Fall Research Collaborative meeting
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The quarterly Collaborative Meetings are designed for researchers in the field of K-12 online and blended learning. It is a space for researchers to come together, get feedback on their work, and share any opportunities for collaborations for grants, research, publications, etc. These Collaborative Meetings are held in January, April, July, and October.
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Fall Research Collaborative meeting
- 1. Research Collaborative Meeting Hosted by:
- 2. Disclaimer: This webinar will be recorded and shared publically. Consequently, anything shared during this webinar, including chat comments, could be shared publically. This webinar may represent a presenter’s or an attendee’s personal views, opinions, conclusions and other information which do not necessarily reflect those of MVU and/or the Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute and are not given nor endorsed by MVU/MVLRI unless otherwise specified.
- 3. Agenda • About MVLRI • About Collaborative meetings • Business • Collaboration opportunities • Questions about current research • Presentations • Elena Geiser Hogan, Orange County Public Schools • Beth Robelia, Walden University • Wrap-up & preview of upcoming events
- 4. About MVLRI • Research, Policy, Innovation & Networks • expands Michigan’s capacity to • support new learning models, • engage in active research to inform new policies in online and blended learning, and • strengthen the state’s infrastructures for sharing best practices. • http://www.mvlri.org
- 5. About MVLRI Joe Freidhoff, Executive Director of MVLRI Justin Bruno, Research Associate Kristen DeBruler, Researcher Kathryn Kennedy, Senior Researcher Rebecca Stimson, Proposal & Content Writer
- 6. About Collaborative Meetings • Held quarterly • Fall – October • Winter – January • Spring – April • Summer – July • Conference get-togethers
- 7. About Collaborative Meetings • Two parts • Business meeting • Collaboration opportunities • Grants • Research • Publications & presentations • Other opportunities • Questions about current research • 2 presentations
- 8. Business Collaboration opportunities Grants • Anyone?
- 9. Business Collaboration opportunities Research • IES feedback on two research centers’ work: National Center for Education Research (NCER) & National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) http://ies.ed.gov/pdf/2014- NCERfeedback.pdf • Jason Siko – call for participants/sites • Anyone else?
- 10. Business Collaboration opportunities Publications • Anyone? • Journal of Online Learning Research • Handbook of Research in K-12 Online and Blended Learning • eLearn Magazine • MVLRI blog
- 11. Journal of Online Learning Research • Published by AACE; peer-reviewed, quarterly publication; open access, International; theoretical, empirical, and pragmatic - www.aace.org/pubs/ • Understanding technology and their impact on primary and secondary pedagogy and policy in K-12 online and blended environments • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSER w8Gz_rM
- 12. Journal of Online Learning Research (Cont) • 1-2 issues a year will be special issues • Note: Guest editors can only be author or co-author on one of the articles in special issue • Submit a proposal to us, and include: • Topic and description of special issue and relevance of that topic to the field • Timeline for special issue • CVs of guest editor(s) • Potential authors for special issue
- 13. Handbook of Research in K-12 Online and Blended Learning • Anticipated publication: Nov 2014 • Updated every year • Open access • Call for chapters for next year’s edition coming soon • Email handbookresearch@gmail.com
- 14. eLearn Magazine • Published by Association for Computing Machinery • K-12 online and blended learning section • Open access, International • 2000-word max for articles, including references • Foster communication between practitioners and researchers • More information - http://bit.ly/1wuWIp8
- 15. MVLRI Blog • Weekly posts • If you have anything to share, please let us know! • Guest bloggers!
- 16. Business Collaboration opportunities Presentations • Anyone? • MVLRI webinar series • MVLRI podcasts/vodcasts
- 17. MVLRI Webinar Series • Want to present? Let us know! • Timing is flexible, all throughout the year • Formal webinars on finished research • Informal webinars on works in progress • Take place in Adobe Connect • Recorded and shared with research community
- 18. MVLRI podcasts/vodcasts • 5-10 minute shorts • Present your research • Share your research questions/thoughts • Interview other researcher(s) • Other ideas • Call for proposals will be sent soon!
- 19. Business Collaboration opportunities Other opportunities • Anyone? • MVLRI Call for Fellows • Add to Research Clearinghouse
- 20. Call for Fellows • Augmenting capacity, bringing in experts • One-year appointments • $500 to $6000 honorarium depending on scope of project deliverables • Request for Proposals (RFP) is on our website • http://www.mvlri.org • Under “About us” tab > “Fellows”
- 21. Add to Research Clearinghouse • Partnership with iNACOL to build resource • Current Project Contributors – COLSD, CANeLearn, Quality Matters, Evergreen, DEANZ • Over 675 references! • If you see anything missing, please let us know! • http://k12onlineresearch.org
- 22. Business Questions about research?
- 23. Today’s Presenters Elena Geiser Hogan Orange County Public Schools Beth Robelia Walden University
- 24. Milestone Two |Secure Testing Measures in K-12 Virtual School Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Welcome! Rethinking Assessment in Full-time Online Schools: Best Practices in Meeting State/District-wide Mandatory Formative Testing Presented By: Elena Geiser Hogan, Ed.S.
- 25. Milestone Two |Secure Testing Measures in K-12 Virtual School Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Abstract The majority of students choose to learn in a virtual school either for flexibility or to avoid unfavorable influences experienced at their zone school. In the first 3 years of existence, Orange County Virtual School (OCVS) did not have a physical location for students to come complete state and district mandated testing, so they were sent back to their zone schools. These were past problems of practice because 1) Zone schools miscoded student tests and data was often lost in the process; 2) Many student left their zone school to avoid situations that caused them anxiety, therefore having them go back to this location for testing could have a negative impact on their test results. These problems were rectified by securing a campus for OCVS this 2013-2014 year. With a physical location to bring students to, OCVS was able to begin testing students without having to go their zone schools. The current problem of practice is that there are now a variety of reasons that students are unable to attend testing at our brick and mortar location. Almost all tests are provided online, so why have students come in to a physical location just to be monitored. Therefore, research on secure testing options (where students test from home, while monitored via webcam) has begun. An implementation plan using secure testing measures in the K-12 OCVS virtual learning environment were created this summer and will be implemented during the 2014-2015 school year. Abstract
- 26. Milestone Two |Secure Testing Measures in K-12 Virtual School Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Problem of Practice What is the plan? February 2014: Research to potential solutions to the problem of practice began March 2014: Contact with Software Secure revealed another district run public virtual school in Florida was using this option April- May 2014: Interviews & data collection with other districts & secure testing companies May 28, 2014: Meeting with the district testing coordinator
- 27. Milestone Two |Secure Testing Measures in K-12 Virtual School Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Implementation Timeline What is the timeline? What are the key milestones and due dates for the project to be completed on time? July 2014: Literature Review & Implementati on Planning Process June 2014: Milestone 2: Identify & Present Problem of Practice Oct./Jan. 2014/2015: Benchmark Testing Secure Testing Implemented Feb.- June 2015: Analyze results, conduct surveys, complete dissertation, prepare for defense
- 28. Milestone Two |Secure Testing Measures in K-12 Virtual School Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Organizational Context Organizational Context According to Bolman and Deal (2008), “Three assumptions that undergird the structural frame help identify the problem of practice in OCVS: Suitable forms of coordinator and control ensure that diverse efforts of individuals and units mesh Structures must be designed to fit an organizations current circumstances (including its goals, technology, workforce, and environment). Problems arise and performance suffers from structural deficiencies, which can be remedied through analysis and restructuring.” As the first school of its kind in a large urban public school district, standard policies and procedures intended for traditional brick and mortar schools do not best fit the structure of this new learning environment.
- 29. Milestone Two |Secure Testing Measures in K-12 Virtual School Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Literature Review Literature Review “Standards based reform has a more than 20 year history in the United States.” National Academy of Education (2009) “Technology based assessments could ultimately be used to allow large-scale testing of important analytical and problem-solving skills.” National Academy of Education (2009) “According to the UC Government Accountability Office, 32 states have reported ‘canceling, invalidating, or nullifying test scores from individual students, schools, or districts because of suspected or confirmed cheating by school officials [emphasis ours]’ for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 school years.” Waters, J. (2013) “The developing technology for remote proctoring may end up being as good — or even better — than the live proctoring at bricks-and-mortar universities.” Douglas H. Fisher, Professor - Vanderbilt University, New York Times, 2013 (as seen in Whitepaper by Software Secure)
- 30. Milestone Two |Secure Testing Measures in K-12 Virtual School Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Causes Causes Parent Survey Question: Why did you enter virtual school? Greater time flexibility 31% Wanted to advance (quicker than other students in my class) 7% Did not like influences at traditional school 27% Illness/medical diagnosis 10% Wanted to participate in athletics/ performance arts 3% Wanted to participate in religious activities 3% Other 19% * Information gathered from 2014 OCVS Mid-Year Climate Survey for Parents
- 31. Milestone Two |Secure Testing Measures in K-12 Virtual School Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Causes Causes Describe some of the likely/potential causes of the problem you are exploring…. • Students are not in town during specifically designated testing windows • Students do not have transportation available to be brought in to the physical testing location • Parents can not transport (i.e. take off of work, afford gas/bus fare) their child as many times as needed to bring for face to face testing throughout the school year • Benchmark-September, October, January, March • FAIR- October, December, May • *Other testing includes: PERT, OC Writes, PSAT, SAT, FCAT Writes, FCAT, EOC exams *Testing required by the district/state is determined by both student grade and course enrollment
- 32. Milestone Two |Secure Testing Measures in K-12 Virtual School Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Causes Causes What data will you need to collect to explore the problem further? Data needed to explore the problem further includes… • Student test results and participation numbers from the current school year 2013-2014 • Student and Parent surveys/interviews to gather qualitative data on how each stakeholder feels about various testing environments and procedures • More data on how other district virtual (comparable) schools in Florida implement their state mandated required formative testing and their participation rates
- 33. Milestone Two |Secure Testing Measures in K-12 Virtual School Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Questions? For further information or to follow up on the progress of this study feel free to contact me at… EGeiserHogan1@knights.ucf.edu
- 34. Promising Practices for Online Student Engagement: How do we reconstruct school culture? Beth Robelia, Ph.D. Walden University
- 35. Definition of Engagement “energy in action” (Skinner & Pitzer, 2012)
- 36. Working Definition of Engagement • Behavioral – Attendance – Work completion • Emotional – School is a priority – Supportive network • Academic – Quality work – Timely completion
- 37. Research Questions 1. What demographic factors are correlated with engagement? 2. What do students identify as the most engaging aspects of being an online student? a. What do teachers do? b. How does culture play a role? 3. How do students support their learning in an online school?
- 38. Students surveyed about engagement • 1100 full and part-time students invited to participate • 45 questions • $5 gift card incentive (Walden sponsored) • 470 participants • Important feedback for design of instruction
- 39. Teacher Interviews • 23 teachers • 45 minute interview • Questions about what works to engage students: – Communication – Curriculum – Differentiation
- 40. Interview Q1: How do you think our school culture affects engagement? A. How would you describe our school culture? B. What elements of culture have the most impact on student attitudes toward school involvement?
- 41. A few teachers describe school culture positively • “In my view it can be very inviting and welcoming, if they are willing to put forth the work or at least the attempt. If they are not attempting, we have to keep calling and I could see where they think our culture is naggy.” (T19) • “A positive exciting, feeling, a positive vibe that they get from their teachers.” (T12)
- 42. Other teachers describe school culture, negatively • Toxic • Vague Embarrassment
- 43. Teachers describe school culture • Isolation • Lax deadlines/Low expectations
- 44. B. What elements of culture have the most impact? • No deadlines policy. • Lack of parent involvement.
- 45. Toxicity: Politics gets in the way of serving students • “Embattled . . . No one wants to reach a consensus; it is very divided.” (T10) • “There are political things, behind the scenes, kids are picking up on. They have less faith in us as a school, and disengage. Attendance at class connects are down because of the behind the scenes things that kids are picking up on.” (T2) • “The culture of staff negatively impacts students in ways that are hard to measure. Even if we put on a happy face, something in humanity allow us to know things are not as they seem.” (T3)
- 46. Toxicity: Politics gets in the way of serving students • I may be off topic but our school culture is we want to help kids, we have a great teaching staff but we feel powerless as a staff. (T16) • “I brought this up years ago; we should write it [the school mission statement] under our letterhead. Nobody listens to me.” (T11) • A big piece that I struggle with, we get all of these mandates that are supposedly what is best for students and they take up my time. (T14)
- 47. Toxicity: student attitudes • “Rather than keeping the more fun, engaged and happy kids. We kept this group of kids that really does not want to go to school. They are angry with teachers, rather than feel like teacher are their tools to learning. It is not a positive feeling right now, negative emphasis when we contact students.” (T4)
- 48. Vague embarrassment • “One of vague embarrassment, some students feel innovative, for others this is their last chance. They are embarrassed. It is same for staff. Looking at it, I think we could be proud; the fact that we are not is toxic at staff level.” (T3) • When I have to talk about what I do, for people outside school, I get nauseous. (T11)
- 49. Isolation • “Really, it is up to the student, for the most part, to reach out to the teacher to get the amount of contact/help that they are looking for.” (T18) • “The isolationism of being separated from your peers is another barrier.” (T8) • “Our students are so fragmented across the state, they do not interact enough to create a culture.” (T5) • “To me the school culture is isolation; that is how I see it. We are all over the place along with the students, it is difficult to bring community into the culture of the school.” (T6)
- 50. Lax attendance policies • “We have high fliers and low engagements with most not in the middle, like a two-humped camel. Kids come to hide out because, we don’t have the teacher standing in front of me, handing me to the paper and watched me do it - they can be non-engaged. On the flip side, for the high fliers, there is not a teacher in front of them to slow them down. A majority are high or low with little in the middle.” (T9) • “I think the policy that we have of not requiring them to go [to Class Connects], means if they don’t have to go, then they don’t go if they don’t want to. That policy definitely affects the engagement.” (T15) • “There is a disconnect in online in general, they don’t need to attend CCs. We leave it up to them.” (T20) • “We kind of let them loose, we are just trusting intrinsic motivation to get them through. I don’t think they are engaged because of it.” (T17)
- 51. Low expectations “School policy as far as work deadlines, there needs to be daily work requirement, daily engagement requirements, work being done, not just being engaged a few minutes per day, how attendance is taken or how being done work is measured.” (T12) “We are constantly lowering the bar to get in kids who are not really doing anything, to try to cater to kids who are not going to do anything.” (T16) “We have a culture of not having high expectations, if they creating short cuts, if they know that they don’t have to login every day, they know they can get away with . . . “ (T14)
- 52. No deadlines policy • “I feel like that work can be done whenever students want, too far towards the end of the school year. They are not learning, because they are doing it too quickly.” (T5) • “[The students think] I don’t have to work, I can do a ton of work at the end of the semester and still pass.” (T7) • “I sometimes get concerned with the push for passing percents. We talk about academic integrity in this school, there is more with some teachers than others.” (T6) • “One of the things that affects student engagement the most, is they know that if they get engaged at any point, they will get help to complete work. They know that can be unengaged until the end. There are repeat offenders, they have done it in past, will do it again.” (T1)
- 53. Parent Involvement • “Parents do not feel they are heard, rather they feel they are patronized. They voice their concerns and feel as though they have been heard. But in the end, they do not see any results.” (T2) • “The kids that don’t want to, don’t reach out for help. It is very hard to reach those kids, For myself and other teachers too, we call and call cannot reach the student or learning coach and when you have hit a dead end, there is nothing else you can do, that child has made a choice not to engage and their grades are affected by that.” (T7) • “It is difficult to self motivate without parents. Children are given parents for a reason, otherwise they would be born in eggs and fly away.” (T6)
- 54. Teachers describe school culture
- 55. How do we turn the cultural crisis around?
- 56. Solutions? • Broader teacher collaboration • More teacher ownership • Change attendance policies • Higher academic expectations for students • More required interaction for students • Release teachers from clerical mandates What suggestions can you make?
- 57. MVLRI Research Webinar Series Upcoming Webinar: Date & Time: TBA Topic: Virtual School Leadership Alliance Members share their research needs Presenters: North Carolina Virtual Public School, Illinois Virtual School, Michigan Virtual School, Wisconsin Virtual School, Montana Digital Learning Academy
- 58. Contact us! Email: MVLRI@mivu.org Facebook: /mvlrinstitute Twitter: @MVLRI_MVU LinkedIn: michigan-virtual-learning-research-institute
Notas del editor
- Justin Welcome, and thank so much for joining us today for our first ever Research Collaborative Meeting hosted by our team here at the Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute (or MVLRI).
- Justin Before we get started with today’s meeting, an important disclaimer for our Collaborative meetings. This webinar will be recorded and shared publically. Consequently, anything shared during this webinar, including chat comments, could be shared publically. This webinar may represent a presenter’s or an attendee’s personal views, opinions, conclusions and other information which do not necessarily reflect those of MVU and/or the Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute and are not given nor endorsed by MVU/MVLRI unless otherwise specified.
- Justin Here’s our agenda for today. Since this is our first Collaborative meeting, we’ll talk a bit about ourselves so you know who we are and what we’re trying to cultivate in the research community. We’ll also talk about the purpose of the Collaborative meetings. Then we’ll start with the meeting itself, including the business part where everyone can share opportunities for collaboration as well as ask questions about their current research. And we’ll finish up with two 15-minute presentations. Before they give their presentation, we’ll introduce today’s presenters, including Elena Geiser Hogan of Orange County Public Schools and Beth Robelia of Walden University. And then we’ll take time to wrap-up and preview upcoming events as well.
- Justin So first a little about MVLRI. In 2012, the Governor and Michigan Legislature passed legislation requiring the Michigan Virtual University® (MVU®) to establish a center for online learning research and innovation, and through this center, directed MVU to work on a variety of projects. The center, now formally known as the Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute™ (MVLRI™), is a natural extension of the work of MVU. The goal of the Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute™ (MVLRI™) is to expand Michigan’s capacity to support new learning models, engage in active research to inform new policies in online and blended learning, and strengthen the state’s infrastructures for sharing best practices. Learn more about us at http://www.mvlri.org.
- Justin And here’s our team. There are five of us at MVLRI, including Executive Director Joe Freidhoff, Research Associate Justin Bruno, Researcher Kristen DeBruler, Senior Researcher Kathryn Kennedy, and Proposal & Content Writer Rebecca Stimson. We are happy to work together to cultivate the research community and to inform the field of K-12 blended and online learning. And now Kathryn is going to talk more about Collaborative meetings and what they’re all about.
- Kathryn Thanks so much, Justin! The Collaborative meetings are going to be held quarterly. This one, as Justin mentioned, is our first one. The tentative months for the winter, spring, and summer meetings are shown here. Eventually, we’d also like to coordinate get-togethers at conferences throughout the year so that researchers can connect.
- Kathryn So the Collaborative meeting is essentially a space for researchers to come together, get feedback on their work, and share opportunities for collaborations for grants, research, publications, presentations, jobs etc. The sharing collaboration opportunities is the business part of the meeting. The second part of the meeting is set aside for two presenters who have 15 minutes to talk about research that they’re doing and ask for feedback from the audience. A month before the collaborative meetings take place, we’ll send out a call for presenters.
- Kathryn So let’s get started on the business part of the meeting, starting with Collaboration opportunities for grants? Anyone have anything to share here? We’re allowing for microphone rights for everyone during the business part of the meeting. If you have something to say, just grab the mic? If you don’t have a mic, please feel free to share any opportunities in the chat box.
- Kathryn Moving on to collaboration opportunities for research. Back in August of 2014, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) invited feedback and suggestions on the work of its two research centers: the National Center for Education Research (NCER) and the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER). Three topics are of special interest: • The characteristics of education and special education studies that have had the most influence on policy and practice, and the lessons these studies offer for future work • Critical problems or issues on which new research is needed • Recommendations on how to target research funding to do the most good for the field Comments are due by October 31, 2014. If you’re interested in providing feedback, please click on the following link in the chat box – http://ies.ed.gov/pdf/2014-NCERfeedback.pdf Jason Siko, you had a call for participants/research sites you wanted to share. Go ahead with that. Anyone else have anything to share here?
- Kathryn And now for collaboration opportunities for publications. We have four to share at least. But I’m going to open it up to others first. Does anyone have opportunities that they would like to share? We have the following four opportunities that we’re aware of and wanted to share, including the Journal of Online Learning Research, the Handbook of Research in K-12 Online and Blended Learning, eLearn Magazine, and the MVLRI blog.
- Kathryn The Journal of Online Learning Research is published by the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education. It is a peer-reviewed, open access publication published quarterly. The first issue will be published in Spring 2015. It is an international journal devoted to the theoretical, empirical, and pragmatic understanding of technologies and their impact on primary and secondary pedagogy and policy in primary and secondary (K-12) online and blended environments. If you want to submit your work, go to aace.org/pubs. The link to youtube that I’m pasting in the chat box is a recent webinar that we did that talks about the journal as well as the submission process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSERw8Gz_rM
- Kathryn One to two issues per year will be special issues. If you’re interested in submitting a special issue
- Kathryn Next is the Handbook of Research in K-12 Online and Blended Learning. It is due out from Carnegie Mellon’s ETC press in November 2014. It’s updated every year. It’s open access. And we’ll be calling for new chapters for next year’s edition soon. If you have a proposal for a new chapter, please email handbookresearch@gmail.com.
- Kathryn eLearn Magazine, a publications of ACM or Association for Computing Machinery, has a section of their magazine solely devoted to K-12 online and blended learning. It’s an open access magazine with international reach. Articles length cannot be over 2000 words. The editors look for a variety of types of articles including but not limited to opinion-editorials, how-to or instructional articles, case studies that are not promotional in nature, research articles, reviews of books, conferences, tutorials, software, hardware, etc, interviews with leading professionals in the field, and articles that explore a specific area or angle of eLearning in the field, especially instructional design, online instruction, and training. The content that is submitted must help to foster communication between practitioners and researchers. For more information visit the link on the screen. I’ll paste the direct link into the chat box as well.
- Kathryn And finally, the MVLRI Blog started a few months ago, and we are posting about once a week. If you have anything that you would like to share, please let us know. Items can include notifying the community about recent publications or calls for papers, proposals, etc. We’ll also provide recordings of the webinars, share thought pieces about current topics in the field, publish mini versions of articles that speak directly to practical implications that come out of research, share requests for research collaborations, advertise requests for participants for studies, post employment/internship opportunities, highlight researchers in the field and the work they are doing, link to resources for researchers, communicate research practices in schools, ask difficult questions, distribute ideas, and ask for feedback. We’ll be putting out a call for guest bloggers soon via our social media sites including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. We also have a mailing list. If you’re not on it and would like to be, please put your email address in the chat box and we’ll add you to that as well.
- Kathryn Anyone have collaboration opportunities for presentations?
- Kathryn As you may already know, we are hosting the MVLRI webinar series and would like to extend an invite for people to propose to present for the webinars. Timing is flexible, and the platform to present is available all throughout the year. The webinars can be formal webinars on your finished research or can be informal webinars on works in progress. These webinars take place in Adobe Connect and are recorded and shared with the research community via our social media sites and email list serv. So let us know if you’re interested.
- Kathryn Additionally, we are starting a vodcast/poscast series that we’ll post to the blog and social media sites. A call for proposals for those will be coming soon. If you’d like to present your research, share your research questions/thoughts, interview other researcher(s), or something else, let us know.
- Kathryn Anyone have other collaboration opportunities? This could include job opportunities, fellowships, etc. I’ll open it up to everyone here first and then talk about a couple opportunities that we have.
- Kathryn MVU dedicates staff members to MVLRI projects and we also augment our capacity through a fellows program drawing from state, national, and international experts in K-12 online learning. Our fellows receive one-year appointments and are selected based on the alignment of their strengths with MVLRI priorities for the year. With the honor of being a fellow, fellows also are given a small honorarium depending on the scope and length of their project deliverables. In order to expand this effort, we have created an RFP process so that researchers can apply for Fellows positions. It is located on our website and under the “About Us” tab under Fellows
- Kathryn Finally, as you may already know, MVLRI partnered with iNACOL to build the Research Clearinghouse for K-12 Blended and Online Learning and there are currently over 675 references in the searchable database. We also have Project Contributors that contribute references on a regular basis to keep the database up-to-date with the latest publications. If you know of an organization that might be interested in being a Project Contributor, please let us know. Also, if you see anything missing within the database, please let us know as well.
- Kathryn Anyone have any questions about their research or research in general that they would like to raise? This can include anything you need feedback on for work you’re currently doing such as study design questions, survey development, analysis questions, etc. Alrighty – that concludes the business part of the meeting. I’m going to hand it over to Justin so he can introduce our presenters!
- Justin Thanks Kathryn. And now for today’s presenters! Elena Geiser Hogan earned her Ed.S. in Educational Leadership from National-Louis University in 2010. She is currently in the final year of her Ed.D. candidacy at the University of Central Florida, working towards her Ed.D. in Education with a specialization in eLearning. Elena has 8 years of education experience and half of that time has been spent specifically in virtual education. Elena lives in Mount Dora, Florida with her husband of 5 years, and 3 dachshunds Rascal, Dale and Mayberry. Beth Robelia is a contributing faculty member at Walden University as well as a full time faculty member of an online high school. She has been working with teachers and students for more than two decades. She has worked in outdoor and indoor educational contexts to support diverse learners. Her research interests are in online education, STEM learning and how social media can support students in academics. Beth began her career in education with Outward Bound as sailing and canoe instructor. She earned her Ph.D. in 2008 from the University of Minnesota in Curriculum and Instruction: STEM Education. For the presentations, we’ve asked the presenters to decide how to organize their time for the 15 minutes they’re allotted. Elena, you’re up first.
- Kathryn Thank you to Elena and Beth for sharing their work with us today. And thank you everyone for joining us and sharing your collaboration opportunities. Our next webinars in the MVLRI Webinar Series will be advertised soon. For those webinars, we’re happy to be hosting the Virtual School Leadership Alliance Members, which is a group of about 12 State Virtual School Leaders who meet monthly to discuss the needs of the field. They wanted to share their research needs with the field. Schools that have signed onto present include North Carolina Virtual Public School, Illinois Virtual School, Michigan Virtual School, Wisconsin Virtual School, and Montana Digital Learning Academy. This will be a great opportunity to get researchers helping these schools answer their research needs. We’ll be in touch when those are scheduled.
- Kathryn Thanks so much again! If you’re interested in keeping up with MVLRI, please email us at MVLRI@mivu.org or join us on Facebook, Twitter, and/or LinkedIn. Enjoy your day!