The "Virus" of Aggression, Malice and Heartlessness

While this blog is still focused on aspects of teaching high school English in the virtual school I felt inspired by a recent film and had to write this, which does relate directly to education. Please enjoy:

This past weekend I was able to sit down, very late at night, and watch the movie I Am Legend. I rarely have time to sit down and watch a movie anymore, much less go to the movies, so I missed this title when it was out in theaters. Having heard all about it from my movie-loving friends, I was excited to watch it, and though I was tired, it kept my interest intact throughout.

While I hear many people discuss the "let down" of an ending and the "cheesiness" of the CGI "monsters," and while I do mostly agree with these things, what I saw as the core theme of the movie was its most engaging and redeeming quality. And, in my eyes, that central theme was one of enduring human love and good will and destruction of aggression, malice and ill-will towards mankind.

You are probably wondering what this has to do with teaching English in the virtual school or education in general, but to me this has everything to do with it. I think part of the job of educators to help promote good will, appreciation, and respect for oneself and others. In my eyes if everyone worked to make the lives of others easier, not harder, then we would all be better off and happier in general. In the movie the main character, played by Will Smith, is the last survivor in New York City following a mass outbreak of a virus that either kills its host or turns them into a hairless, nocturnal, vicious, angry, aggressive and murderous humanoid (or semblance of whatever life-form it was before the virus, such as a dog). Smith's character is among the small minority of people who have immunity to the virus.

Not to ruin it for anyone, but in one scene (the most significant to me) Smith's character explains why he loves Bob Marley and shares a story about how he was like a virologist who sought to eradicate hatred and aggression from mankind through uplifting music intertwined with love and simple pleasures. He shares a story of how Marley was shot in his home two days before he was scheduled to perform a major concert promoting his ideals. He explains that Marley still performed despite his injuries and said it was because "the people who are trying to make the world worse never take a day off. Why should I?" Smith's character says we have to "light up the darkness."

And it is this particular part that I am attempting to connect to teaching, whether it be in virtual
school or the traditional classroom. This is my mission as a person, if I do nothing else in my life I will not promote anger, aggression, hatred, ill-will or violence toward others. As an educator I have to do my part to lead by example and try to show my students how one treats others, what good will looks like and how it is performed. I feel that many teachers don't always treat students well, that they think "these punk, disrespectful kids need to learn a lesson or two" and try to make successfully navigating public education through high school as difficult as possible. I don't think that students have to struggle and suffer to appreciate education or be decent citizens. Should learning be only arduous and laborious? Devoid of humor, understanding and kindness? I think not, then one might turn off students to learning for the sake of learning and damage the likelihood that they will seek out education beyond high school so that they can have a better chance at earning a living wage and being positive members of their respective communities. Students need to be challenged, but we can't lose our ability to empathize and cut students some slack at times. Being uncaring, inflexible and rigid (most of them already have too many of these kinds of people in their lives) never helped win over a student's engagement or appreciation for one's subject area , though some would disagree. Taking this a step further, teachers could teach kindness and compassion even more directly, by making it part of the curriculum. For instance, The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation encourages teachers "to perhaps give them an assignment to do an act of kindness and write about it" or even form a random act of kindness club at the school (see http://www.actsofkindness.org/people/whats_new/news_detail.asp?id=155 for more info).

As teachers we have to be "virologists" like Marley or Smith's character in I Am Legend, and do our part to dole out serums of kindness and understanding in how we teach, work with, and communicate with our students. Hopefully, if we do this adequately enough and consistently enough, then we will help "vaccinate" our students from contracting this virus of anger, hate, and aggression in the future. Then, ideally, they will go on and do the same in their adult lives, making the effect cyclical and perpetual.

If abuse can become a cycle, why not human decency?

References:

Lawrence, F. (Director), Protosevich, M. (Writer) & Goldsman, A. (Writer). (2007).
I am legend. [Motion picture]. United States: Warner Bros. Pictures.

http://www.actsofkindness.org/people/whats_new/news_detail.asp?id=155

Teaching English/Language Arts Online: Still Human

High school English/Language Arts is a broad subject area and teaching it isn't an easy task. Being a high school English teacher, I am all too aware of this. Tying together all of the literacy skills students need to be viable members of society and to achieve in higher education is a balancing act for English/Langauge Arts educators. For example, students in any given classroom come with a broad range of reading, writing, grammar, and general communication skills. Adequately ensuring that all of these students get what they need is a difficult but necessary task. How much time can you spend on literature appreciation and analysis before you need to address other areas? These include oral and written communication skills, business/career applications for language arts, critical thinking, research, visual and media literacy... the list goes on. How do you plug holes and fill gaps before the students leave your class or high school altogether?
So, I say to anyone who thinks of the high school English classroom as a place where one simply reads and talks about classic literature, he or she would typically be mistaken.

But what about the virtual school environment? How does this affect the quality and nature of English/Language Arts instruction. In searching the Internet, I actually didn't find many resources dedicated to this particular area, however, one I did find was worthwhile. In the January 2005 edition of the Christian Science Monitor there appeared an article by a veteran English (and Social Studies) teacher named Melissa Hart who went from teaching in the traditional classroom to that of a virtual school (available at http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0104/p12s01-legn.html ).
Hart begins by briefly discussing a comment she read regarding the inability of the virtual school environment to have a teacher who was inspiring to a student. This she vehemently disagreed with and offers evidence of why a virtual school teacher might do well to reach and inspire students. For example, because her virtual school, like most of them, sees the student as the focus, she writes:

"We offer an extensive questionnaire that evaluates learning styles and pinpoints students' areas of interest. Should a student find a particular lesson less engaging than others in a course, teachers will work with the student to design a more relevant lesson. Such attentiveness to the individual can't help fostering meaningful relationships between students and teachers."

As it pertains to English/Language Arts instruction, while Hart says "there is nothing like the energy and excitement of a group discussion of novel, poem, or essay," she also notes that while teaching said subjects online is different, "pedagogues should look further before they recoil from education via computer."
A primary example Hart offers is of a student who e-mailed her (a common form of teacher-student communication in the virtual school) and asked to do a different assignment than the one originally outlined. Specifically, according to Hart, the student sent this message:

"Dear Ms. Hart,

May I substitute the three-page paper analyzing "The Epic of Gilgamesh" with a different project? Since the story is about friendship, I'd like to film a documentary about a day in my life, and how my best friend's death affected me."

Hart explains that some educators were "aghast" that she decided (and was delighted) to allow this student to complete the suggested alternate assignment rather than the typical analytical essay. But because the story of Gilgamesh (which my own students study) is a Sumerian legend about a man and his devastating loss of his close friend, Hart said the student's "work on this documentary ensures that she'll never forget the Sumerian king and his sorrow, so like her own." Because the class was an online format and because the teacher was only an "e-mail away" as Hart says, it was easy to allow the student to do the alternate, potentially more resonate assignment.

Hart concludes her article admitting that there are times when she is working alone at her computer as a virtual school teacher, grading student work and missing "dynamic classroom debates" and "the pleasure of looking into a student's eyes and seeing a new enthusiasm for literature." Still, she said "neophytes" who think that teaching English/Language Arts, or any subject area for that matter, is a "lesser form of education need to rethink their position."
Just like the traditional school environment, she says she and students communicate daily and "not just about course work but about new puppies, dating dilemmas, and worries about leaving home for college."
She adds: "We develop strong friendships, and I've found myself in the role of mentor too many times to count. Although we've never met face to face, many students keep in contact long after graduation."

To me, Harts words are the "stuff" for teachers and education stakeholders to really consider when thinking about virtual schools. Without humans, technology would serve no purpose. Even though its digital technology that seems inanimate and cold at times, it doesn't do anything unless people make it to do something. I remember from the early 80s learning about how you had to give computers "commands." So, my point is, even with virtual schooling and teaching English online, you aren't taking out the humanity involved in learning about our language and literature. It's just being done in a different way. Think about it, to many people at first the telephone seemed far more impersonal than talking face to face. To some, it must seem difficult to accept a high school English classroom as anything other than a traditional brick and mortar setting where you read the "classics," talk about them and write about them. But compared to the world outside of the classroom, how realistic is this? That time is gone. For some it may have been good, great or just comfortable, but it's gone and that's OK. Let's figure out a way to accept and use current technologies for teaching English and language skills and change for the benefit of today's students, not students from yesteryear that no longer exist.

Reference:
Hart, M. (2005). In virtual school, teacher is just an e-mail away. Christian Science Monitor. Jan. 4, 2005 [Accessed March 30, 2008] Available at:http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0104/p12s01-legn.html

Accountability for the Virtual Teacher

So, having read the blog to this point, you might think that teaching online is a fairly attractive proposition with less detractors than the traditional classroom, coupled with the potential for meaningful, engaging learning focused firmly on the students. Well, in many cases I'd agree, but there is still the issue of accountability. Just because it's a virtual classroom doesn't mean the teachers aren't held to a performance standard for their teaching. As there is in the traditional school, virtual school teachers also have accountability standards they must meet or they will be under more direct supervision and training in order to prevent them from falling into the abyss of ineffective teaching,or being forced to leave the profession altogether. I, for one, believe it is necessary for these accountability standards to exist, for the benefit of the students and ensuring quality pedagogy for the school.

In talking to my virtual school host English teacher, she explained that her particular virtual school, there is an expectation to meet certain learning standards, but they aren't as rigorous as those of most traditional schools. For example, while she isn't expected to make sure her Senior students pass state standardized test re-takes if they haven't already, there is a need to ensure basic literacy skills and to enhance their critical reading ability. Because much of the work done in the virtual school's Senior English course is independent, she said it is important that the students have a reasonable level of reading comprehension and critical thinking skills. If a student is deficient in these areas, this is where the need for tutoring would come in, and often does. Additionally, to make sure that the students are learning the course materials and meeting learning standards, she said there is a pre and post test for the class that every student must complete. Again, because of this test is online, delivering, accessing, storing, viewing, and analyzing this data is far more efficient and secure than that of the digital classroom.

What is most startling to me, and must seem like a revelation to many traditional school teachers, state standardized testing and the students' performance on these tests do not weigh heavily over the heads of the educators in the virtual school, at least not this one (and yes, I see the light from the heavens too). Still, there are numbers, benchmarks the teachers are expected to meet. My host teacher said the primary one is that each teacher in her virtual school is expected to have an 85 percent yield for students, meaning 85 percent of those enrolled in the class will successfully complete the class with a grade of "C" or higher. The onus is on the teacher to see that this happens.

"That’s were all the literacy checks come in, individual tutoring, peer coaching, etcetera," she said. "That's where the teacher, and skills, and tools the teacher are supposed to use ensure that success for the student."

Now, how many teachers hit that 85 percent mark? Well, she said primarily, to her knowledge, most of the teachers in her virtual school average around 90 percent, above the expected cutoff. Though, she said, there are courses that these numbers don't hold true for.

What happens when the teachers fall below 85 percent? She said during the first six months that a teacher does not meet their yield, they are put on a professional development program track which is for both new and veteran teachers who might need to improve their teaching. In her experience, she said, the teachers who do not meet 85 percent are usually those who are "barely keeping their head above water," just surviving as teachers.

When asked what she felt was most important to ensure teacher success and meeting of accountability standards in the virtual school, my host teacher said that it is "communication," which includes communicating with schools, students, parents, guidance counselors, and colleagues. She said she believes this is also true in the traditional school. However, because there is less bureaucracy in the virtual school, she said communication is often more effective: "We don't have those big gaps. We can just call somebody...We aren't tied up as much by red tape."

In thinking on this, I realize that accountability for teachers in the virtual school isn't that different than that of the traditional school, in theory. What I mean my that is that there are standards that do exist, but the teacher seems to be able to address them more effectively in the virtual school, particularly in not having to deal with bureaucracy found in many traditional schools. Further, the pressure to contribute to the school's overall success on a standardized test is not as much of a concern. Rather than student performance on a state test being the end-all, be-all of a teacher's success, their ability to help students successfully navigate course curriculum is the main focus. To me, this is a much more reasonable, beneficial standard and measurement for performance for both teachers and students.

In searching the Internet for some additional resources relating to virtual schools' accountability I came across this site: http://www.k12.com/press__policy/facts_about_k12_public_virtual_schools/index.html
There one can find easy-to-use information regarding facts and answers to frequently asked questions regarding virtual schools in general and their standards for student and teacher performance.
For example, according to the site:

What about academics and accountability?
Public virtual schools are similar to traditional “bricks and mortar” schools in many ways, including academic services and accountability requirements:

• Teachers are responsible for overseeing and managing student learning, and ensuring that students are meeting all academic progress and accountability requirements.
• All students must participate in state assessment tests.
• All students must meet attendance requirements.
• The schools are subject to federal AYP goals under No Child Left Behind.
• The schools use an established curriculum that consists of thousands of lessons in the core subjects of Math, Language Arts/English, History, Science, Art, and Music. The curriculum aligns with state standards.
• Any eligible student may enroll, regardless of income, race, academic ability, special needs, etc.
• Special education needs, IEPs, and other related services are identified and met by school’s special education staff.
• Schools are subject to audits, and state reporting is mandatory.

Reference:
http://www.k12.com/press__policy/facts_about_k12_public_virtual_schools/index.html

The Virtual Educator

Well, the logistics of this process have been more difficult than I originally imagined. Earlier this week, I attempted to observe a virtual school teacher and their interaction with students via three way calling. However, the host teacher I am working with was unable to use three-way conferencing with me on the line. Currently, she said this virtual school's teachers use broadband-based phone service and that it had recently crashed, but that the features hadn't all been restored at that point. Additionally, because she is working mostly with high school Seniors, the students don't often make set appointments to work online or over the phone with the teacher. She basically catches them when she can and this can be all hours.

Still, this hasn't derailed me at all, and I still plan to observe teacher-student interaction first-hand by the end of the week. Further, this has given me an opportunity to talk to the virtual school teacher I'm working with and find out more about the unique working conditions, both with logistics and pedagogy. For me, revelations continue to be had.

My host teacher has spent much of the week attempting to "track down" students who haven't been working adequately in their online English course and are in danger of not graduating for failure to complete their fourth English credit. She said in this case, the phone and e-mails are the primary method of contact, but noted that as it pertains to this issue the traditional school teachers "have one up on us, because you actually see them." With the virtual school, she said it is often necessary to employ the help of the school-based guidance counselor to help locate and communicate with the student. Although the middle school virtual school students often make set appointments to work with their teacher, with the older students, she said "we are at the mercy of their schedule" and only tutoring is usually made by appointment for students who are having trouble completing assignments independently.

There were many other unique traits of being a virtual school teacher I discovered through conversations with my host teacher, but some of those that were most interesting to me are as follows:

- This particular virtual school's teachers don't have a union. While many traditional schools' teachers are union members, often for personal protection for job security and to have a unified voice in negotiations and legislative issues, it isn't common in the virtual school environment apparently.

- Because the teachers don't have direct physical contact with the students and the students aren't meeting as a class, often the hostility or escalation of emotion that can come with attempting to discipline some students isn't an issue. Though it doesn't happen often, she said the only issue there is perhaps the need for a virtual school teacher to report child abuse, having been confided in or otherwise discovering it through working with the student.

- Most virtual school teachers work in blocks of 2-3 hours and take breaks in between. In this particular virtual school, the teachers must be available to students 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Sunday. Because the teachers are expected to return assignments within 48 hours and return communication within 24, the teachers must work just as hard or harder than their traditional school counterpart in order to keep up with grading and communication.

- The virtual school teacher has a lead teacher for their subject area, a primary instructional leader for the subject area and then a learning community leader, much like a principal. In general, there is less bureaucracy.

- Many of the issues with student attendance and credit completion that face the traditional school are seen in the virtual school, such as teen pregnancy, students who don't complete work or "attend" classes. The host teacher says she has had about five students this year who have had babies. Often, she said, these students aren't heard from again and don't complete their coursework once the child is born.

Researching the currently available scholarship on virtual teaching and learning, I found the book E-Moderating: The Key to Teaching and Learning Online by Gilly Salmon. I've come across Salmon's work before in readings on virtual learning and disagreed with his assessment that new technology only does the same thing as old technology, only more efficiently. Still, what I discovered in this book was worthwhile. Primarily he discusses the new role of the teacher in virtual schooling, moving from being the center of knowledge in many classrooms to becoming an electronic moderator, or e-moderator, who helps to guide students on their own learning journey. Salmon says these moderators need new skills, attitude and knowledge in order to be
successful in the virtual classroom. The primary idea is that these people are more attuned to the process of coaching and presiding over student learning, engaging students in their own knowledge construction rather than traditional transmission teaching. It's essentially taking the constructivist classroom model and taking it a step farther with digital tools, making it even less teacher-centered.
Salmon explains that "the essential role of the e-moderator is promoting human interaction and
communication through the modeling, conveying and building of knowledge and skills" (p. 4). and that the e-moderator/teacher does so by "using the mediation of online environments designed for interaction and collaboration."

In continuing to study the role of the virtual school teacher, I'm still met with constant surprises and a slew of emerging questions. One that really sticks with me regularly though is this: Is online teaching and learning the future of education? And if so, who are the teachers of the future?

Basically, I guess it all comes down to changing paradigms. Despite rapid change in technology over the past three decades, teaching in many places is still largely teacher-centered and transmission based, with more constructivist classrooms cropping up in more areas, particularly in elementary grades. But if online learning continues to develop and gain widespread legitimacy, or maybe even seen as superior someday, it could change the entire landscape of the public school system as we know it. This might sound far-fetched, but I believe that virtual teaching and learning have already altered higher education, particularly in the world of advanced degrees that were previously impossible to obtain outside of attending a traditional classroom regularly. This I can personally attest to.

References
Salmon, G. (2004). E-Moderating: The key to teaching and learning online. 2nd Ed. RoutledgeFarmer: London.

Teacher Conference - Part Two

Following up on my last post, I wanted to continue discussing what I gleaned from an online session with my host virtual school high school (Seniors) English teacher. However, I wanted to focus in this iteration specifically on issues relating to English/Language Arts instruction.

When working online with the host teacher, and looking through actual student work, I found that much of the students' responses to readings and other written assignments were quite thorough. Even when the prompt or question specified two paragraphs, many of the students wrote far more. In my own classroom, many of my students are reluctant writers and will do only the bare minimum, and some even fall short of that. However, in the case of the virtual school English class, the teacher said it seems that because it is computer-based and the students type their responses, many tend to write more thoroughly than they would if they were using pen/pencil and paper. Still, she said toward the end of their 16-week semester, many of the students start to type less and try to get by doing the bare minimum required by the assignment, "just to be finished." Overall, though, I believe that because students are typing on a computer for their "written" work in a virtual school, it is a more engaging format and far less tedious. It is something they already do with e-mails, blogs, personal pages, etc., so it has a built in familiarity with less detractors. They might forget they are doing "work."

But with all the text required for reading and responding in a virtual school class, this still presents difficulties for some students, particularly thos who are categorized as English as second language learners (ESOL). The teacher said these students often have to be treated as struggling readers would because their deficiencies are mostly the same as it pertains to interpreting and communicating in English. With these students, she said she is able to work with them in individual sessions to help build their English reading and writing skills. But in her five years with the virtual school, she has only had about five ESOL students. In the traditional classroom I have found it difficult to find time or design the class lessons in a way were I can work with an ESOL student in individual sessions often. I think the set-up of the virtual school is more beneficial for these students receiving the differentiated instruction they need because a teacher primarily works with one student at a time, rather than managing a whole class on a regular basis.

Further, for students who might have learning disabilities or other special needs and might have an IEP (individual education plan) the accommodations featured on their plan are mostly already met by the virtual school setting, such as more time to finish assignments or tests, for instance. Because of this, the teacher said that IEPs are mostly a "non-issue" in the virtual school English class. In my experience this is not so in the traditional school classroom, where high school English teachers must be careful to ensure that these accommodations are being met for particular students. Often though, if these teachers refer back to the IEPs, they must go to a file in a filing cabinet because the IEPs are often kept secure for confidentiality reasons. Having this information available in a computer database would seem far more efficient, however, for both teacher and student.

Again, focusing solely on English instruction in the virtual school compared to traditional school, I find that the oral component is highly beneficial. It is something that I didn't consider to be part of the virtual school experience before I began this foray into an actual virtual classroom. In the class every student must respond to the teachers questions orally, as a way to ensure academic integrity and ensure student learning. In the case of the traditional school, particularly in a Senior English class, I know that it is difficult to get every student to verbally respond as an assessment. You might have a few students do so and you can call on each, but this can be tedious. With the virtual school it is a requirement for every student and you aren't limited by a specific class period to do so.

Primarily, what I've determined thus far regarding high school English instruction in the virtual classroom, is that in many cases the instruction can be just as engaging and substantial as the traditional classroom, if not more so. Particularly, I like the idea of having students responsible for oral components in each class module, the built-in benefits provided to students who might have learning difficulties, and the inherent engagement of the computer-based format and its seeming effect on the quality and breadth of student written work. In my next blog I should be able to comment on observations of actual student/teacher interaction.

I am looking forward to finding out what that experience might further reveal about being a virtual school English teacher.

Teacher Conference - Part One

Every year I have Senior English students who want to avoid our school's Senior Project and, of those, many of those go to a virtual school. After they're gone, I have no idea what they're doing and what sort of English instruction they're receiving. I am ignorant no more.

Today I met online with my virtual school host teacher, who teaches the same grade level and much of the same curriculum that I do. As we met in her "virtual office" via Elluminate, she "walked" me through the front end of the course that the students see and interact with as well as the data screens she uses and sees from the teachers end.
Because it was a lot to digest and my notes were lengthy, I will be breaking up this meeting into two separate blogs. This first one will focus on my revelations about teaching a virtual high school class in general, both in terms of content specific issues and pedagogy.

As we began our meeting, something that immediately captured my interest was the fact that the students had many resources for researching college and tech training options, both general and specific. The students seemed to be encourage to look at college in a real way and make it a legitimate consideration regardless of their family's educational history or finances, whereas in my experiences with traditional schools (particularly in rural areas), some of the students don't have and have never had any plans to attend college or even imagined that they could. In my school generally those who are in Honors courses are on the "college track." It seems the virtual school, having all the students grouped into one curriculum (and has Honors work as an additional option), they've been able to avoid this negative, in my eyes, delineation.

In terms of day-to-day teaching issues, the teacher explained that when students interact and complete assignments that involving responding to each other, there are issues similar to that of of any high school classroom. She said the teacher has to make sure that all interactions are appropriate and aren't "rude." For example, she said that one student rather than submit his personal response to an assignment, he submitted a link to his MySpace page, which then linked to a pornography site! Now, this was a unique occurrence, but one can see how you have to maintain proper order and the sanctity of the learning in the "classroom," virtual or not. Along those same lines, she said academic integrity is also a regular issue. Like a traditional classroom, she said the teacher quickly learns a student's writing style and can tell when the work they submit is not their own.
Additionally, in order to maintain academic integrity and find out if a student really has done the work, every learning module (which is how the class is set up), has an oral component where the teacher can ask specific questions and ensure the student's learning was authentic ("If they can't answer simple questions, then you know they didn't do it," she said). For instance, the teacher shared that one particular student had submitted wonderful reading response journals for the novel A Perfect Storm, but during the oral component she asked him what role "Andrea Gale" played in the story. She said he responded that "she was really nice to all of the people and did a good job taking care of them." The Andrea Gale is not a character, however, but the name of a fishing boat where much of the story's action takes place. Obviously, this student was busted and he confessed.

In this particular virtual school, when the students are found to have cheated or plagiarized, she said that in some cases the teacher suspends the student from the course, just as a student might be suspended from a traditional school. Further, if students simply don't do the work they are withdrawn with a failing grade. As far is as student progress and tracking are concerned, she showed me a page the teacher has access to which features all of the active students names, phone numbers, grades, course progress and other relevant information. It also flags some of the data in red to show that either the student has not submitted assignments recently or if the teacher hasn't made contact with that student in a while. There are myriad tools available to the teacher for student tracking and record keeping that are more efficient than traditional schools, but I will address that more in depth in a later blog.

One particular aspect of the virtual classroom that I find extremely intriguing, and perhaps highly attractive to many teachers, is the fact that the curriculum and course materials are already designed. Because of this the teachers never submit a lesson plan. Instead their focus is more attuned to the student and their needs, being a mentor or coach for helping the student through the class and supplementing their learning wherever necessary. I think simply not having to spend so much time developing plans and learning activities frees up more time and energy to give to the student. Also, for those who believe more in the efficacy of the constructivist classroom, the set up of this particular virtual school would seem to be a good fit.

In all, I am trying to wade through all of the information I gleaned from my first online session with a virtual school English teacher, and what I've shared so far is just a smidgen. I am sure I will have much more to share soon, and more questions will quickly emerge. But I can say with confidence thus far that the virtual school, while I'm sure it does have its shortcomings, addresses many of the issues that are detractors in traditional schools, or at least deals with them effectively in most cases.
Unfortunately, because of the holiday weekend I was not able to watch the teacher interact with a student in an actual teaching session, however, she does have some of this work scheduled for Monday and I will be observing at that time.
My next blog will be part two of today's session, and will focus on issues related directly to English instruction in the virtual classroom and its unique elements. Check back tomorrow for that and thanks for reading.

Exploring High School English Online

Today I was able to sit down and enter the online interface of an actual virtual school Senior English class. This was just hours after I had received a memo from our school principal regarding budget cuts and measures we are to take "immediately" to help reduce operating costs. Among those items were two that caught my immediate interest, they were "shut off computers when not in use" and "limit copies to tests/exams only." Because I live and work in Florida, where the state revenue has been sharply decreased by the economic downturn and because of a property tax "relief" plan that saves the average homeowner $20 per month, but costs state-funded organizations, services and local governments millions, our school district's budget is seeing over $800,000 less this next fiscal year.

It may seem odd that I digress into our budget "crisis," but it framed my thinking while interacting with the online course. While exploring the curriculum, materials, links, and resources, including real-time chat, I found myself contemplating how efficient it was. All of the text, graphics, resources, are digitally produced. I don't know too much about operating costs for each of the courses and the virtual school's overall budget for overhead, but I have to figure that it is cheaper than what many of the costs are for traditional schooling. The students in the class have immediate access to all of the resources they need to complete the work without it going anywhere near a Xerox machine (score one for teachers and students). I'm sure the teachers aren't told that they can't print and copy resources that aren't tests or exams.

The exams and tests are all Web-based and can be taken via point, click and type, and provide immediate feedback for both the student and teachers. There is no tedious hours of grading manually, fumbling with papers, flipping pages, referring to a key, organizing and filing stacks, and on and on. For standard assessments in particular to me it seems that the virtual school's method of record keeping is safer, more secure and far more efficient for all parties involved.

Now, going back to my earlier point regarding turning off computers when not in use at my school struck me as meaning that they are extraneous items at our school. I feel like if more instruction is to include interacting and learning with technology regularly, as it should, there is nary a time the computers should be turned off, save overnight I suppose. But then there is the need for teachers to come in each day and reboot their computers and those that the students might use. How much power does a computer use in sleep mode anyway? Again, exploring the virtual school class made me think about how the computer is a primary tool for learning, not the physical structures that cost so much to construct, operate and maintain. How much cheaper would it be to build more computer labs and instead of more traditional class space to "stick bodies"? My school doesn't even currently have a computer lab open to all teachers, and no, we don't have laptops for student use instead.

Finally, I took my time to explore the curriculum of the virtual school's Senior English class, and compared to that of my own school. There were many similarities, however, the virtual class did many of the things I have expressed an interest in adding to our own school's official curriculum, some of which I do on my own, regardless of our "scope and sequence." What I liked best about the virtual school's curriculum was its relevance to the outside world after high school graduation. It has the student's explore desirable job skills, look at the military, colleges, and career training options, and a brief Senior Project, not the punishing year-long version some of the instructors at my school hold on to with fitful fervor. This was mixed in with the traditional literature studies and grammar and writing skills.

Interestingly, I found that Honors coursework was available for students who desired to take on additional work and wanted to challenge themselves further, but otherwise the students were all in the same class together and were asked in many assignments to respond to the work of their classmates. This is much different from the system of Honors, AP and Regular course levels offered in my traditional school, which is often socioeconomically derivative and perpetuated.

Overall, I was impressed with the quality and breadth of the virtual school's interface and curriculum, however, I could see how students could easily get behind who weren't self-motivated. Additionally, I was especially glad to see that differentiated instruction was available and liked how most of the course topics had lead-in assignments that helped to build background knowledge and frame thinking. Further, alternative and traditional assessments were present, as well as enrichment activities that might further enhance student learning. The only thing I found to be perhaps in need of revision, in my opinion, is that some of the questions for discussion groups were too simplistic, but I suppose that might be intentional to allow students to have a more open range of responses with and amongst each other.

My initial impression of this online virtual school high school English class is obviously positive, however, I still have yet to see how students interact in real-time with each other and their teacher, in addition to reading and viewing their actual submitted work. That will come next. Check back to find out about that experience. Different blog time, same blog channel.

Some applicable data

Considering my previous post, I sought out a facts-based study of a virtual school program. In short I was looking for some data to go with my anecdotal reports of conversations with students who had taken classes online.
I happened across a study of a Texas Virtual School Pilot conducted in 2001.
Here's a brief introduction of the study and its impetus (available at: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/technology/publications/ecavlp.htm#eb):

"In 2001, the Texas Legislature directed the Texas Commissioner of Education to gather needed information on the quickly expanding world of electronic courses and virtual learning. In order to gather data to support recommendations that enable high-quality online learning and potential state funding for these courses, the Legislature passed Senate Bill (SB) 975 in 2001. This legislation called for the commissioner to establish a program to examine the state policies, requirements and restrictions that impact districts and charter schools offering electronic courses to local students who are not physically present for all or part of these courses.

To implement SB 975, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) established and administered the Virtual School Pilot (VSP) during the 2001-02 school year. Twenty-four charter schools and school districts participated in this first year pilot. The pilot is continuing during the 2002-03 school year with 23 participants. The same legislation also mandated the commissioner to prepare a report about the program. A study of the VSP was conducted between August 2001 and November 2002 to gather data and prepare this report."

I won't bore you with all of the rationale and details of the methodology, but what I found to be most worthwhile, and met my purposes, were the statistics regarding characteristics of successful and unsuccessful students (those who completed the courses and those who failed).

This was the data from the study:

Exhibit 11
Characteristics of Successful and Unsuccessful Students

Characteristics	# of Responses	Percentage of Total Survey Respondents*
Students Likely to Succeed in Virtual Courses
Self-directed and disciplined	10	71.4%
Organized	7	50.0%
Other (independent learners, overachievers, exceptional communication skills)	6	42.9%
Technologically sophisticated	5	35.7%
Students Likely to Fail Virtual Courses
Not self-directed, lack discipline	14	100.0%
Disorganized	10	71.4%
Limited technology skills	4	28.6%
Need social interaction	2	14.3%
Source: 2001-02 TEA Study of Electronic Courses and Virtual Learning Programs surveys * Note: Percentages will not add to 100 because there were multiple responses to the question.

Notice that being self-directed and disciplined was tops among the characteristics that students thought were most likely to contribute to success in virtual school classes. Next, was organization, followed by "other," which included multiple responses, and technology skills bringing up the rear. What was striking to me is that 100 percent of respondents stated that lacking self-discipline and direction contributed to failure. Notably, last were students who responded that failure was often caused by a need for social interaction. The aspect of social interaction in virtual schooling is something I would like to explore more in the future.

At any rate, while this study did provide me with some considerations as it pertains to student success in virtual schooling, the breadth of the study was relatively small, which I am stating because of the low number of respondents (see the table for more information).

But I was glad to see that the authors of the studied realized their data was not enough to make a sufficient determination on the efficacy of their virtual school pilot and why students might succeed or fail and the overall educational benefit of this type of instructional delivery.

From the conclusion, note the following:

"1. Are electronic courses and virtual learning educationally beneficial?

The Study Team was unable to determine the unique educational benefits of electronic courses due to the lack of adequate information regarding course completion and course performance.

According to reports and studies in other states, the potential of online courses to benefit students educationally and to improve student performance is promising. VSP pilot participants, regardless of their school size or location, believe that students will have access to a wider number of courses through electronic and online delivery. Small and rural school districts may gain access to highly qualified teachers who are not available locally through electronic courses. VSP programs may provide an additional opportunity for at-risk students who have not been successful in traditional settings."

The latter paragraph above seems to be consistent with what I've found so far, that many education stakeholders have high hopes for the potential of virtual schooling because of all the benefits it might have for servicing ALL students. Establishing equality the public education system has always been a challenge, for multiple reasons (cultural, geographical, etc.), but maybe virtual school is a powerful contributor to overcoming this issue. However, there is the digital divide. And what of that and its effect on access to virtual schooling, especially on a full-time basis?

References:
Surles, S., Gibson, G., Redden, K., Scarbrough, D., Speer, B., Clark, C. & Fletcher, G. (2001). A study of the Texas virtual school pilot. Retrieved March 15, 2008. Available from: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/technology/publications/ecavlp.htm#eb

A Little Further

How ironic. The same week that I begin a look at virtual schooling I run into two students who have taken or are taking high school classes online, and their opinions represent two opposite ends of the spectrum. Additionally, both conversations regarding virtual school were unsolicited. They just happened. I'm not too big on fate, but that had to mean something.

In the first instance, I was talking one of my soccer players I coached this past year and in previous seasons. He had talked about missing school last year because of an extended illness and having to sign up for virtual school so he wouldn't get behind in credits. His synoptic view of the experience? That he prefers the traditional classroom because there is a teacher there in person explaining concepts/ideas directly. Now, he did acknowledge that he could see why some people held virtual school in high regard, but he said for him it didn't match his learning style or personal level of motivation. He said he did better when a teacher helped to guide him. This is understandable, I can see how some students might need an ever-present motivator for learning. Some of my own students are those who have to be regularly encouraged to stay focused on learning activities.

Then, not three hours later, I went into a local business where one of my previous students works. While he was in my class earlier this year, he went to an online class so he could participate in a work study program. Without me even asking him, he proceeded to talk to me about how he was doing in his virtual school class. He said for him it has been great to have the flexibility of being able to work when his schedule allows and to work ahead if he wants to, which he mostly has. Further, he said his teacher was very responsive and understanding and felt like his learning in the class so far was quite worthwhile. At the moment, he said, he was in the process of reading a novel and noted he was a slow reader. This was slowing him down a bit, he said, but added that he was glad for being able to get ahead previously, because he could now work at his own pace without getting behind in the work.
This made me realize that virtual schooling does in fact fit many students because it helps the student tailor the learning to their needs and styles. By it's very nature, it seems to be more flexible than traditional classrooms.

Going a bit further with this information I found a blog at Distance-Educator.com entitled "Knowing how to learn at a distance" (available at http://www.distance-educator.com/blog/saba/?p=4 ).
The blogger, who goes by Saba, writes about what distance learners might need to do: "The distance learner, perhaps more than any other learner, needs to rely on his/her own ability to learn. In the absence of an immediate support group of peers, tutors and instructors the distance learner has to know how s/he learns, and be able to manage her ability to learn."
Saba refers to "metacognition," which is a word thrown around quite a bit in schools these days, but basically means thinking about one's thinking. At least, that's the definition I've been given in at least three workshops/prof. development sessions.

As it relates to virtual schooling, however, this does make sense. In order for one to be their most successful at online learning, where the onus for learning is more firmly planted on the student, one needs to understand how they learn and what methods they might employ so that they can take charge of their learning experience. That is, if virtual schooling is to offer one more flexibility in pacing and depth of learning, but the teacher is not physically present to provide regular prodding, the student needs to be able to know what to do in order to gain knowledge and understanding from the curriculum, as well as when to seek out further assistance.

Just as EQ (or emotional quotient) was brought about to describe possessing a high (or low) emotional awareness, metacognition is kind of a new IQ, (maybe MQ?) whereby a student is aware of how he/she learns and applies this information effectively. For individuals this could include the knowledge of whether virtual schooling is a good personal fit, or not.

Virtual Schooling - A New View

I distinctly remembering watching some lame late afternoon TV re-runs as a child on a regional channel with no network affiliation. It was probably "Mama's Family" or something I never saw outside of syndication. The commercials were typically the same each day. There were ads for things like Chia pets, The Clapper (clap on, clap off!), or the latest household cleaning device ("Bah-ling! Good as new!"). Another common commercial was for distance education, specifically correspondence courses. I can still hear the spokesmodel's voice: "Want to train for a new exciting career from the comfort of home? What to earn your high school diploma? Start learning by mail today and we'll send you all the materials you need to change your life...welding...pharmacy technician...underwater basket weaving...paralegal...blah, blah, blah..."
Having parents who both went to college for four years or more (the first in their families to do so) I had my ideas about the quality of "distance learning" and it were not good y'all.

So, there it is. That was my opinion for years. I can admit it. Even though I completed my undergraduate studies in the year 2000, having been privy to the introduction of online college and K-12 classes, I continued to think that the quality of distance learning, and thus the subsequent knowledge of the student, was second rate at best. "How much could you learn outside of the brick and mortar classroom?," I thought. Distance education went against all of the iconic ideas I had held about education for my entire life, every movie I ever saw (Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School anyone?), everything I had experienced and had been told. I thought that getting an online degree was mostly just paying for an educational status that was incongruent with how much usable information one actually had in that field. But, honestly, I really had no authentic first-hand experience on which to base my opinions, other than those cheesy childhood commercials.

Now I am a third-year teacher (having previously been a newspaper reporter) and a graduate student in a Master's program at a major university. And the method of instructional delivery? Online. The major? Education, focusing on Curriculum and Instruction. Gasp! What? The same person who turned their nose up as an undergraduate to distance education? Yes, the same.

Well, let me explain. I have a very busy, full time job as a teacher and coach, a mortgage, various other bills and a family to help support. There was no other way to do an advanced degree other than through distance education for the flexibility it affords. Now, after taking several courses and experiencing what distance education can be myself, my ideology has changed completely.
Now, I'm not going to say that those mail-order learning "programs" of yesteryear were really worthwhile, but I will acknowledge that anyone who still holds a negative view of the potential of distance education is as misguided as I was. The change in quality is all about advances in technology and in societal norms as a result.
The Internet and, in particular, high-speed access, have revolutionized what is possible. Throw in some very creative companies that created endlessly versatile, user-friendly content delivery programs and you have instruction and learning that go way beyond what many ever imagined possible with computers, or in distance education for that matter.

Now, I know there are many terms...E-learning, digital classrooms, distance education, etc. and various definitions for each, but what I like best is what this blog will focus on, and that is virtual school. I say that because it is "virtual" in that it is not a brick and mortar classroom, so you are in class virtually via a digital interface, but it is "school" in that there is real learning taking place. There is a curriculum, there are professional instructors, there is support staff, and there are administrators overseeing it all. There is a community of learners. A real community. One that is richer in some cases than what you'll find in any traditional school. Virtual as it may be, none of it runs or has a purpose without the influence of humans, for humans and by humans.

Having spent some time reading about the nature of virtual learning I've realized there may be primarily four camps of thought on the subject: 1) Those who are blindly convinced it is the one and only future of education; 2) Those who feel that it has great potential in the realm of teaching and learning and want to study it in a meaningful way; 3) Those who are skeptical about its benefits and see it as secondary to brick and mortar schooling, and 4) Those who are convinced it is worthless and of the devil, so to speak.
I suppose I would categorize myself as a number two, but a former number 3 among my own classifications. And I'm not the only person who has started to see its potential.

According to the National Education Association, of which I am a proud member, this is its official current stance on online learning:

"Over the last two decades, America's schools have embraced tools that allow students to learn without the limitations of time and place.

Satellite, microwave, cable, and broadcast TV first gave students access to courses not otherwise available in their home schools. More recently, multimedia Internet-based technologies have provided even more powerful options for teaching and learning at a distance. With virtually all schools now linked to the Internet, a growing number of states, districts, and individual schools are adopting online courses to expand their curricula.

Online courses make sense. Not only do they expand the range of offerings to all students but they also are a boon to special populations such as homebound, incarcerated, and other non-traditional students. In addition, they provide an alternative method of instruction, one that adults too are using for their own professional and personal development."

To me, the NEA's statements are all ones of relative fact. Virtual schooling transcends geography, schedules, family life, transportation, etc., etc. Now, while I don't think distance education will ever completely replace traditional schools, I do think it has not even come close to realizing its full potential or popularity. Its benefits for the general population are too great to ignore.

As I go forward into my own personal study of virtual schooling, which will involve observing a real high-school English class (Seniors) through a state-run virtual school, I plan to expand my own working knowledge and expertise in the field. I am completely open to the experience and readily accept that I must be willing to alter or completely change my viewpoints based on the evidence presented to me, provided it is based on sound, legitimate research and careful study. I hope to be a part of that process and in developing the canonical knowledge of what it means to be virtually "schooled," specifically as it relates to high school language arts education. I understand that I have a lot to learn.

Reference:
National Education Association. Online learning. Retrieved March 12, 2008. Available at: http://www.nea.org/technology/onlinelearning.html

The Blogger

Don't criticize the picture. My four-year-old daughter took it. You wouldn't criticize a little girl, would you? That's primarily categorized under "Things That Aren't Right." At any rate, this picture reminds me to see things from the perspective of others. To my daughter, this must be what I look like a good part of the time. Scary.