Exploring Virtual Schools

Source: http://www.p21.org/index.php

Truth be told, I knew very little about virtual schools when I became the Program Manager at iQ Academy Wisconsin. But it didn't take long for me to understand the advantages for full-time students that are not being well-served in traditional schools and the benefit for other students to supplement their traditional school education with some online classes. Students in my school are gaining 21st Century Skills (or "Essential Skills" as they are referred to in my district) by utilizing technology to fundamentally change their educational experience. They learn not only how to find information, but how to validate, manipulate, synthesize and communicate that information. They are becoming skilled at electronic communication which allows them to collaborate despite their geographic separation. And they are using technology tools to create new knowledge and solve real problems - skills that will serve them well in the "real" world of life after school.
I have also had to quickly become familiar with the Virtual Schools Legislation in Wisconsin since it directly affects my school. I was encouraged when the enrollment cap was lifted and relieved that I would never again have to inform a parent that one of their children would be allowed to attend the virtual school but the other one was not as lucky in the lottery drawing and would be excluded for no good reason. I am hopeful that the state legislature will take the next logical step and change the open enrollment policy to extend the application window to make it easier for parents to choose the virtual school option if they feel it is the best learning environment for their child.

School Website: http://www.eachieve.com

My district involvement in online learning includes offering one of Wisconsin's largest and most successful virtual school in terms of average test scores and graduation rates. Starting with the 2012-13 school year, the newly re-named eAchieve Academy will become one of the few virtual schools in the state to be operated entirely by the district, and not be affiliated with a for-profit educational services company. This is a major but necessary undertaking if we want to remain true to our mission of keeping student success as our number one priority.  
During the module I was excited to learn about the different techniques virtual school teachers use to help students learn online. This knowledge has helped me develop a deeper understanding of virtual learning and will be extremely helpful as I work to provide students and teachers with all the resources they need to create a successful online learning enterprise.

Learning is Inherently Social

My experience with online communities has grown steadily over the past few years. It started simply enough with my teenage daughter encouraging me to start a Facebook account (of course, she refused to be my friend on Facebook at first). A colleague suggested using LinkedIn when I was looking for a new job and I have found that to be a valuable professional networking resource. Since starting at my current job as administrator for a virtual charter school, I have been inextricably linked to the online school community. And since starting the M Ed in Instruction Technology program at Cardinal Stritch University, I have expanded by online community repertoire to include forays into Twitter, Diggo, Delicious, Flickr, YouTube and Blogger. 


I believe the biggest benefit of collaborative groups is that it reflects the social nature of life. Human beings are naturally social animals. Even in today's increasingly digital, connected society, human interaction is required and inevitable. The traditional school model may have students together in a classroom, but the paradigm is for them to sit quietly at their own desk, listen to the teacher, read the textbook on your own, do their own homework (which is usually only viewed by the teacher), then take a test on which each student supplies their own answers. That is completely unnatural. I can't think of a single work environment that operates that way. So how does learning that way prepare students for what they will encounter after graduation? 


The greatest challenge about working in collaborative groups is conflict resolution. Every person is unique, so by it's very nature, group interaction is bound to involve conflict. Conflict of opinion, conflict of background/experience, conflict of culture... all kinds of conflict. The question is what do we do about it? Conflict actually can be healthy as it can lead to discussion and debate and encourage group members to examine a problem or situation from a variety of viewpoints. But it can also be destructive if group members are unable or unwilling to cooperate and compromise.


If human beings are indeed social animals and learning is inherently a social activity, then it stands to reason that social development and socialization skills are essential in education and in life. However, I take serious issue with the widely held belief that students need to go to traditional face to face schools in order to learn socialization skills. If that were true, where did young people learn social skills before there were schools? Just as learning does not take place exclusively in the classroom, neither does the development of social skills. And just because a student does not attend a traditional face to face school does not necessarily mean they can't develop good, healthy social skills. Many parents object to the kind of socialization skills children can learn in traditional schools and embrace the opportunity to exercise a greater degree of influence over the kinds of social situations to which their children are exposed.

Challenges of Online Teaching

While I have not actually taught a class online (or offline for that matter) yet, I have facilitated many online parent information sessions and new student orientation sessions using the Elluminate web conference tool. Some of the challenges I have encountered include:

1. Preparation: I have found that that more you can prepare and practice ahead of time, the easier it is to facilitate an online presentation. It is also very important to practice using the online tools so you are comfortable and don't have long delays in moving between presentation elements.
2. Technology: Whenever you are using technology tools, things rarely go off without a hitch. You have to be prepared for the unexpected and have a back-up plan in case things don't work the way you envisioned. This goes for the participants as well. I have found it useful when dealing with people who may be unfamiliar with the program to have an extra person available to help participants with technical support questions while another starts the presentation. You can then utilize a break out room to get the inevitable late-comers up to speed without inconveniencing those who arrived on time and prepared.
3. Multi-tasking: I find it a real challenge to keep up with everything that is going on during a synchronous online presentation. It is difficult to focus on what you are trying to communicate while simultaneously watching the chat area for questions/comments, keeping track of participants who are entering/leaving the room and making sure the presentation/discussion stays on time and on task.

I suspect those will be the same obstacles I will encounter when I get my turn to teach my segment in this class. I think it will be important to remain focused on the learning objectives of the lesson to ensure that at the end of the session, the participants achieved the intended results.

I chose my topic, Cyberbullying, after attending a town hall meeting on the subject in Chicago. I did some more research and found out that the problem is much more pervasive than I previously thought. Anyone who works with young people in an online educational environment is likely to encounter students who have been victims of cyberbullies or have bullied others and I think it is important that educators understand the problem and know how to help students in that situation. 

http://www.rcampus.com/indexrubric.cfm

I must admit that I was skeptical about rubrics when I started this program. Not having a teaching background, I considered them to be a pretentious product of educratic idealogues and a nuisance for busy teachers (or busy grad students). That was before I started creating my own and came to a fuller appreciation of their value both for the teacher and the student. I modeled my rubric for the asynchronous discussion on the one used for participants in this class. For the synchronous discussion, I created one from scratch using a free online tool at iRubric. I found it to be very easy to use and intuitive for novice rubric creators like myself.