3.. 2.. 1, Virtual Classrooms!

INTRODUCTION

The number of virtual classrooms is growing each school year across the country.  Recently, Alabama legislature required all schools to offer students the opportunity to receive their high school diploma “entirely in a virtual, or online, environment, beginning in the 2016 - 2017 school year.”  “The goal of the Alabama Access Distance and Blended Learning model is to provide equity through additional high-quality course offerings for all Alabama public high school students” (ACCESS Virtual Learning).   Even with the growth of virtual classrooms, there is much planning that needs to take place before a school system can offer distance learning for students.  

The information posted by the instructors is protected by Copyright laws. These laws are similar to the same copyright laws of text but do have some distinct differences. Copyright laws can be a tricky topic.  Teachers need to remember when posting information found online, give proper credit to the original creator.  It is ok to use the information, just give credit where credit is due.  Is it likely you will get caught if you do not give credit?  Maybe not, but “it has become increasingly likely (especially with the advent of web-crawlers used to search out infringements) that you will” (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015, p. 260).

In order for virtual classes to be successful, there needs to be not only teachers and students but a distance education administrator as well.  This individual’s “responsibility is the matter of readiness - institutional readiness, faculty readiness, and student readiness” (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015, p.280).  

Virtual classes can be a significant benefit to a school system and the students that are enrolled. I created the infographic listed here. The information describes some of the benefits of virtual classes.  As you can see, schools in Alabama have seen the benefits enough to increase the number of courses and school districts that are now offering these courses to their students.  To determine the level of effectiveness, a school system needs to evaluate the program at the conclusion of the course.  The text mentions using the AEIOU approach in evaluating the course.  This approach evaluates the Accountability, Effectiveness, Impact, Organizational Context, and Unanticipated Consequences (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015, p. 313-314).  Courses can be updated each session offered and evaluated at the end of each offering.   

 

Teachers have the opportunity to apply to become a virtual classroom educator.  Each school system/program will have their own application process.  While it is relatively easy for someone to become a virtual classroom educator, it is not the job for everyone.  Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek (2015) mention using the acronym VOCAL to evaluate the educators.  How do systems handle removing an ineffective virtual classroom educator?

Student readiness is also a concern of mine.  Most programs offer a checklist for students to complete before enrolling in a virtual class.  However, if students feel they “need” this option but are not adequately ready for the class, the end results could be disastrous.  What precautions can a distance education administrator set in place to ensure student success?  

With the rapid growth of virtual classroom across the state and nation, what are the chances of each school or school system hiring an instructional educational specialist?  The number of technology directors across the state is large, but will individual schools have the funding provided by the state department to supply the needed resources at each school level similar to the Reading Coach several years ago?


I have the privilege of participating in the eMINTS certification program.  Check out this video from Baldwin County school system on how eMINTS certified instructors and educators are changing the look of education.

EMINTS from Baldwin County Public Schools on Vimeo

Reference

ACCESS Virtual Learning | ACCESS Virtual Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://accessdl.state.al.us/

Baldwin County Public Schools. (2016). https://vimeo.com/165958653EMINTS on Vimeo [Video file].
Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/165958653

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S. E., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and learning at a distance:
Foundations of distance education. Charlotte, North Carolina: Information Age Publishing, Inc.

Google Classroom for Pinecrest

Learning Management Systems (LMS) is nothing new to the world of education.  Before LMS or CMS (Course Management Systems), the world of distance education has been a growing topic. Distance education has been around for 160 plus years (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015, p. 36).  As you can imagine, the route of distance education has changed dramatically.  

Education settings are taking advantage of the numerous LMS and CMS programs that are available.  Many of these are free while others require a fee.  There is a program available to meet the needs of all learners.  Last school year, our system became a Google Apps for Education school.  This summer we are in the process of setting up our Google Classrooms to get ready for our student 1:1 Digital by Design plan.      

Instructional Design

As our teachers are preparing for the 1:1 student Chromebook initiative, they are using the summer to start planning for the school year.  When using an LMS such as Google Classroom, the planning needs to be well thought out and completed ahead in plenty of time to make any needed adjustments.  The text mentions having a focus on visual presentations, activities with interaction, group work, and be prepared for technical problems (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015, p. 130).  Once the Google Classroom is set, this makes a great experience for a flipped classroom.

Teaching

Teachers who love technology will love Google Classroom.  The possibilities are endless. Teachers are able to create multiple classes, invite students to join the class, monitor comments and assignments, and mute trouble makers as needed.  Once the course is complete, the teacher also has the opportunity to save the assignments and reuse (make modifications as needed) for future classes. Teachers can create a test, writing prompts, group assignments, presentations and all can be loaded and saved to Drive.  The use of paper and pencil is greatly reduced.  Just because the teacher has the ability to do so much on Google Classroom doesn’t mean they will. Many of our teachers are nervous about using such a program.  “In any distance learning environment, the technology becomes an element of concern for the instructor.  The instructor must become familiar with the hardware and the nuance of the technology to use them effectively.  The instructor needs to balance concern for the operation of the equipment with effective teaching”.  (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015, p. 137)  I tell my teachers all the time, technology is just another resource, it is not a requirement.  All assignments do not have to use technology, but it sure does make it fun!

Students

One of the cool components of Google Classroom, allows students to join multiple classrooms.  My daughter was part of three different Classroom's last year in the third grade.  Each teacher can set up a classroom and all assignments can be posted online.  Google Classroom can be used on a variety of devices which makes access from home a breeze.  One of the most frustrating parts of teaching is when a student says they forgot to write down the assignment or I left it at home.  With Google Classroom, students can not use that excuse anymore.  

As with any new program, teacher guidance is key to the success of the program.  In order for students to be successful with Google Classroom, the teacher needs to provide ample practice with the program.  This, in turn, will help the teacher become more proficient with the program as well.  I like this phrase (and may borrow it for my teachers), “even though most students come to distance learning situations with vast experience using technology, it is not safe to assume they can transition directly into a course delivered at a distance” (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015, p.176).  This is where instruction and modeling will be most valuable.  

Support Materials

We all know of the one teacher that you just dread telling he/she must use some form of LMS.  I actually have a few in mind already.  These teachers will need more support.  I have found many great resources from Alice Keeler, Tony Vincent, Google +, Ditch the Textbook (Twitter), Ken Shelton, and numerous Pinterest post and Twitter followings.  The resources are widely available.  

Teachers will be focused on their number one job of teaching their content to their students.  When technical issues arise (and they will) they do not need to take away time from instruction to “fix” a computer.  The support I can offer my teachers will be immeasurable when it comes to these issues.  “Instructors need the assurance that students will have a resource to help them if they encounter technical difficulties in accessing course materials or resources”.  (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015, p. 180)

Assessment

Assessments are activities matched to expectations and instruction is then based on assessment plans.  Often times teachers teach to the test. (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015, p. 228)  When using Google Classroom, teachers need to plan how they want students to demonstrate their understanding of the content before they begin the instruction.  This can be a challenge to teachers as they do not think of this step first.  Google Classroom does a great job with the different platforms students can load files to demonstrate their understanding.  The only downside, there is not a true “test” that can be taken and graded.  Teachers can create a test in Google Forms, link the form into Google Classroom and have a PDF of all grades.  Once a test is created, it can be reused multiple times.  All data stays with the original document.  “In any instructional environment, assessment should reinforce course content, provide opportunities to practice newly acquired skills, result in meaningful feedback, and motivate learners to succeed.” (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015, p. 252)

This school year is going to provide ample growth for myself, fellow teachers and our students.  Overall, I am really excited about the possibilities.  I know that we are going to face some challenges but the growth will be pivotal in helping us reach our goal of educating students to be successful 21st-century students. The video takes a fresh look at how Google Classroom is useful for everyone.  

References:
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S. E., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education. Charlotte, North Carolina:     
     Information Age Publishing, Inc.

Distance Learning- the future of education

Online education can no longer be viewed as a trend.  Instead, online education needs to be considered a main component of education.  Online education, I believe, is the education of the near future.  My school system has used several forms of online education in a small sense for several years.  Our high school students used Schoology for many years before changing over to Google Classroom this past fall.  Distance education comes in a variety of forms.  According to the text, distance education can include a wide variety of media including print, telecommunications and both (Simonson, Smaldino, & Zvacek, 2015, p. 9).  Distance education has been used for decades but has evolved to make learning easier and faster through the use of technology.  

The Infographic helps to explain the history of mobile learning.  I find it interesting that they went back to the abacus.  How funny to considered that tool as mobile learning.  To say we have come a long way in mobile and distance education is an understatement.  Online/distance/mobile learning will be amazing in 5 or 10 years.

In the fall of 2012, 69% of chief academic leaders indicated online learning was critical to their long-term strategy and of the 20.6 million students enrolled in higher education, 6.7 million were enrolled in an online course.” (Kentnor, 2015, p. 21).  According to the Accredited Online Schools and College website, in 2016 every state had a college with an online accredited program.  Simonson, Smaldino, Svacek (2015) explained over 30% of college students were enrolled in at least one online course.  Distance education and virtual education is the future of education.  

I had mixed feelings about enrolling in an online program.  While I know I am self-driven, I was nervous about the amount of work that would be required since I would not be participating in class discussions.  Rumor was the online classes were tripled in the amount of work to make up time spent in a classroom.  However, I have found the online classes are right up my ally.  Yes, the program is intense but the benefits of working at my own pace and around my schedule have proven beneficial.  

I do struggle with the limited access to the instructors.  Perfection runs deep in my veins and I want every assignment to be the best.  I also do not want one of my mistakes to hurt team members. Sometimes I feel the limited communication (i.e. delay email, messages or text) can cause confusion.  

Online education may not be for everyone. But for those of us who are busy with life and motivated to learn, this is a great opportunity.  Take a look at the video from CNET.  If you had the opportunity to participate in a class from one of the best professors in the world for free, would you take advantage of the course?

References:

Kentnor, H. (2015). Distance education and the evolution of online learning in the United States.

Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue, 17(1). Retrieved from

http://digitalcommons.du.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=law_facpub

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S. E., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and learning at a distance:

Foundations of distance education. Charlotte, North Carolina: Information Age Publishing, Inc.

Woods, M. (2013, August 20). Is the future of education online? - Video - CNET [Video file]. Retrieved

from https://www.cnet.com/videos/is-the-future-of-education-online/

What's the hype about eLearning days?

 

Maybe I am behind the times, but I had not heard of “eDays” until I viewed the epanel interviews. Within a week of watching the interview, our high school announced they were hosting an eLearning day.  So, I began to research this idea.  What does an eLearning day consist of and how are schools using this to not lose days due to weather issues.

According to the Mountain Brook School web page eLearning day can be defined as “a day in which students receive their classroom instruction electronically.”  Mountain Brook started their eLearning Days in 2015 with scheduled days throughout the school year when teachers had professional development sessions.  Students participated in grade level standard lessons that were linked to their classroom instruction while at home.  Teachers provided these lessons on their classroom/grade level website or through a LMS program.  In Mountain Brook, students are able to use their personal devices at home or visit the local library to complete these assignments.  The teachers develop lessons that flow from their classroom instruction and further develop the content taught.  Many teachers, especially secondary, are using the flipped lesson design when creating these eLearning day lessons.  They want their lessons to be more than just an electronic form of a handout.  

What must the teacher do to prepare for eLearning day ?  Lesson plans are still the same as if the instruction will take place in the classroom.  The teacher needs to take into account access to devices and internet.  If a family is unable to complete the assignments at home, alternative option needs to be available.  The purpose of an eLearning day is not to further separate the “haves” from the “have nots” (Schwartzbeck, 2014).  

Another consideration is for the district to define what “present” looks like.  When assignments are posted, the teacher needs to provide a clear expectations of what present means.  The state department will need to be included in the planning process to make sure the eLearning day is counted as a regular school day.  This will allow schools to give credit for attendance. (Schwartzbeck, 2014)  The district also needs to clearly define what it expects teachers and administration to do during eLearning day.  Do they need to hold “virtual office hours” or participate in a form of chat session?  Do they need to be available for conference calls?  Making clear expectations for everyone involved can cause some challenges in the planning stages.  

“While these obstacles are not insurmountable, it is important that school and district leaders plan e-learning days with precision to ensure that all children can take advantage of the learning opportunities they are given. Similar to a traditional school day, the content must be rigorous, the lessons designed with proper learning objectives in mind, and high-quality learning experiences created. E-learning days shouldn’t simply become forced busy work from home. With proper meaning, a high quality learning experience can occur. “ (Schwartzbeck, 2014)  I love this explanation of planning for eLearning day.  If eLearning day are in our future, planning needs to take top priority to ensure they are used for the benefit of learning for our students.  

When our high school hosted the first eLearning day, parents found out about it the night before.  Students were given the option of coming to school to complete the lessons or staying home.  As you can imagine, this caused numerous issues.  Many parents did not believe the students were being truthful about the news.  Many of the students who may not have had a device chose to not go to school because their friends were not there.  The assignments were not completed.  Needless to say, this eLearning day experience was not as planned and well thought out as needed.  I can see this being a great way for our system to make-up missed time out of the class for the next school year.  Hopefully the planning will come with it.  

What are the benefits of eLearning day’s for students?  The first is students will not lose instruction time.  If the lessons are planned well, students will be able to continue their lessons just while at home.  Second, the students are gaining independent learning skills necessary for college.  Many college classes use a form of LMS.  This would be giving students a taste of what college is like with a little extra guidance from their teachers.  To be honest, this maybe the future of many schools.  So why not start small and see how it goes.  

References:

eDays / Overview. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.mtnbrook.k12.al.us/Page/384

Schwartzbeck, T. (2014). Replacing snow days with E-learning days. Alliance for

Excellence Education. Retrieved from

http://all4ed.org/replacing-snow-days-with-e-learning-days/

Policy in Place

Check out my latest podcast about Acceptable Use Policies and why they are important.  Every school system must have one if they have technology in the school.  What school doesn't have technology, right?

Where do I go for more money?

Who doesn’t like to spend money, especially when it is someone else's money?  When it comes to spending school money, the process can be daunting.  If you’re like me, you tend to balance your school budget a lot closer than your personal account.  When I have a chance to purchase new items, technology or books, I feel like a kid on Christmas morning.  But, what if there is not enough money to purchase what you need?  What are some steps you can take?

Securing funds can be an amazing learning opportunity and major headache at the same time.

I have experience with fundraising and writing small grants.  The grants I have written have been for my school district’s local school foundation.  The grant only required details about what was needed, cost and how it would benefit the students of my school.  Needless to say, these did not take a lot of time in completing.  However, when you begin writing grants for an entire school system, most of the grants are multi-step.  The more experience you have in writing these grants the better the outcome.  

Ron Flan, an expert in grant writing, offers several tips in his article “Tips for Writing a Winning Grant”. He first suggest you make sure the funder is a good source for your needs, make sure you are able to meet the requirements.  Clearly state your outcomes for the grant.  He recommends using the acronym SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-specific).  This reminder makes writing grants a little easier.   The next reminder is to be specific.  When a grant is written too broad, the funder can oftentimes not know what their money will be used for and a little hesitant to give you money.  Another suggestion is to see a variety of sources.  If you have a lot of technology needs, you may need more than one funder to finish the project.  Of course, you need to be realistic in knowing the entire amount needed may not be given.  What do you do when you need more money?

In the text Planning for Technology (2013), some other options for funds can be fundraising, seeking funds from local businesses, reserve textbook money for one school year, working with a local college, parent organizations, or online textbooks (Whitehead, p. 195).  In my school district we have used several of these options for obtaining needed and up-to-date technology. Our school has hosted three different walk-a-thons and raised several thousands of dollars each time.  This school year, the decision was made to not purchase textbooks, but use that money for chromebooks for the entire 4th grade student body.  Our local PTO group has given large amounts of money to our administrators which helped to purchase projectors, bulbs and update many teacher laptops.  

Once you have the funds to purchase needed technology, you need to make sure there is a budget in place.  Even with grant money, a budget is crucial.  Our text provides a Purchasing Pyramid (Whitehead, p. 192).  The only thing I suggest is the pyramid needs to be flipped. Instead of the cost of the item being the main priority a school system needs to take into thought if the technology meets the school’s philosophy of teaching first.  The chart is a great starting point to creating a budget for technology needs.  

While conducting research for this blog, I found a YouTube channel by Grant Writers Association sponsored by the U. S. Department of Education.  Rodney Walker, an expert with Grant Development Systems, provides us with several videos on how to find grants we are eligible for and how to go about completing the grant writing process.  This is an amazing resource for those of us new to the grant writing process.  

Happy Grant Writing!

References:

Education Grants for Schools And School Districts. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/playlistlist=PLj6klb9QetA7ccXFcypA_Dd7gfXDHFuqt

Flavin, R. (2014). Tips for Writing a Winning Grant Proposal. (cover story). Tech Directions,74(1), 18.

Whitehead, B. M., Jensen, D., & Boschee, F. (2013). Planning for technology: A guide for school administrators, technology coordinators,
and curriculum leaders. Thousand oaks: Corwin sage.

Where do I start?

Educators have more demands thrown at them on a daily basis now than educators in the past.  At times, the job can seem overwhelming.  If you are a school leader who has limited knowledge of technology tools, adding something like a blog, website or wiki can often seem like just one more demand.  However, as the 21st century learners continue to fill up every classroom across America, the need for school leaders to use and understand web 2.0 tools is pertinent.  These tools are numerous and many of them are simple in use. The challenge comes in deciding which one is best to meet the creator's needs.

Before choosing the best web tool, one must decide what they want to gain from using such a tool.  Do they simply want to share ideas or have others to contribute to their post?  Developing your Personal Learning Network (PLN) will help as you start your journey using web 2.0 tools.  Many leaders use PLN's to collaborate with lessons, gain knowledge about topics they teach, conduct research, or help to solve problems.  (Schrum, 2015).  

Once the PLN has been created, the source for the web tool needs to be chosen.  Some options that are popular among school leaders include websites, wikis, podcasts, social media, and blogs.  Deciding on the best tool is often a hard decision.  In my journey, I have created a website, expanded my social media outlet to include twitter and created a blog (which you are reading now:).  I will soon be creating a podcast and hope to look more into wikis in the near future.  All have their own pros and cons.  I feel it is important to try out all options to see which you feel meets your needs and style best.

Most school administrators expect school leaders to include the 21st century tools in their classroom.  If a school administrator is not comfortable with these tools, they may not see them as an important component of our instruction and student learning.  In the article Becoming a 21st Century Administrator (2017), the author states that the "21st century administrators should expect teachers to demonstrate how tools like blogs, wikis, Google apps, Twitter, and other social networking and Web 2.0 technologies can be used to support students in meeting the expectations that have been set forth for a 21st century classroom."  I argue, they should use them as well.

For the first time in the history of education, new teachers have grown-up as web 2.0 users.  Stephanie Pinkin writes that she has grown up as a teacher in this era.  Her career has developed to include online learning programs, update emails for parents, online monitoring programs/apps for parents, etc.  She states, " As an educator, one of my favorite ways the web has impacted my professional development is by always encouraging me to innovate my practice."  That is a beautiful thought for a 21st century learner, to have a continuous professional development at your fingertip.

I mentioned several tools earlier and here is a brief description of them.  Websites allow the user to provide a wide variety of information and organize it in a manner they see necessary.  A website is easy to access and manage.  Blogs are a great way to express thoughts and ideas while passing along valuable information.  For busy parents, the blogs may be a little more effort that just reading a summary of facts. Most adults in their 20's or older have a social media account of some sort.  I have found this to be a great way to showcase or provide information about my classroom/school for stakeholders. Podcasts provide a way for school leaders to record and share thoughts through audio.  This is a great resource for audio learners.  Wikis allow groups of people the opportunity to work together and share the findings with others.  This would be a great outlet when trying to create different plans for a school year. As stated earlier, choosing the best web tool is going to be the most difficult challenge.  Once the decision has been made, the school leader needs to use the tool on a regular basis to determine its fullest potential.

References:
"Becoming a 21st Century Administrator" (2017). Retrieved from http://creativeeducator.tech4learning.com/v08/articles/Becoming_a_21st_Century_Administrator

Pinkin, S. (2016). Growing Up as a Teacher in the 'Web 2.0' Era. Education Week Teacher. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2016/09/09/growing-up-as-a-teacher-in-the.html

Schrum, L., & Levin, B.B. (2015). Leading 21st century schools (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.