What did you learn this week that struck you as particularly important in learning about virtual schools? Has your thinking changed as a result of what you learn this week?
Schools being schools, whether virtual or brick-and-mortar, there are many core resources and processes that are similar. There need to be students, teachers and administrators. There need to be syllabi, content, teaching resources, etc. There is teaching and learning, with instructional program, pedagogy, monitoring and evaluation. We talk about performance, teachers professional development, etc.
One important difference is for virtual school is that many of the processes are adopted and adapted from conventional brick-and-mortar schools to suit the online environment, as described in the standards of NACOL.
I learnt that similar processes adopted in an online environment can become very different. Hence, I appreciate the insights provided in "Managing teachers you can't see" and "evaluating online teachers is largely a virtual task". The readings mainly covers evaluation of teachers in an online context and the professional development of teachers. I find that accountability in an online environment with all information, exchanges and output in virtual form, it becomes very challenging to track down real performance and accountability, not only in terms of teachers' performance but also in students' work.
Hence, I do see validation becoming a key challenge for virtual schools.
On a separate note, having researched on the 2 schools selected (similar to the situation faced by other coursemates), I found it extremely hard to mine for any "insider" information, like teachers selecion process, teachers' role, student-teacher ratio, etc. All this hidden information sudenly became crystal clear to me when I read "Professional development for online teachers" (esp the "Cases" section, pp 166-171) and "Best practices in teaching K-12 online: lessons learnt from Michigan Virtual School teachers". Upon these artical, many of the question marks I've around Michigan Virtual School (one of my research school) is instantaneously resolved!I would strongly recommend to my course mates to read pp 16-27 of the latter, which gives alot of information about the practices by MVS teachers and examples of their practices. For the former, besides pp. 166-171, I find the tabulation of Louisiana Virtual School's teacher training and professional development model quite useful. This tabulation kind of bridges the gap that I've identified through this week's reading, ie. a gap between indicators of online teachers' performance and the process of evaluating their performance to that of professional development.
Finally, reflecting on the conditions for online learning...
In this course, we are undergoing an online course. And right now, I am stuck in a country (due to business travel) with broadband internet services and yet not being able to load our coursepage and process CUB email. Given the speed of the service, many institutions' technical support teams had set up firewalls and blocks to many websites (especially multimedia-heavy sites), in hope of easing traffic and increasing speed.
So, I'm starting to realise that for virtual schools to be successful, besides ensuring that students have access to computer of suitable specs and internet access, it is not sufficient. There is a need for high-speed internet in order to download all those media-rich content.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Week 4 Reflection
What did you learn this week that struck you as particularly important or interesting? Has your thinking changed as a result of what you learned this week?
I observed that more established schools have a more developed webdesign of their homepage and are also more aggressive in their marketing. Like the bigger providers such as K12 Inc and Connections Academy, there is greater consistency in the way they market themselves to the public.
And I find it disappointing that, while there are virtual schools with established programs to sell to schools and individuals, there are still so many virtual schools that have yet figured how to present themselves to the public (as observed in some very poorly designed home pages or inaccessible sites). Afterall, without a physical building, I would see the way virtual schools present themselves online to be vital, yet, given the lack in consistency, many had not done a good job in presenting themselves.
As such, even the basic like marketing themselves is not done in an ideal manner, I wonder how is the quality of educational content and services delivered to numerous home schoolers and students seeking alternative education out there??
Given some basic standards drawn up by NACOL, I wonder how many virtual schools are audited against these standards, though some marketed themselves to by accreditated by local authorities.
As I tried to access demo/sample lessons from various schools or content providers, I find great challenges in gaining access. Over just 3 days, I signed up for numerous accounts, with different passwords (due to diff password requirement in length and format). And even after getting registered, downloading plug-in and the program is not that easy either.
Here, I find the dilemma of accessibility to infomration against protecting own's intellectual property rights. I can really appreciate the reason behind all those signing up for an account, etc., but I really find it time consuming and frustrating just to catch a glimpse of how a lesson might look like in their schools! And, it doesn't help that I do not have a US address and phone number, thus signing up for an account is a hassle!
Hmmmmm... maybe in future, if this course is to continue, we can have a generic account in various virtual schools, so that we can catch a demo lesson more easily ;) I am sure the schools' adminstrators would also appreciate the fact that they have less inactive accounts to clear. Or, maybe it is time for the virtual schools to have some consitency in showcasing their trial lessons, for example, providing generic accounts or web-stream their samples to avoid others copying their products easily?
While I get quite frustrated in trying to gain access to sample lessons, I am enlightened when I finally get to go through some online lessons. They were very much different from those that I had done back in the good old days. The interface used are all more interactive and richer. And, I am also enlightened to learn about many other digital tools that different schools use.
Finally, something operational. I had repeatedly written my response in the "good instructional design" 4 times and in the "bad..." 3 times as my internet explorer repeatedly hung on the moodle :( So, lesson learnt is, to type my response in a word processor then cut and paste. At least in this blog page, there is an "autosave" feature... so i am only writing this reflection once ;)
As stated in my wikis,
I observed that more established schools have a more developed webdesign of their homepage and are also more aggressive in their marketing. Like the bigger providers such as K12 Inc and Connections Academy, there is greater consistency in the way they market themselves to the public.
And I find it disappointing that, while there are virtual schools with established programs to sell to schools and individuals, there are still so many virtual schools that have yet figured how to present themselves to the public (as observed in some very poorly designed home pages or inaccessible sites). Afterall, without a physical building, I would see the way virtual schools present themselves online to be vital, yet, given the lack in consistency, many had not done a good job in presenting themselves.
As such, even the basic like marketing themselves is not done in an ideal manner, I wonder how is the quality of educational content and services delivered to numerous home schoolers and students seeking alternative education out there??
Given some basic standards drawn up by NACOL, I wonder how many virtual schools are audited against these standards, though some marketed themselves to by accreditated by local authorities.
As I tried to access demo/sample lessons from various schools or content providers, I find great challenges in gaining access. Over just 3 days, I signed up for numerous accounts, with different passwords (due to diff password requirement in length and format). And even after getting registered, downloading plug-in and the program is not that easy either.
Here, I find the dilemma of accessibility to infomration against protecting own's intellectual property rights. I can really appreciate the reason behind all those signing up for an account, etc., but I really find it time consuming and frustrating just to catch a glimpse of how a lesson might look like in their schools! And, it doesn't help that I do not have a US address and phone number, thus signing up for an account is a hassle!
Hmmmmm... maybe in future, if this course is to continue, we can have a generic account in various virtual schools, so that we can catch a demo lesson more easily ;) I am sure the schools' adminstrators would also appreciate the fact that they have less inactive accounts to clear. Or, maybe it is time for the virtual schools to have some consitency in showcasing their trial lessons, for example, providing generic accounts or web-stream their samples to avoid others copying their products easily?
While I get quite frustrated in trying to gain access to sample lessons, I am enlightened when I finally get to go through some online lessons. They were very much different from those that I had done back in the good old days. The interface used are all more interactive and richer. And, I am also enlightened to learn about many other digital tools that different schools use.
Finally, something operational. I had repeatedly written my response in the "good instructional design" 4 times and in the "bad..." 3 times as my internet explorer repeatedly hung on the moodle :( So, lesson learnt is, to type my response in a word processor then cut and paste. At least in this blog page, there is an "autosave" feature... so i am only writing this reflection once ;)
As stated in my wikis,
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
About Me (part 2)
As I shared responded to one of our coursemate's inquiry about what I do, I thought I would like to share the URLs to some resources that may interest you and be of use for your works in classrooms:
1) Microsoft Partners in Learning - you will be able to find more infomation on this program, some case studies that are from your countries
2) Microsoft Partners in Learning Network - you will be able to read about some recent activities or events, download some free tools for teaching, connect with innovative educators from different parts of the world and find other useful resources. You will be prompted to sign up for a Live ID. Using this Live ID, you will be able to access information at this network.
3) Microsoft Corporate Citizenship - do check out other interesting corporate citizenship programs in my extended work teams. Do look out for Multipoint technology.. really a low-cost deployment which works very well in emerging markets.
4) MARVIN - we've funded a developer in Australia to develop this animation tool. Very interesting avatars that can be used to build video clip in split seconds. Suitable to deliver content. We've innovative teachers who use it to get young kids master language better through peer coaching and learn about "dry" topics like Confucius in a lively manner.
Additionally, we've used MARVIN and the Silverlight technology to build an interactive curriculum for students with special needs.. it is the accessibility curriculum written by a Japanese professor to help kids with physical disabilities to use computers. Do look out for the link to the CARE curriculum in the Network i've stated in #2 above.
1) Microsoft Partners in Learning - you will be able to find more infomation on this program, some case studies that are from your countries
2) Microsoft Partners in Learning Network - you will be able to read about some recent activities or events, download some free tools for teaching, connect with innovative educators from different parts of the world and find other useful resources. You will be prompted to sign up for a Live ID. Using this Live ID, you will be able to access information at this network.
3) Microsoft Corporate Citizenship - do check out other interesting corporate citizenship programs in my extended work teams. Do look out for Multipoint technology.. really a low-cost deployment which works very well in emerging markets.
4) MARVIN - we've funded a developer in Australia to develop this animation tool. Very interesting avatars that can be used to build video clip in split seconds. Suitable to deliver content. We've innovative teachers who use it to get young kids master language better through peer coaching and learn about "dry" topics like Confucius in a lively manner.
Additionally, we've used MARVIN and the Silverlight technology to build an interactive curriculum for students with special needs.. it is the accessibility curriculum written by a Japanese professor to help kids with physical disabilities to use computers. Do look out for the link to the CARE curriculum in the Network i've stated in #2 above.
Week 3 Reflection
What did you learn this week that struck you as particularly important or interesting?
State virtual schools
Upon reviewing the wikis & comparison table and participating in the forum, it is interesting to see that the diverse presentation (in terms of look and content) across respective virtual schools. And, I find it "shocking" that a few virtual schools actually have such poor and non-robust presentation of their school information! My assumption is that a virtual school being heavily reliant on technology and the Internet, the most basic thing it can show is to at least "look" savvy in its home page presentation. So, it seems that it is a wrong assumption to make.
I find the issue about inconsistency observed is important to note. This observation probably implies that the development of virtual schools is still in its early stages where there is very little benchmarking, though at least most virtual schools' curricula are tied to the state testing standards. Or maybe it is simply a notion of diversity for the differences observed?
Or would it be that the virtual school market is not that competitive within respective states that some schools may just not be well-aligned to PR, marketing, communications and having organizational goal to deliver quality services to the public?
There seems to be many different reasons for the inconsitency observed and as explained by some of my coursemates in the forum. So, will there be a time in future that the art of managing virtual schools become more widespread that there will be more virtual schools and with more intense competition, they'd be more competitive. And, more competition would drive higher standards and better presentation, delivery of services, etc.?
Charter virtual schools
It is surprising to find such a gap in the presentation of info and content on a charter school home page as compared to a state school home page! Comapring Michigan Virtual School (state sch) and Ohio Connections Academy (charter sch), I find the page design of OCA more user-friendly than that of MVS. And, the infomration of the latter is more oragnised and accessible too. I wonder if charter sch pages are generally more well-organized than that of state sch?
Upon exploring OCA and Connections Academy (CA) website, I feel that charter schools are like a "franchise". CA is like the main distributor, who sets the operation model and resourcing model of the schools under its charter. Hence, upon checking other CA schools in other states, they all have the same page design for their school website. Since CA is then the "branding" of the charter schools under its flagship, then I think there'd be a model of monitoring and quality control within their operation model (which is not explicit to the public) to ensure quality delivery of education to each child at his/her home.
Would it be due to this that there is better accountabilty and more consistent delivery, and a more unfied message and look across all CA schools? Hence, I am looking forward to next week's class to look into other charter schools and do a comparison between the two types of schools :)
Furthermore, I kind of find some ans to the question about accessibility to virtual schools, which i raised in previous week's reflection. In CA, they loan out computers with suitable specs and software pre-loaded, and provide free internet access too! In a way, this addresses the issue of accesibility, also bearing in mind that the education is tuition-free. Hence, even poor families will be able to send their kids to virtual schools!
However, I wonder how would on be eligible to apply for this loan and how do they get sufficient resources to fund this exercise??! And, we're talking about 28,000 enrollment in CA to date!! From the "Authorizing Matters, Aug 2006", it seems to imply that a typical charter school will loan out computers to students and reimburse for the Internet charges but no in-depth discussion of how to fund the model of a charter virtual school :( Though there is some mention of "authorizer funding" in the "September 2006" issue, it remians vague to me as to how exactly how the charter model works, for both traditional and virtual schools. I shall research on this over the weekend :)
Initially, I thought the "who should fund virtual schools?" article would shed some light to the way resourcing in charter schools work. But, this article generally speaks of funding in state virtual schools, recomending a 2-stage implementation of a funding model and sharing 3 case studies of how 3 state virtual schools are funded.
State virtual schools
Upon reviewing the wikis & comparison table and participating in the forum, it is interesting to see that the diverse presentation (in terms of look and content) across respective virtual schools. And, I find it "shocking" that a few virtual schools actually have such poor and non-robust presentation of their school information! My assumption is that a virtual school being heavily reliant on technology and the Internet, the most basic thing it can show is to at least "look" savvy in its home page presentation. So, it seems that it is a wrong assumption to make.
I find the issue about inconsistency observed is important to note. This observation probably implies that the development of virtual schools is still in its early stages where there is very little benchmarking, though at least most virtual schools' curricula are tied to the state testing standards. Or maybe it is simply a notion of diversity for the differences observed?
Or would it be that the virtual school market is not that competitive within respective states that some schools may just not be well-aligned to PR, marketing, communications and having organizational goal to deliver quality services to the public?
There seems to be many different reasons for the inconsitency observed and as explained by some of my coursemates in the forum. So, will there be a time in future that the art of managing virtual schools become more widespread that there will be more virtual schools and with more intense competition, they'd be more competitive. And, more competition would drive higher standards and better presentation, delivery of services, etc.?
Charter virtual schools
It is surprising to find such a gap in the presentation of info and content on a charter school home page as compared to a state school home page! Comapring Michigan Virtual School (state sch) and Ohio Connections Academy (charter sch), I find the page design of OCA more user-friendly than that of MVS. And, the infomration of the latter is more oragnised and accessible too. I wonder if charter sch pages are generally more well-organized than that of state sch?
Upon exploring OCA and Connections Academy (CA) website, I feel that charter schools are like a "franchise". CA is like the main distributor, who sets the operation model and resourcing model of the schools under its charter. Hence, upon checking other CA schools in other states, they all have the same page design for their school website. Since CA is then the "branding" of the charter schools under its flagship, then I think there'd be a model of monitoring and quality control within their operation model (which is not explicit to the public) to ensure quality delivery of education to each child at his/her home.
Would it be due to this that there is better accountabilty and more consistent delivery, and a more unfied message and look across all CA schools? Hence, I am looking forward to next week's class to look into other charter schools and do a comparison between the two types of schools :)
Furthermore, I kind of find some ans to the question about accessibility to virtual schools, which i raised in previous week's reflection. In CA, they loan out computers with suitable specs and software pre-loaded, and provide free internet access too! In a way, this addresses the issue of accesibility, also bearing in mind that the education is tuition-free. Hence, even poor families will be able to send their kids to virtual schools!
However, I wonder how would on be eligible to apply for this loan and how do they get sufficient resources to fund this exercise??! And, we're talking about 28,000 enrollment in CA to date!! From the "Authorizing Matters, Aug 2006", it seems to imply that a typical charter school will loan out computers to students and reimburse for the Internet charges but no in-depth discussion of how to fund the model of a charter virtual school :( Though there is some mention of "authorizer funding" in the "September 2006" issue, it remians vague to me as to how exactly how the charter model works, for both traditional and virtual schools. I shall research on this over the weekend :)
Initially, I thought the "who should fund virtual schools?" article would shed some light to the way resourcing in charter schools work. But, this article generally speaks of funding in state virtual schools, recomending a 2-stage implementation of a funding model and sharing 3 case studies of how 3 state virtual schools are funded.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Week 2 Reflection
What did you learn this week that struck you particularly important or interesting? Has your thinking changed as a result of what you learned this week?
This week, I had a deep dive into the models of online learning in state virtual schools and in the management and operations of online programs. Frankly, though my job is closely knitted to education in US, being a Singaporean, I have little knowledge about the US education system. Thus, ploughing through "Keeping Pace" was tedious, for there are many alien terms that I need to check out before reading futher... state schools, charter schools, federal, for-profit, run by consortium, legislature, appropriation, multi-district, SEA, LEA... ... mind boggling!
I like the "attributes of online programs" by Watson and Gemin. Going through the "issues" and "variables" under each attributes is like reading a rubric. This has somehow made various aspects of online learning measurable, which is certainly useful in helping the management team of online schools make informed decisions. Furthermore, the 5 areas (curriculum devt & course quality, teacher mgt, student support, technology and program evaluation) can been applied to running a physical school, not just online schools!
Finallly, I would like to point out one thing that struck me most when I researched on Michigan Virtual School - "You can learn virtually anything" as long as there is access to computer (of a certain specs) and to the Internet.
So, given improvment made in managing and operating online schools and gorwing enrollments over time, I think one key factor that make or break this momentum is connectivity. Online learning is bascially made possible by internet connection and computer. And, to have a good experience learning online, I guess a good connection and a computer of "decent" specs are required. As such, what happens to those districts with poor connectivity? How would online learning reach out to people who cannot afford computers? So, they will not get to enjoy the benefits of online learning?
In my job, I visit many developing countries. In fact, governments propose to set up project to promote online learning, especially in rural areas or areas which lack teachers in specific subjects. And, in such projects, the key determinant is again connectivity. Just today, as my colleague made a presentation on using web apps, etc., the very challenge of connectivity is again, brought up. I wonder if there is any resolution to this challenge? Or, is the answer simply, no connectivity, no online learning and no cloud computing....
This week, I had a deep dive into the models of online learning in state virtual schools and in the management and operations of online programs. Frankly, though my job is closely knitted to education in US, being a Singaporean, I have little knowledge about the US education system. Thus, ploughing through "Keeping Pace" was tedious, for there are many alien terms that I need to check out before reading futher... state schools, charter schools, federal, for-profit, run by consortium, legislature, appropriation, multi-district, SEA, LEA... ... mind boggling!
I like the "attributes of online programs" by Watson and Gemin. Going through the "issues" and "variables" under each attributes is like reading a rubric. This has somehow made various aspects of online learning measurable, which is certainly useful in helping the management team of online schools make informed decisions. Furthermore, the 5 areas (curriculum devt & course quality, teacher mgt, student support, technology and program evaluation) can been applied to running a physical school, not just online schools!
Finallly, I would like to point out one thing that struck me most when I researched on Michigan Virtual School - "You can learn virtually anything" as long as there is access to computer (of a certain specs) and to the Internet.
So, given improvment made in managing and operating online schools and gorwing enrollments over time, I think one key factor that make or break this momentum is connectivity. Online learning is bascially made possible by internet connection and computer. And, to have a good experience learning online, I guess a good connection and a computer of "decent" specs are required. As such, what happens to those districts with poor connectivity? How would online learning reach out to people who cannot afford computers? So, they will not get to enjoy the benefits of online learning?
In my job, I visit many developing countries. In fact, governments propose to set up project to promote online learning, especially in rural areas or areas which lack teachers in specific subjects. And, in such projects, the key determinant is again connectivity. Just today, as my colleague made a presentation on using web apps, etc., the very challenge of connectivity is again, brought up. I wonder if there is any resolution to this challenge? Or, is the answer simply, no connectivity, no online learning and no cloud computing....
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