Last year, our district started taking online learning seriously. We had to because our students and their families were.
Virtual delivery of instruction is growing as both a supplement to and a replacement for face-to-face classes. In 2011–12, 94 students in our district took 125 online courses offered from entities outside our district, costing us $62,500 in tuition paid to outside providers. Sixty percent of those external online classes were ones the district also offers as traditional classes. Although this number represents a relatively small percentage of our total population, the numbers have been doubling each year for the past three years—clearly a growing trend. In addition, nearly 2,000 of our 7,300 students were in at least one class that used Moodle, a virtual learning environment that complements traditional face-to-face classroom instruction.
Our local experience is part of the growth in online learning throughout the United States.<FOOTNOTE><NO>1</NO>Project Tomorrow & Blackboard Inc. (2011). Learning in the 21st century: A 5 year retrospective on the growth in online learning. Irvine, CA and Washington, DC: Authors. Retrieved from www.blackboard.com/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?guid=bde5cb81-8bfa-43f4-abea-3437d37b4a44</FOOTNOTE> According to the International Association for K–12 Online Learning, enrollment in online classes has surged from 40,000–50,000 to more than 1,800,000 in the past 10 years, and the numbers of online schools and state online initiatives show similar growth.<FOOTNOTE><NO>2</NO>International Association for K–12 Online Learning. (2012). Fast facts about online learning. Vienna, VA: Author. Retrieved from www.inacol.org/press/docs/nacol_fast_facts.pdf</FOOTNOTE>
It's no surprise that many kids and families like the opportunities that online learning offers: scheduling flexibility; access to classes not offered by the local school; self-paced learning; and, although I hate to say it, avoidance of particular teachers. For students too shy to participate in face-to-face classes, online learning can provide a safe forum for participation.
Online learning has its shortcomings as well: an often-dismal completion rate, costs to school districts of paying for commercial classes, teacher training needs, questions about course quality, and lingering suspicions about the whole concept. It's not, after all, what most of us working in schools experienced as school in our youth.
Our district is surviving the new demands with a few bumps and bruises. Drawing on our experiences, here are some suggestions for school leaders to help alleviate online growing pains.
Define Your Terms
The terms online learning and online education cover a broad range of activities and opportunities for K–12 students. In discussing online learning, we've standardized the following terms:
- Online classes have no (or minimal) physical seat time. They are usually asynchronous and do not require the scheduling of teachers, classrooms, or students.
- Hybrid classes have required amounts of physical attendance, but some of that attendance requirement is replaced by online work. For example, a student may spend three days a week in a physical classroom with a teacher and other students and two days working in a computer lab, in a study hall, or at home.
- Blended classes meet face-to-face full time like regular classes but are augmented by formal, extensive online resources. One model of a blended classroom is the flipped classroom, in which students access the curricular content outside of class and then use class time to discuss, apply, and clarify the content.
Know Laws and Policies
Principals, guidance counselors, and curriculum directors should understand state laws and local district policies affecting such areas as course accreditation, state aid reimbursement, and students' right to take online classes from sources other than local districts. Teacher contracts may require special remuneration for teaching online classes. Online courses may or may not count toward the maximum number of credits a student can take during a semester. Generally, states favor the rights of students rather than school districts when they develop policies related to online learning.
Designate an Online Learning Specialist
Given the complexity of laws and policies surrounding online learning, a district should designate one person to be a single point of contact and expertise. This person can serve as a liaison between state and regional online consultants and district personnel. He or she can also update administrators and counselors regularly about online regulations and assist in evaluating how well commercial course offerings are aligned with state and local standards.
Focus on Teaching, Not Technology
Putting instructional materials online is not particularly difficult. But given the sophistication of learning management systems like Moodle, Blackboard, and Desire2Learn, your online curriculum can't just be the electronic equivalent of the old snail-mail correspondence course. Whether your district is developing its own in-house courses or trying to evaluate external courses, it's not just a question of loading a file or video to a server. Good online courses require a high degree of interactivity to stimulate interest, conversation, and higher-level thinking.
Support Students and Inform Families
Given the self-discipline needed to be successful online, students who are enrolled in online courses for credit recovery may need closer monitoring than they would in a regular class. Even independent, motivated students need support when enrolled in online classes. Strategies like confirming that a student spends at least six hours on the course during the first week increase the chance of course completion dramatically.
Schools need to help families make good choices of online courses for their children, especially if those courses are not offered by the district itself. One of our students was denied an athletic scholarship because some online math classes she took, although they met district and state requirements, had not received National Collegiate Athletic Association approval.
Our Socrates Online Program (a reinvention of a regional instructional television network of 28 school districts, which offers more than 50 separate online courses ranging from accounting to world religions) has bragging rights to a completion rate of 91 percent. Why? Online learning consultant Karen Johnson explains it as the result of "local districts that have made a decision to work together in a collaborative, conscientious and careful counselors who do good advising, an online program point person for enrollment and student support, a small program, and dedicated teachers."
Examine Your Course Offerings
Commercial online course offerings are bleeding already-stretched budgets in some districts. Many students find online learning attractive because of scheduling, family values, learning-style preferences, or esoteric course content. But if a large number of students seem to be using online classes to avoid classes in your district or to take subjects not offered by your district, some curriculum review—or examination of teaching practices—may be in order.
Take Charge
Don't just let online learning happen in your district. Create a plan for using online courses and resources to improve the learning opportunities for all students.
Making It Happen: What School and District Leaders Can Do
Be knowledgeable about state laws and local policies related to online learning.
Know what good online learning design looks like.
Find ways to support students taking online courses independently.
Serve on online planning groups.
Examine your own course offerings if a high percentage of students are taking online classes instead of traditional classes.
