VSS2007 (Guest Blogger) - Informing Policy and Practice: Research on the Best Practices of Virtual School Teachers
Session notes from our guest blogger, Abby.
Research Practice and Policy with Online Teachers
Meredith DiPietro
Study overview
Method:
- 12 teacher interviews focus general, content specific, and technology questions.
- 2 layers of analysis-- 1. preliminary list of practices, 2. focused on distinctions.
- Establishing environmental context
- Practices related to classroom management. structure-Virtual course classroom management needs to increase in focus. ALMOST UNEXPLORED from RESEARCH perspective
- Facilitative connections between teacher and student. Student and content. Teacher student
- Coaching content interactions (fluid practice and meeting students needs)
- Question: how is facilitating connections – connecting students and content different that coaching student content interactions????
- Knowing student initially helps teachers adapt content and teaching. Core of teacher practice.
- Standard: teacher post info about self. Student posts too.
- accessibility issue – multiple means for contact. Helps form trust with students.
- Connecting students and content
- web-based and course based tools
- Pedagogical content knowledge
- Conversation: guided , redirected, directed student conversation. Used well designed prompts.
- Structuring the experience (enhancing the environment)
- Observing the environment (delineating rules)
- Cheating- encouraged students to keep going overwhelmingly when caught. Not give up.
- Identifying students in personal crisis: discussion boards where found cues about student harming self or others. How address?
- Variations – Adaptive release of content – Can't get to the next phase until pass the first phase. “Hide assignments' and only open up when sure that students covered content so not overwhelmed.
- Knowledge giver --> knowledge guide shift.
- Individualized learning experiences
- Mentor's role: intervened when change in performance. Filled in holes of F2F for students that needed that contact.
- Collaborative interactions
- group work.
- Practice considerations
- Diversity of students
- Uniqueness of content
- Affordances
- pacing had to change based on students
- course-based features/tools
- Policy Recommendations:
- Pre-service and inservice training in nuances of online learning. WHAT ARE THESE THOUGH?? Based on what she shared, seems the same as F2F.
- Research on best practices --> Action research with teachers involved.
- Caveat
- Variations and variability in V.S.
- Variation in instructor's situational context.
- Research areas
- Mentors
- Distinction in practice between content areas
Tags: VSS2007, NACOL, virtual school, cyber school, high school, education
Labels: cyber school, education, high school, NACOL, virtual school, VSS2007
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