District Administration - February 2009 - (Page 24)

Rise of the Virtual Teacher The lenge. While some online teachers work regular school hours in brick-and-mortar school buildings, others work evenings and weekends from their homes or beyond. For example, Casey Ross, a former traditional classroom teacher in the Detroit and Port Huron (Mich.) public schools and now science department chairperson in the Michigan Virtual High School, says she was sold on online teaching when she started it part-time while holding down a regular classroom job. She often teaches from her sailboat while traveling off the Florida Keys or elsewhere. “I have a laptop and Verizon Wireless. I can work anywhere there is a cell phone signal,” she says. It also works for her students, she maintains, because she can be in touch with them individually by phone and e-mail. “If they get stuck on an assignment, I get on the phone with them and we figure it out,” she explains. Filling Needs Some districts need online teachers for specific content areas, particularly given budget constraints. Superintendent Wayne Rush of the Glenns Ferry (Idaho) School District 192, a rural district with about 450 students, says the district had to reduce staff and drop foreign language two years ago because of declining enrollment and budget issues. Now the district uses online teachers from the Idaho Digital Learning Academy (IDLA)—a state-sponsored, accredited, online virtual school created through the Idaho state legislature—for foreign language courses and for AP courses like psychology and higher-end math as well as to help students who need credit recovery in normal courses like English. Glenns Ferry pays IDLA $50 per course per student. Rush calculates the district saves about $68,000 annually through online teaching, compared to what it would cost for regular classroom teaching, in addition to offering courses “that we were never able to offer before.” Similarly, the Chicago Public Schools contracted with the University of Miami Learning specialists (standing) at Florida Virtual School are leading the new employee orientation, training new hires on systems, values and processes. Online High School two years ago for an online physics teacher and with Apex Learning, a company that delivers online learning solutions, for a music teacher when the small CPS schools that needed them lacked the per-pupil funding to hire on-site certified teachers, says Sandi Atols, the Chicago district’s manager of distance learning. There are two separate payments. Her program pays the tuition—between $250-$299 per semester per student, totaling less than $25,000 annually. The schools separately pay for the time of the “mentor teachers,” who are in the schools about 20 percent of a school day to monitor and guide students during periods when they are online. The schools pay about $8,500 plus benefits per mentor every year. Chicago also uses certified online teachers from the Illinois Virtual High School and outside vendors like Aventa Learning, an online learning program, for students such as those who had scheduling conflicts and needed credit recovery. The Research Says A study—“Going Virtual: Unique Needs and Challenges of K-12 Online Teachers,” conducted by Boise State University in partnership with iNACOL—found that most online teachers have seven to 15 years of traditional classroom teaching experience. Many still are teaching fulltime and online part-time, while others have moved into full-time online teaching. “They are teachers who know their subject content but want the flexibility or the interactive and dynamic environment of a virtual classroom,” Patrick says. INACOL has published “National Standards for Quality Online Teaching,” a document designed to provide a set of quality guidelines for online teaching and instructional design that districts can implement and monitor on their own. The Southern Regional Education Board has a similar publication, “Standards for Quality Online Teaching.” While documents like these detail what teachers should know and be able to do to teach effectively online, it’s still up to district administrators in most cases to be sure they are properly qualified, then monitor their work and assess how they perform. Training and Feedback Are Key In the Cobb County (Ga.) School District, about 190 out of 6,838 teachers teach online courses during regular school days and participate in two or three faculty meetings annually—also held online— and one face-to-face meeting with administrators that focuses on district policies and procedures. “We closely monitor teacher involvement with course statistics that tell us how often they are in their classes and how long they spend there,” says Cheryl Rowley, a program administrator in the Cobb Virtual Academy. “We also look at their grade books and the feedback they give their students.” And 20 percent of the online teachers are stay-at-home mothers or retirees, and the other 80 percent are regular Cobb County classroom teachers who teach online in the evenings and on weekends. Cobb’s online teachers are required to archive their e-mail, Rowley explains, so “if there are any issues, we can get proxy 24 February 2009 District Administration

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District Administration - February 2009 Contents Advertiser Index Editor's Letter News Update Security Curriculum Crisis Response Supervisor's Opinion The Rise of the Virtual Teacher Speaking Their Language Alternate Transportation Routes Opinion The Aftermath of the New 403(b) Regulations How Well Does This Web Site Work? Problem Solution New Products Product Focus Professional Opinion

District Administration - February 2009

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