Online+Education

​ =Explore elementary, high, and charter schools that are doing education online. What technologies are they using to teach? Is this the future? =

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**Pros/Cons and Statistics of Online Education - Nick Propson **
= = = = =About //Promising Practices in Online Learning // =

Online learning within K-12 education is **increasing access and equity** by making high quality courses and highly qualified teachers available to students. Online learning programs offer courses, academic credits and support toward a diploma. They vary in structure, and may be managed by a state, district, university, charter school, not-for-profit, for-profit, or other institution. All **50 states and more than half of the school districts in the United States offer online courses and services, and online learning is growing rapidly, at 30% annually.** This growth is meeting demand among students, as more than **40% of high school and middle school students have expressed interest in taking an online course.**

The most **well established K-12 online learning programs are more than ten years old**, and many programs have between five and ten years of operating experience. The newest programs are building on the expertise of those early adopters, as well as the experience of online learning in postsecondary institutions and the corporate world. A body of knowledge, skills and practices has been developed by individual programs, in collaboration with practitioners, researchers, and policymakers. **Because there are so many types of online programs** (full-time, supplemental, stateled, district-level, consortium), **there are also many different approaches to teaching, student support, professional development, and other issues.** Source:[] (International Association for K-12 Online Learning)

Kiel E-School

The **Kiel E-School and Appleton E-School have been the longest locally ran forms of online learning for K-12 learners**. In 2002, they were both funded by the DPI Charter School Planning Grant. After eight years, the Kiel E-School has **an extremely high success rate** with 181 Kiel student semester course completions with **93% success rate**. They a ttribute their high success rate to the fact that they **meet face-to-face once a week** with their online students. Many schools are closer to 65% success rate.  Reasons Students Have for Requesting Online Courses:
 * Credit Deficient
 * Failed Course
 * Remediation
 * Schedule Conflicts
 * Not Offered in the Traditional Setting
 * Gifted and Talented
 * Acceleration
 * Health
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Early Graduation
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Parent Request
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Overcrowded
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Summer School
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Transfer Student
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Open Enrollment
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Expulsion
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Different Delivery Methold
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Teenage Parent

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Below is the link to the Kiel eSchool Annual Report Source:[]

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Effectiveness of Online Learning

<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Source:[] (International Association for K-12 Online Learning) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Top 10 Myths about Virtual Schools Source: []
 * Full-time cyberschool students take state assessments that are required of all public school students, and cyberschools are subject to state adequate yearly progress, accreditation, and other state-by-state measures of public schools.** Supplemental online programs track numerous measures of student outcomes. Most are internal, such as course completion rates, while **a few compare students in online courses to students in traditional classroom courses.** For example, a comparison of AP exam data from three online programs, Apex Learning, Florida Virtual School, and Virtual High School, against the national average of all students taking AP exams, shows the online programs exceeding national averages for exam results: **//See chart on page 24 of source listed below!//**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Online Teaching Licensure

Source:[]
 * Most online schools have extensive professional development requirements for teachers**, many of which combine face-to-face and online training. Some of these requirements are formal policies that are created by the state, such as the professional development requirements for teachers at the Georgia Virtual School. **But most states still have no requirement for online teachers to be licensed or to receive professional development beyond what is required for all classroom teachers**–though a few states are moving in this direction. For example, the online-learning bill that Wisconsin passed in 2008 requires that **as of July 1, 2010, a** person teaching an online course in a public or charter school **must have completed at least 30 hours of professional development designed to prepare a teacher for online teaching.**


 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">Technologies Used For Teaching Online Education-Bryon Prey **

Computer tools serve a variety of functions (Hannafin, Land, & Oliver, 1999). This site will focus on those tools commonly found in existing tool suites on campus (†). To date, WebCT, CourseInfo, and other tool suites do not contain the full range of functions possible, although they are expected to improve. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** ABOUT COMPUTER TOOLS **


 * <span style="color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">**<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Specific Tools ** |||| <span style="color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">**<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Enable Students to... ** ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">search engines, indexes, site maps |||| <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">seek information ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">bookmarking, cut & paste |||| <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">collect information ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">software to construct tables, charts, diagrams, timelines, concept maps |||| <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">organize information ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">note-taking, annotating resources |||| <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">integrate external information alongside what the student already knows ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">HTML text editors, web page generators, video editors, word processors |||| <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">generate new information, projects, products ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">simulations, microworlds |||| <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">manipulate information, rapidly test and revise personal theories and hypotheses ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(†) e-mail, listservs, discussion boards, distance conferencing, chat rooms |||| <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">discuss and debate information, critique ideas, provide mentoring ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(†) digital drop boxes, file sharing, collaborative web editing, "groupware" |||| <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">collaborate on shared task ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(†) quizzing, drill and practice |||| <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">assess progress ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">directions, instructions, strategic advice, action or goal manager |||| <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">ask for help or guidance, plan appropriate tactics ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">color filtration, screen magnification, text-to-braille scan converters, audio frequency modifiers, captions |||| <span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">access information without regard to original format ||

**<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Source: **<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[]
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">** Podcasting In The Classroom **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Podcasting is a way to post and distribute electronic media files online. Podcasts are of interest because they provide an easy way to get engaging multimedia content out to a dispersed group of people, who can listen to it whenever and wherever they like on a variety of readily-available platforms. So how is podcasting relevant to education? It is a powerful publishing platform that addresses different learning styles, is highly mobile, and can deliver content “just in time.” Think about some of these possibilities: =<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Using Blackboard = <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Blackboard® is Education Queensland's flexible eLearning and online communities system for students and staff. Blackboard can be used for delivering online courses or establishing online communities. Blackboard is a course creation service that enables teachers to add an online component to traditional classes or teach an entire course on the Web. You can quickly and easily create your own course website to bring your learning materials, class discussions, and tests online. For participants it provides you with online access to the course or community you are participating in. You can participate at your own pace.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">A teacher uses her cell phone to create a podcast with daily homework assignments and other classroom information. Parents download the podcasts to stay up-to-date on their children's school activities.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The district technology staff podcasts quick tech support tips for teachers to access as they need them.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Kids create a podcast about the Civil War to show what they've learned and share it with other classrooms.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">A school board podcasts their meetings and special events as a way to increase community involvement in the school system.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">A teacher records her class for students to download as a podcast. These podcasts are used by students who are absent as well as by those who need extra reinforcement or want to review.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">A class takes a virtual field trip to NASA via a soundseeing tour podcast. The virtual field trip is broadcast in several formats, some designed for English language learners and others for GATE students.

**<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 170%;">Future of Online Education- Krista Holland **
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> A recent estimate found that more than **1 million K-12** students participated in online courses in 2007-2008, an increase of 47 percent over 2005- 2006. This amounts to approximately 2 percent of the K-12 student population. The Evergreen Education Group reported in November 2009 that **27 states have state virtual schools** and **24 states have full-time, statewide online schools**. In all, **45 states and the District of Columbia have a state virtual school or online initiative, full-time online schools, or both**. Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont are the only states without a statewide virtual school or full-time online schools.

Wisconsin has 15 virtual schools that offer classes from kindergarten through high school over the Internet. But the future of Wisconsin's virtual schools was put in jeopardy when a state appeals court ruled in 2007 that the largest one, Wisconsin Virtual Academy, was operating in violation of open enrollment, charter school and teacher licensing laws. Virtual school advocates successfully lobbied the Legislature to change the law so virtual schools could continue operating despite the court ruling. A deal reached in 2008 made a number of law changes in response to the ruling, including establishing a 5,250 cap on open enrollment students. It is expected that this enrollment cap may be reached in a couple years which would impact the further growth of virtual charter schools unless this cap is repealed according to an audit that was released in February 2010. Source:[]

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