal, state, or local laws or policies

The need for teacher training

Concerns about funding based on student attendance

Course development and/or purchasing costs

Concerns about course quality

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Not Important Neutral Important

12

K-12 Online Learning: Implications

1. Growth of Online Learning in K-12 especially in the High Schools

2. Online Learning and the Public School Reform Agenda

3. Opportunities/Challenges for Teacher Education

1313


1. Growth of Online Learning in K-12 (especially in the High Schools)

a. If present growth continues – within 5 years there will be 2-3 million online K-12 students.

b. Michigan’s Online Learning Requirement Policy (Merit Curriculum)

c. 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.

1414


2. Online Learning and the Public School Reform Agenda

a. K-16 Collaboration

b. Accelerate Time to Completion

c. Extended School Day

d. Job and Economic Skill Development (Modeling Beneficial Uses of Technology)

1515


3. Opportunities/Challenges for Teacher Education a. Pre-service Programs – Include Online Learning in the Curriculum

b. In-service Programs – Professional Development in Online Learning

c. 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 13th year of operation and 12th 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

• 21st 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 21st 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 EvaluationWhat is measured?

Mission statementAnnual goalsStrategic Plan

How is it measured?Hard data pointsSelf-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– 21st 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%: 21st century skills development

Professional Development Measures

• Professional development grad rate: 91%• 1st-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 21st century model

Education will not be confined to:A single place, time or personMemorization or linear learningThe intellectual eliteChildhood

Guide on Side• Project-based learning

• Learner-centered

• Learn-in-context

The Web/Teaching 2.0 model

P

S

S

S

SS

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 21st century teaching and

learning needs?

21st Century Teaching Best Practices (21CTBP)

• Audience: f2f classroom teachers who wish to teach online or develop online components for f2f classes

• 21CTBP courses:21st century Teaching & LearningWeb-enhanced ClassroomOnline-extended TeachingWeb 2.0: Collaborative InstructionCapstone Project: Online Teaching Internship

21st 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 21st century global citizenship skills and awareness.

44

Breaking ground in the pastPlanting seeds for the future

Florida Virtual School

www.flvs.net

45

change

policy

mindsets

funding

46

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

48

symphony of skills

• Prisoners of Time

• Working on the Work

• Quantum Learning

• 21st Century Skills

• Literacy Skills

49

future view

• Individual• Personal• Game-based

http://www.360ed.com/products/

50

Questions

Questions/Discussion!

51

K 12 Online Final K 12 Online Next Generation November 2008

Education

Transcript of K 12 Online Final K 12 Online Next Generation November 2008