District Administration - February 2009 - (Page 26)

The Rise of the Virtual Teacher Your Students Are More Than Test Scores “We are most concerned that our online teachers care about their students and understand each student’s individual situation,” Murphy adds. “We have a lot of students who don’t have a great home life, and teachers need to understand that” and work one-on-one with them. Not All Are Qualified While districts are using online teaching more and more, administrators emphasize that not all teachers are qualified to teach online. “We get a lot of inquiries, like from elementary teachers who are getting doctorates in distance learning and think they can come in and teach on the high school level, but they are not certified in any content area,” says Becky Nunnally, a program administrator in the Cobb Virtual Academy. “I think there is a sense out there that if you’re a good classroom teacher you can translate that automatically into an online learning environment, and we don’t share that sense,” asserts Liz Pape, president and CEO of the nonprofit Virtual High School Global Consortium. “It’s not necessarily a teacher’s years of experience that make them a good online teacher. They need strong written and oral skills to communicate with their students, they have to be motivating, and they have to be comfortable teaching electronically,” adds Lisa Watkins, manager of instruction at KC Distance Learning/Aventa Learning, which provides distance learning programs for middle and high school students. “You need somebody who obviously has a comfort and interest in not just technology but also in technology as a vehicle for teaching, because for the teacher it is a very different environment,” Montesano agrees. The Latest Professional Development Patrick at iNACOL says online teaching has opened “a whole new range of 21stcentury professional opportunities” for teachers. Boise State University offers a certificate program in online teaching, and several other universities are developing similar programs based on the iNACOL standards, Patrick says. The University of Wisconsin sponsors the Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning. And the Southern Regional Education Board provides resources to help its 16 member states develop high-quality online teaching. Professional development options also include programs such as PBS TeacherLine, which provides standards-based graduate-level courses for teachers— appropriately, online. The Education Development Center’s programs include graduate-level training courses for online instructors. Aventa Learning trains its own teachers and also teachers in districts that use its online products. Programs like those will help district administrators find instructors with “the whole new set of strategies and skills” that online teaching requires, Patrick concludes. www.DistrictAdministration.com Read more on the guidelines for high quality online teaching. DA Alan Dessoff is a contributing writer for District Administration. District Administration StepUp from Naviance StepUp offers a research-based approach to academic and career planning that uses multiple measures and leverages your existing data systems to: » Improve graduation rates » Increase rigor » Close the achievement gap » Create a college-going culture » Ensure college readiness » Prepare students for careers Join other leading school districts that are already using StepUp to address their most critical issues and to ensure accountability is measured by more than just a test score. Learn more today! Call 866.337.0800, ext. 2730 toll-free, or visit www.naviance.com. RESOURCES Apex Learning www.apexlearning.com Aventa Learning www.aventalearning.com EdTech Leaders Online www.edtechleaders.org Florida Virtual School www.flvs.net KC Distance Learning www.kcdistancelearning.com International Association for K-12 Online Learning www.inacol.org Michigan Virtual School www.mivhs.org PBS TeacherLine www.pbs.org/teacherline Southern Regional Education Board www.srebonlineteachers.org Virtual High School Global Consortium www.govhs.org Copyright © 2008, Naviance Inc., a Hobsons company. Naviance is a registered trademark, and the Naviance logo and StepUp are trademarks of Naviance Inc. 26 February 2009 http://www.apexlearning.com http://www.aventalearning.com http://www.edtechleaders.org http://www.flvs.net http://www.kcdistancelearning.com http://www.inacol.org http://www.naviance.com http://www.mivhs.org http://www.naviance.com http://www.pbs.org/teacherline http://www.DistrictAdministration.com http://www.srebonlineteachers.org http://www.govhs.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - February 2009

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