1. DL Quality Review

2. 1919 to 2014- Ninety + years of
growth!

3. Policy, Legislation
Funding
Delivery - Quality services
to students
Coordination of Technology and
Support Structures
Ministry
School Boards
School District No 73 Business Company
The Partnership

4. DL will mean quality education
Any student can access DL
Any student can enrol anytime throughout the year
Choice to take courses from anywhere: even more than
one school/board/authority
2013-14: Agreements with 46 Boards of Education.
56 Public and 17 Independent DL schools
Characteristics

5. Public DL Enrolments: FTEs
0.00
2,000.00
4,000.00
6,000.00
8,000.00
10,000.00
12,000.00
14,000.00
16,000.00
2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013
Sept FTE Count
Feb FTE Count
May FTE Count
TOTAL FTE

6. Public DL Enrolments: Headcount
0.00
20,000.00
40,000.00
60,000.00
80,000.00
100,000.00
120,000.00
140,000.00
160,000.00
2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013
Sept Headcount
Feb Headcount
May Headcount
TOTAL

7. PUBLIC and Independent FTE
Enrolments: All Counts
0.00
2,000.00
4,000.00
6,000.00
8,000.00
10,000.00
12,000.00
14,000.00
16,000.00
2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013
Public
Independent

8. PUBLIC and Independent FTE
Enrolments: September Count only
0.00
1,000.00
2,000.00
3,000.00
4,000.00
5,000.00
6,000.00
7,000.00
8,000.00
2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014
FTE - Sept Counts Public
FTE - Sept Counts Independent

9. FTE - All counts, 2013/14
by District
-200.00
0.00
200.00
400.00
600.00
800.00
1,000.00
1,200.00
-20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120

10. Headcounts - All counts, 2013/14
by District
-1,000
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
-20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120

11. Enrolments – Public DL Schools
1
10
100
1000
10000
Vancouver
ChilliwackSaanich
Surrey
Nechako Lakes
Comox Valley
Coquitlam
Richmond
Central Okanagan
Sooke
Kamloops/Thompson
Nanaimo-Ladysmith
Burnaby
North Vancouver
Abbotsford
Nicola-Similkameen
Peace River North
Greater Victoria
Coast Mountains
Langley
Qualicum
Delta
Peace River SouthAlberniKootenay LakeNew Westminster
Vernon
Okanagan Skaha
Southeast Kootenay
Sea to Sky
Mission
Prince George
Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows
Rocky Mountain
Okanagan Similkameen
Bulkley Valley
Conseil scolaire francophone
Powell River
North Okanagan-Shuswap
Campbell River
Cariboo-Chilcotin
Gold Trail
Cowichan Valley
Vancouver Island North
Sunshine Coast
QuesnelArrow Lakes
2012/2013
2012/2013

12. DL Quality Review
 Separate process from audits
 Focus on student performance and related data
 Ongoing dialogue throughout the year
 Emphasis on Quality and Standards
 Achievement
 Engagement
 Professional Development
 Support

13. Garrison, Anderson, & Archer’s “Community of Inquiry”, and Leithwood’s Transformational Leadership theory

14. Learner Presence
New work has postulated that good online learners are strategic,
active and reflective, and these behaviours are inherent to the
learner, not the teacher. This Learner Presence includes activities
such as student-student collaborations and self-regulatory learning
behaviours such as
 Planning and time management
 Organizing and transforming course materials
 Establishing a positive learning environment
 Self-monitoring and record keeping
 Help-seeking
 Reflection on performance, effort and goal setting
It is important to note that these are characteristics and behaviours
of the learner, but school staff may be in a position to help
students gain these skills.

15. Garrison, Anderson, & Archer’s “Community of Inquiry”, and Leithwood’s Transformational Leadership theory
Leadership
• Creating a shared vision,
• Setting goals,
• Providing intellectual
stimulation,
• Supplying individual
support,
• Modeling effective practice,
• Meeting high expectations,
and
• Developing a positive
culture, and creating
structures that support active
involvement in decision
making

16. Internal Review – guiding questions
As a distributed learning teacher, what do you do to create a
teaching presence in your classes?
 Communicate course topics, goals, timelines, and expectations regarding
assignments?
 Provide instruction to students about participation in activities, productive
dialogue, and task expectations, as well as providing instruction to help
students master content and achieve learning outcomes?
 Guide students to help identify areas of agreement/disagreement on course
topics, help clarify student’s thinking about course topics, focus discussion
on relevant issues, and help students explore new concepts in the course?
 Foster the development of a sense of community among course
participants, and provide relevant and timely feedback to students?
 Select appropriate resources and/or develop learning materials and content
for your students that meet the highest standards for quality and student
usability

17. Internal Review – guiding questions
As a distributed learning teacher, what do you do to create a
social presence in your classes
 Create a sense of belonging and community for students?
 Support student expression in online discussion, building a sense of
collaboration?
 Foster the use of a variety of communication strategies, including online
strategies, for social interaction among students and teacher?

18. Internal Review – guiding questions
As a distributed learning teacher, what do you do to create a
cognitive presence in your classes?
 Foster student interest in course issues and content, while supporting the
development of new perspectives through student reflection?
 Encourage students to use a variety of information sources, techniques, and
approaches to solutions when exploring problems posed in the course?
 Support the testing and application of new knowledge for students?

19. Internal Review – guiding questions
As a distributed learning leader, what do you do to plan,
support, and communicate?
 Create a shared vision for DL?
 Foster the creation and implementation of group goals; set direction,
monitor, and plan school growth and activity?
 Set high performance expectations for staff and students?
 Ensure all teachers are qualified and trained, and provide instructional
support for staff?
 Assist staff in the creation of processes and content that fosters student
engagement?
 Create structures in a DL environment that foster collaboration?
 Build productive relations with parents and the community?
 Recognize and celebrate teacher and student accomplishments?

20. External Review Team
Contracted team lead
Practicing DL/Alt/CE administrators
Ministry of Education program area reps
2 to 3 days in the school
Semi-structured interviews of students, parents, teachers,
support staff, administrators
Data

21. Public: Completion Rates: 16 Courses
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
100.0%
PLANNING 10
PHYSICAL
EDUCATION 10
SOCIAL STUDIES 11
SOCIAL STUDIES 10
ENGLISH 10
PRINCIPLES OF
MATHEMATICS 12
ENGLISH 11
SCIENCE 10
CHEMISTRY 12
COMMUNICATIONS 11
BIOLOGY 11
ENGLISH 12
CHEMISTRY 11
PHYSICS 11
PRINCIPLES OF
MATHEMATICS 11
BIOLOGY 12
2009/2010
2011/2012

22. Completion Rates: DL and Non-DL
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
BIOLOGY 11
BIOLOGY 12
CHEMISTRY 11
CHEMISTRY 12
COMMUNICATIONS 12
ENGLISH 10
ENGLISH 11
ENGLISH 12
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
10
PHYSICS 11
PLANNING 10
PRINCIPLES OF
MATHEMATICS 11
PRINCIPLES OF
MATHEMATICS 12
SCIENCE 10
SOCIAL STUDIES 10
SOCIAL STUDIES 11
2011/2012 - Non DL
2011/2012 - DL

23. Quality Reviews
2013-14: 4 schools reviewed. Focus on Alt/CE and DL
schools:
 SD 23 – Kelowna
 SD 33 – Chilliwack
 SD 63 - Saanich
 SD 70 – Port Alberni
 Wide range of high quality blended and on-line
configurations
 More cooperation between neighbourhood and DL
schools
 Ongoing, relevant and timely upgrading of teachers’ skills
and content is a challenge for some

24. Two sample findings
• Planning 10/Applied Digital Communications 11
• An 8 credit course co-taught to a cohort of students in a brick and
mortar school by a DL teacher connecting via video conferencing
suite and a F2F teacher in the school. (SD23)
• Planning 10, PE 10, and others taught to individual Grade
9 students in middle school
• Students supported within timetable in a supervised setting.
(SD33)

25. 1. As a member of a QR team in 2013
2. Having a QR at FVDES in 2014

26. Special
Education
Math/Science
Teacher
School
Counsellor
Secondary
School VP
District
Administrator
Alternate/CE
Administrator
DL Principal

27. • Chilliwack school district
• One of the original 9 regional DE schools
• About 950 FTE
• K to 12
• 12 month school for 10 to 12 and 10 months for K to 9
• About 70 % online and 30 % paper
• Movement from rural setting to downtown shared space
• Work with federal institutions and independent schools
• Staffing: 32 teachers, 3 Admin, 15 clerical, 2.5 Techs, 2 Educational assistants, 1
youth care worker

28. 1. Internal Review
2. External Review

29. • Surveys – staff, parents, students
• Achievement data – SADE, monthly reports
• DL Standards – Teachers and Support Staff

30. We bring our school to you
Distributed Learning Standards
Strengths Concerns
Goals
Action Plan
Progress Reports

31. DEPARTMENT GOALS AND ACTION
PLAN
How did we come up with our goals?

32. How did we come up with our goals?
We meet each month as a department and we have reviewed:
• the DL Standards and as a group discussed our strengths
and areas for growth in relation to those standards as
well as how they apply to our department
• the DL Standards for Content and set some goals

33. What are we good at?
• Our management of learning is good (DL Standards 1)
• We aim to engage students with stimulating cognitive processes
(DL Standards 3)
• Planning for learning is another area of strength (DL Standards 4)
• Supporting Instruction and Learning is well done (DL Standards 5)
• We work hard to make our content engaging, current and accessible with
clear learning objectives and a variety of assessment tools to meet or
exceed the Technical, Layout, Instructional Design and Pedagogy, and
Assessment Standards (DL Content Standards)

34. Where can we improve?
• We all agreed that our
biggest challenge is
Fostering Social Learning
(DL Standards 2)
• For this reason, we decided
to tackle this aspect of the
DL Standards first

35. What Are We Doing to Improve Social Learning?
• We are building a humanities resource center that all
students will have access to
• We are currently building the glossary part of the
resource center
• This resource center will be used to keep students
informed of upcoming events (field trips, provincial
exams, etc.)
• It will house information on plagiarism, content
support, provincial exam preparation, etc.

36. What Are We Doing to Improve Social Learning?
• It will have a glossary to support student learning
with humanities concepts
• We would like it to include a humanities social area
for students to connect with each other as well as a
writing support center for students to get one-one
teacher or peer help with their writing and editing

37. Initial meeting with QR team
- Review process
- Meet the QR team

38. Staff meeting to explain our internal review
- School and district context
- Review our internal review findings

39. Individual interviews:
- All staff
- Students
- Parents
- Admin team
- Senior management
- Partnerships

40. Trips to see some special activities:
- Blended learning
- Independent school partnerships
- Special programs: Robotics, Tutoring

41. Verbal report from QR team:
- All staff meeting
- Themes from the external review

42. Final report from QR team:
- About 2 months
- Questions from the team
- Final report to school and district

43. Value from working with ministry
folks
- Normal people
- Connected to the history of DL
- Connect to the provincial DL
picture

44. Value of working with an experienced DL administrator:
- Connect to the experience of others
- Discuss leadership

45. Value from building relationships with another
DL school’s staff:
- Exchange ideas
- School visits for staff

46. Questions & Comments