Barbour, M.K., & Unger, K. (2011, January). Examining the effects of virtual schooling curriculum on preparing teachers to support virtual schooling. A presentation at the 9th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Education, Honolulu, HI.
2. Students Enrolled in Online Courses
2001 = 40,000 – 50,000 (Clark)
2009 = >1,500,000 K-12 (Watson et al.)
48 States (plus DC) reporting significant K-12 online
learning activity
3. 2006 – Michigan adds online learning graduation
requirement
Added 3 new standards for teachers in Educational
Technology
1. Online Technology Experience and Skills
2. Online Course Design
3. Online Course Delivery
Necessitated changes to all endorsement programs in
the state
4. At Wayne State University changed reflected in IT6230
– Internet in the Classroom
preparing teachers for three new roles (Davis, 2007)
1. Virtual School Designer
2. Virtual School Teacher
3. Virtual School Facilitator
most middle and high school teachers in Michigan were more
likely to play the role of the facilitator the majority of course
activities focused on this position
5. Limited Existing Resources through various
universities
Iowa State University
1. Good Practice to Inform Iowa Online Learning
2. Teacher Education Goes Into Virtual Schools
6. 1. Examine impact of TEGIVS curriculum on the
opinions of graduate students enrolled in IT6230
about the role of the virtual school facilitator.
2. Examine the effectiveness of the chosen K-12 online
learning curriculum, with the goal of making
continual improvements to the course.
7. Adopted Teacher
Education Goes into
Virtual Schooling
(TEGIVS) curriculum
wholesale
Multimedia scenarios
Individual project
Group project
Discussion prompts from
TEGIVS scenario tasks
Practitioner-focused
readings
4 week unit
8. Localized and revised
TEGIVS scenarios
Modified individual
project
Added tasks from
TEGIVS scenarios
Discussion prompts
more closely tied to
readings
More research-based
readings
Added ILO case studies to
focus on VS teacher role
5 week unit
9. Modified individual
project
added specific tasks
related to ILO case
studies
added tasks related to
Converge special issue
Discussion prompts
forced students to explore
new resources
with a continued
emphasis on the readings
7 week unit
10. Created Michigan-
specific online teaching
case studies
used as part of
Individual Project
Better sequencing of
topics
Better coverage of topics
related to all three roles
Better illustration of Web
2.0 tools for online
teaching
7 week unit
11. Two Semesters
Winter 2008 - 9 of 15 students
Winter 2009 - 5 of 7 students
Summer 2009 – 5 of 14 students*
Winter 2010 – 4 of 10 students*
* course moved to online delivery
Data
Blog entries & comments based on instructor prompts
Individual&group projects
Student evaluations of teaching
12.
13. Summer 2009
Consistent with Winter 2008 and Winter 2009
Benefits at-risk students
More teacher preparation
Supportive of online learning
Communication/interaction
No longer apparent
Appropriate access to technology
Winter 2010 data still being analyzed
14. First you have to confront students’ preconceptions
and dispel any myths
Michigan-specific examples
Discussions more meaningful when tied to the
readings, but push students to use resources beyond
(particularly with research-based readings)
15. Continued revision of the Individual Project
Better mix of practitioner-focused and research-
based readings
Increase in materials related to “virtual school
designer” role
16. Created Michigan-
specific virtual school
scenarios
used as part of
Individual Project
Add focus on “Virtual
School Designer” role
7 week unit