[Innovate] February/March Issue

A couple of items related to online learning and K-12 in this issue of Innovate.

Innovate (www.innovateonline.info) is published bimonthly as a public service by the Fischler School of Education and Human Services at Nova Southeastern University and is sponsored, in part, by Microsoft. The articles in the February/March 2008 issue, guest edited by Cathy Gunn and Susan Patrick, offer a range of studies that contribute to an evidence-based framework to sustain further innovation in online teaching and learning. Innovate-Live webcasts, produced by our partner, ULiveandLearn, allow you to synchronously interact with authors on the topics of their articles.

In the first article of this issue, Susan Lowes focuses on the "trans-classroom" teacher who works in both face-to-face and online classrooms, and attempts to track how such teachers make shifts in ideas, strategies, and practices that constrain or improve their practice in either venue. [See
http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=446&action=article ] Her webcast is scheduled for March 26 at 3:00 PM EST.

Rayenne Dekhinet, Keith Topping, David Duran, and Silvia Blanch studied a primary school program that linked English-speaking learners of Spanish with Spanish-speaking learners of English. Their study provides insight on how Internet technology can be leveraged to enhance language learning. [See
http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=479&action=article ]. Their webcast is schedule for March 26 at 11:00 AM EST.

Len Annetta, Marta Klesath, and Shawn Holmes describe virtual learning environments and the use of avatars to foster social presence in these environments as they examine how gaming and avatars are engaging online students. [See
http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=485&action=article ]. Their webcast is scheduled for February 19 at 1:00 PM EST.

You may register for webcasts at http://www.uliveandlearn.com/PortalInnovate/. Webcasts will be archived and available in the webcast section of the article and in the Innovate-Live portal archive shortly after the webcast. All times are Eastern Standard Time (New York). You may use the world clock at http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/ to coordinate with your time zone.

We hope that you enjoy this issue of Innovate. Please use the discussion board within each article to raise questions or provide additional commentary. Your comments will be sent to authors for their response, which will become part of the record for their article. Also, please forward this announcement to appropriate mailing lists and to colleagues who want to use IT tools to advance their work and ask your organizational librarian to link to Innovate in their resource section for open-access e-journals.

If you are considering submitting a manuscript describing how you use Microsoft technology to enhance the educational experience for publication consideration in the From our Sponsors section, please make sure that it conforms to the publication guidelines described at the Contribute link on Innovate's navigation bar.

Finally, check out the Innovation 2008 conference at http://education-2008.org that Innovate and the Focus on Education Foundation are hosting this coming April 14-15 in beautiful Breckenridge, CO. The early-bird discount for the conference and for the Beaver Run Resort and Conference Center is drawing near. We would love to see you there.

Thanks!

Jim
----
James L Morrison
Editor-in-Chief, Innovate
http://www.innovateonline.info
Fischler School of Education and Human Services
Nova Southeastern University
http://www.schoolofed.nova.edu/home.htm
---------------------------

Obviously I edited Dr. Morrison's message to only include those articles which are germane to this particular blog. So, join in the discussion or attend one of the webcasts.

Tags: open source, online journals, e-journals, academy, research, virtual school, cyber school, high school, education

Survey Of Online Learners For Doctoral Program

A request for research dealing with virtual schooling. If there are virtual school students out there or any of my readers that can help, please contact Sam directly.

Hello all

I am a doctoral student working on my dissertation at Capella University in the school of professional studies.

My dissertation is on engagement in the learning process for online high school students. Specifically I am trying to evaluate what aspects of course design engage high school students and therefore lead to more motivated learners and deeper learning.

In simpler terms, what do high school students like \ dislike in their online classes?

For my research I have developed an online survey for students to complete. The survey is completely anonymous and no personal information is collected. Students will have the opportunity to take part in a virtual focus group to finish the data collection process if they wish to.

I am looking for high school students who are currently taking or have taken online classes ( one or more) and who would be willing to complete this online survey (10-15 minutes).

You can help by forwarding this email to other educators and or students and asking them to do the same.

I am looking to survey as diverse a group of students as possible and trust that the vastness and chaos of the Internet will get this message out to lots of interested high school students.

Information about the survey and a link to the actual survey can be found at:

http://www.papertolight.com

Time is of the essence this survey is slated to be open from Feb1, 2008 to Feb 29th, 2008

Thanks for help in spreading the word

If you have question about my research or the survey I can be contacted at samgladstein@gmail.com

Sam Gladstein
--
Sam Gladstein
IM Gladsteins@GTalk
IM Gladsteins@Yahoo

Thanks...

Tags: research, virtual school, cyber school, high school, education

Interesting Findings On Charter Schools

While not specifically speaking to cyber charter schools, this looks to be an interesting article.

Disparities in charter school resources - the influence of state policy and community

Authors: Edward Bodine ^a; Bruce Fuller ^a; María-Fernanda González ^a; Luis Huerta ^b; Sandra Naughton ^a; Sandra Park ^a; Laik Woon Teh ^a

Affiliations: ^a University of California, Berkeley; ^b Teachers College, Columbia University

DOI: 10.1080/02680930701625262

Published in: Journal of Education Policy, Volume 23, Issue 1 - January 2008 , pages 1 - 33

Abstract: Recent findings show that students attending charter schools in the United States achieve at comparable or lower levels to those enrolled in regular public schools, perhaps due to uneven quality and disparities in the levels of resources acquired by charter schools. But little is known as to what state and local factors contribute to disparate levels of resources in the charter school sector. This article examines how local context, the charter school's organizational form, and state policies may influence material and human resources obtained by charter schools and their capacity to innovate. We find marked differences among charter schools situated in different US states in terms of teacher qualities, student-staff ratios, length of the school day, and the propensity to unionize, drawing on data from the US Schools and Staffing Survey for the 1999/2000 school year. Charter schools rely less on uncredentialed teachers in states that more tightly regulate the sector, and state spending is associated with more equal teacher salaries among charter schools within states. But the lion's share of variance in charter school resources is attributable to highly variable local contexts, not to state-level factors, especially the kinds of students served and the school's organizational form. Charter schools serving predominately black students rely on less experienced teachers who are more likely to be uncredentialed; their teachers also report more demanding working conditions and lower levels of efficacy, compared with charter teachers working in white schools. Conversion charter schools pay staff over $5100 more annually and rely much less on uncredentialed and part-time teachers than do start-up schools. We examine implications for the reproduction of unequal student achievement within the charter school sector.

This just showed up in my inbox, so I haven't had a chance to read it myself. But if you do, let me know what you think.

Tags: research, virtual school, cyber school, charter school, high school, education

NACOL Promising Practices Series: Blended Learning

This was posted in one of the NACOL forums.

NACOL Promising Practices Series: Blended Learning, Seeking ideas and examples

Throughout 2008 NACOL will be publishing a six-part white paper series on "Promising Practices in Online Learning." The first topic in this series will cover blended learning. Blended learning means many things to many people, even within our relatively small community. We would appreciate any ideas and examples you have on blended learning, including but not limited to the following questions:

* Do you have a “working” definition of blended learning?
* Are you or your school or program providing or otherwise involved in blended learning?
* Have you see any outstanding examples of blended learning that should be explored?

We welcome your ideas and examples, posted to this forum or by email to John Watson and Butch Gemin at johnw@evergreenassoc.com and rgemin@evergreenassoc.com.

Don't be shy about telling us about your program if it fits into a model of blended learning!

As I believe that John is a good researcher that uses solid methodology, I would encourage anyone who has something to share to contact him.

Tags: NACOL, research, virtual school, cyber school, high school, education

Virtual School Project in Newfoundland

Well, I think that may have mentioned this project before (note, I have - see E-Learning Project From Back Home), but I want to give it some context. A number of year ago a group a faculty members at Memorial University of Newfoundland created a Centre for Telelearning and Rural Education (see http://www.cdli.ca/Community/prospects/v4n4/telelearning.htm or http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED413150&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED413150 for articles about its creation and purpose from Ken Stevens, and others, who was the original chair of the Centre). Note that Memorial University no longer maintains the Centre's website (which was available at http://www.tellearn.mun.ca/ ), but you can access some of it through the Internet Archive (go to http://www.archive.org/index.php and punch http://www.tellearn.mun.ca/ into their Wayback Machine).

Anyway, as best I can tell neither the webpage nor the Centre exist anymore (and it is a shame that the webpage is gone cause there were links to a lot of good early virtual school research there conducted by Dr. Stevens and his colleagues). A couple of years ago, a number of individuals from the Faculty of Education and Memorial University applied and received a Community-University Research Alliances (CURA). The project behind this CURA is described by the various initiatives that are underway as a part of the Killick Project for E-Learning Research.

I mention this here today because as I was out on the blogsphere, looking at what different Newfoundlanders were blogging about, I came across an entry entitled The Killick Project: Our "Wisconsin Idea" from Dale Kirby's Post-Secondary Education Blog. I've met Dale before and have a lot of respect for his work (which is more focused on post-secondary than mine own), and his entry got me thinking about their project again - that and the fact that Elizabeth Murphy (see Spotlight on Elizabeth Murphy) is also working on the Innovative and Effective Practices in Online Learning thread of this research.

In looking at their website, it appears that much of their work will extend into 2010 and beyond, so hopefully it will be stuff we are all reading about for the next four or five years.

Tags: research, Newfoundland and Labrador, CDLI, virtual school, cyber school, high school, education

Spotlight on Elizabeth Murphy

In my second to last entry I referenced the work of Dr. Elizabeth Murphy of Memorial University of Newfoundland and the fact that she has done a lot of work with virtual schooling. As I mentioned her in regard to the lack of consistency in the language that we use in describing virtual schools and virtual schooling (noting that she tends to use the more restrictive Barker, Wendel and Richmond (1999) definition).

As this may come across as complaining, I wanted to take an entry to highlight the work that Dr. Murphy has done in our field (also because where she is at a Canadian university and not involved in the NACOL community I think that her work has gone largely unnoticed). In that regard, I wanted to focus on some recent publications that she is responsible for in our field:

• Nippard, N. & Murphy, E. (2007). Social presence in the web-based synchronous secondary classroom. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology,Vol.33(1).
• Murphy, E. & Rodríguez-Manzanares, M. (2007). Deviations from the script: An Activity Theory perspective on the practice of the e-teacher in the virtual high-school classroom. The 10th IASTED International Conference on Computers and Advanced Technology in Education.
• Furey, D. & Murphy, E. (2005). K-12 virtual schools and schooling The Morning Watch: Educational and Social Analysis. Memorial University of Newfoundland, 32 (3-4).
• Power, R. & Murphy, E. (2003). Broadband in teaching and learning in Newfoundland and Labrador The Morning Watch: Educational and Social Analysis. Memorial University of Newfoundland, 31 (1-2).
• Murphy, E. & Coffin, G. (2003). Synchronous communication in a web-based senior-high school course: Maximizing affordances and minimizing constraints of the tools. American Journal of Distance Education, 17(4),235-246.Citations
• Murphy,E. (2003). Learning supported by broadband in a Canadian context: Benefits and Challenges. In A. M. Vilas, J.A. Gonzalez & J.M. Gonzalez,(Eds.) Advances in Technology-Based Education: Towards a Knowledge-Based Society. Junta De Extremadura, Consejeria de Educacion, Ciencia y Tecnologia, Vol.1, 273-277.
• Murphy, E. (2000). Strangers in a Strange Land: Teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning French as a second or foreign language in online learning environments. Doctoral dissertation. Québec: Université Laval.Citations

I should also note that she has three pieces that we should be on the look-out for in the coming months.

• Murphy,E. & Rodríguez-Manzanares, M. (accepted). Instant messaging in a context of virtual schooling: Balancing the affordances and challenges Educational Media International.
• Murphy,E. & Rodríguez-Manzanares, M. (accepted.) Contradictions between the virtual and physical high-school classroom: A third generation Activity Theory perspective. British Journal of Educational Technology BJET's online early version
• Murphy,E. & Rodríguez-Manzanares, M. (accepted). Revisiting Transactional Distance Theory in a context of web-based high-school distance education. Journal of Distance Education

I should also recognize at least one Master's thesis that I know of that is available on the Internet that Dr. Murphy led:

Nippard, E. C. (2005). Social presence in the web-based synchronous secondary classroom. Unpublished Thesis. Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL.

Finally, she is involved with three funded research projects that are all either focused on or have elements of K-12 online learning included in them.

• Strengthening the speaking skills of Core French students - SSHRC , Principal investigator, 2006-2007
• Community University Research Alliance: Building communities in the new learning environment - SSHRC, Co-investigator, 2006-2011
• Understanding the practice of the online teacher in the virtual high-school classroom - SSHRC, Principal investigator, 2005-2008

So, let's keep an eye out for more things to come from Dr. Murphy and her students.

Bibliography:

Barker, K., Wendel, T., & Richmond, M. (1999). Linking the literature: School effectiveness and virtual schools. Vancouver, BC: FuturEd. Retrieved July 31, 2005 from http://www.canlearn.ca/planning/pro/support/pdf/ComparingVirtualConventional.pdf

Tags: research, virtual school, cyber school, high school, education

Research - Exploding Online Enrollment & Students' Civic Involvement

This press released article was posted in one of the NACOL forums describing some up-coming or, rather, on-going research.

LU professor interested in 'exploding' enrollment, Survey looks at students' civic involvement

Posted January 7, 2008

LU professor interested in 'exploding' enrollment in online schools

Survey looks at students' civic involvement

By Kathy Walsh Nufer
Post-Crescent staff writer

http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/.../801070511/1979

APPLETON — Lawrence University government professor Arnold Shober wants to learn more about why elementary and secondary students choose online schooling and how it affects their potential for community involvement.

Shober, who has asked the Appleton Area School District for permission to survey students attending Wisconsin Connections Academy, a K-8 virtual school based in the district's Morgan Building, and Appleton eSchool, an online high school based at Appleton East High School, explained his plans to the Board of Education's programs and services panel Friday.

The committee endorsed his idea for board approval later this month.

Shober said he became interested in charter schools as they "exploded" in numbers — 14 this year in Appleton — over the last decade.

"Virtual schools are even more interesting to me because going to school by computer is fairly new, especially at the K-12 level," he said.

His main question, he said, is what the likelihood is that these students will become civically engaged in their communities down the road.

"The stereotype is that they are isolated from the world, but that's not necessarily the case," he said.

Shober said he would like to include Wisconsin Virtual Academy Northern Ozaukee County's virtual school in the survey as well, if possible. Parents of online students also will be surveyed.

Participating in the electronic survey is optional for families.

School board members expressed privacy and confidentiality concerns, which Shober assured them he would deal with. Otherwise they were eager to hear Shober's findings.

"I would like to see the results," said Diane Barkmeier, committee chairwoman.

Kathy Walsh Nufer: 920-993-1000, ext. 290, or knufer@postcrescent.com

As would I... If I come across the results at a later date, I'll definitely post them here.

Tags: research, virtual school, cyber school, high school, education

Virtual Schooling Resources

A colleague of mine, Dr. Catherine Cavanaugh, has created a resource entitled Virtual Schools and K-12 Distance Learning Research References. It is available at:

http://drscavanaugh.org/distlearn/research_references.htm

Take a look and if you think she's missing something, feel free to e-mail her with suggestions.

Tags: research, virtual school, cyber school, high school, education

Rural Context of Virtual Schooling

Okay, I just wanted to post this because I spend a great deal of time talking about the rural nature of virtual schooling and how I see that as my lens through which I look at virtual schooling.

In my particular case, my rural lens has traditionally been focused upon the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. For those of you unfamiliar with this geographic region, I wanted to direct you to a recent online article that I published in the Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy (CJEAP).

Issue Fifty-Nine
February 11, 2007

Portrait of Rural Virtual Schoolingby Michael K. Barbour, University of Georgia (Doctoral Candidate)

Abstract: Over the past two decades, distance education has become a reality of rural schooling in Newfoundland and Labrador. In this article, I provide historical background into the challenges facing rural schools in the province and how distance education was introduced to address that challenge. I also describe how that system of distance education evolved from a system that used the telephone lines and bridging technology to one that uses a combination synchronous and asynchronous system delivered over the Internet. Finally, I examine recent literature concerning the nature of today’s secondary students that would need to avail of this system and relate how this may not be an applicable portrait of youth in rural areas, such as Newfoundland and Labrador.

To download this article in pdf form, click here.

I hope you find this useful in getting a better sense of the lens that I use to look at virtual schooling.

Tags: research, virtual school, cyber school, high school, education, CDLI, Centre for Distance Learning and Innovation, Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador