1. Going Virtual III Effective Professional Development of K-12 Online Teachers Kerry Rice, Ed. D. & Lisa Dawley, Ph. D.

2. Agenda Review findings from the Going Virtual! Research Series Share pilot studies – program evaluations Complexities in measuring “effectiveness”.

3. Going Virtual! Research Series

4. Going Virtual! Research Series

5. Phase I: Summary of Findings PD is … Dependent on the organization Driven by context Online Ongoing Focused on skills

6. Phase II: Survey Design School and Model Affiliation (Virtual, Supplemental, B & M) Demographics Professional Development Opportunities Professional Development Needs Respondents rated topics of importance (as mapped to synthesized national and regional standards) In their own words (536 open-ended responses)

7. Phase II: Demographics Experienced Workforce 99% - credentialed teachers 27% - new to onlineteaching 2% - new to the teaching profession 55% - between 6 and 15 years of total teaching experience 18% - more than 16 years total teaching experience 55% - master’s degree or better

8. PD Hours and Opportunities 72% - participated in ongoing training in online teaching

9. PD Preferences

10. In their own words... What are your unique needs and challenges as a K-12 online teacher? 536 open-ended comments generated 18 themes

11. Self - Reported Needs (sorted by Online Teaching Experience)

12. Self - Reported Needs (sorted by Program Model)

14. Facilitation

15. Online Content Development

16. Digital Etiquette

17. Assessment

18. Networking/Community Building

19. Leadership

21. Other Key Findings (important to very important ratings) Technology Skills Use of communication technologies: most number of respondents overall (90%) Web 2.0 Technologies: lowest number of responses by virtual school teachers (46%) with low responses overall regardless of sorting strategy Facilitation Time management strategies: 88% - 94% by all groups Classroom management strategies: experienced teachers reported higher importance (85%) than less experienced teachers (78% and 79%) Promote creative thinking and inventiveness: 92% by new teachers Promote student reflection using collaborative tools: 87% by new teachers

22. Other Key Findings (important to very important ratings) Online Content Development Maintaining accuracy and currency of course content: 90% + of respondents reported as important to very important Digital Etiquette Risks of academic dishonesty to learners: 100% of online teachers in brick and mortar programs Assessment Peer review: (58% or lower) received the lowest consistent ratings of all professional development topics in the survey (58% or lower) Relationship between and among assessments, assignments, and learning goals: received among the highest (93%+)

23. Other Key Findings (important to very important ratings) Networking and Community Building Fewest responses among all categories Collaborative knowledge construction: (80-88%) by all groups Leadership Teachers with 6 + years of experience rated these topics consistently lower (79%-82%) Shared decision making with colleagues: marked difference between responses from virtual school teachers (88%) and supplemental online programs/B&M online programs (71% and 72%). Special Needs Team teaching: marked difference between responses from virtual school teachers (70%) and supplemental online programs/B&M online programs (33% and 33%)

24. Phase III: Effective Professional Development of K-12 Online Teachers Level of alignment between various PD models and the articulated needs and challenges of K-12 online teachers? To what extent does PD impact teaching practice and identified skill progression? What key themes are emerging in training K-12 online teachers? How does what we learn inform policy, practice and research?

25. Measuring Effectiveness? What is effectiveness? Impact of change in teaching practice on student outcomes

26. Leveraging Data Systems: Workshop Evaluation Self report Self report Data mining Observation

27. Leveraging Data Systems: INSPIRE Connections Academy – STS Evaluation

28. Goal 1: Ongoing Student Progress

31. Goal 4: Teacher Effectiveness

32. Goal 5: Expanded Knowledge Base Does STS lead to improved student performance and student satisfaction? Target: 90% student satisfaction with delivery of curriculum Target: Students “proficient” on ISAT Target: Students demonstrate improved performance: LEAP performance metric, % of lessons completed, grades

33. Where do we go from here? How do you measure effectiveness? How do the pilot evaluations inform the design of Phase III? How do we scale up given… Context (both the school model and the PD model) Can we identify common data sets and leverage them for the purpose of evaluation?

34. How Do You Know?

35. State-Wide PD Evaluation

36. Contact Info Going Virtual! Status of Professional Development for K-12 Online Teachers http://edtech.boisestate.edu/goingvirtual/goingvirtual1.pdf Unique Needs and Challenges of K-12 Online Teachers http://edtech.boisestate.edu/goingvirtual/goingvirtual2.pdf krice@boisestate.edu lisadawley@boisestate.edu