Preparing for Distance Education in K12 Schools

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Preparing for Distance Education in K-12 Schools

• Niki Davis
• Center for Technology in Learning and Teaching
• Iowa State University

Visiting Professor, University of Otago, New
Zealand
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My contexthttp//www.hs.iastate.edu/news/hsmatter
s/20060412/davis.php

• Visiting Professor University of Otago
• Preparing book proposal on ICT and Change
• Visiting Dr Wing Lai (retuning his visit of 7
  years ago when I was Director of the University
  of Exeter Telematics Centre in the UK and leading
  trans European project to incorporate
  communication technologies in preservice teacher
  education, T3)
• Director Iowa State University CTLT in the
  central heartlands of the U.S. adding
  intercultural perspectives bringing in the
  distance http//www.ctlt.iastate.edu/
• Director of US-wide project to incorporate
  communication technologies in preservice teacher
  education, TEGIVS. More later.
• Leader of transatlantic doctoral community and
  looking to expand worldwide to develop
  intercultural competence among teacher educators,
  especially future leaders http//www.public.iastat
  e.edu/7Eilet/
• Past president of SITE international Society of
  IT in Teacher Education
• Past chair of IFIP Working Group for research and
  also a member of the Distance Education Working
  group
• Collaborator on UNESCO book ICT Teacher Education
  Planning Guide and new Handbook for research on
  IT in Education (Dr Lai is an editor of one
  section)

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Your context

• Studying in University of Otago at a distance
• Topic?
• Distance experience?
• Working in Education or training?
• Passionate about educational renewal?

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Why Prepare Teachers for Distance Education in
schools?

• In 2002-3 about 30 of US school districts had
  students enrolled DE courses (Setzer et al, 2005)
• For 2002-3 that included gt15 high school
  students and students of all ages too
• Numbers have increased exponentially, with
  students in all states participating
• NCREL research shows the success of DE for
  students suited to DE
• New Zealand schools also make increasing use of
  distance education, eg OtagoNet important for
  rural schools

In exemplary distance classes students know their
teacher very well
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Scenarios to Avoid

• Locked out of WebCT classroom
• laptop missing because a teacher borrowed it
• secure school intranet not adjusted to ensure
  WebCT access
• Unsuccessful students
• Drop out decreases with local facilitator
• Use ESPRI to support selection
• Unfilled local jobs linked with lack of courses
• Add relevant courses to options, e.g. Iowa
  Learning Online Anatomy Physiology

These really did happen in K-12 schools in Iowa!
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Gail WortmannVirtual Office Hours
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ILO Anatomy Physiology taught by Gail Wortmann
More schools
quarterly labs F2F
IPTV
WebCT ICN office hours
ILO
T Wortmann F facilitator/proctor A
administrator, recruiter S student P
parent IT technology coordinator
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Roles in K-12 Distance Education

• The traditional role of a teacher may be split
  into 3
• Teacher at a distance manages the curriculum
  including day-to-day pedagogy and grading
• Facilitator supports each students learning and
  may proctor assessment in his or her K-12 school
• Designer(s) create the course often publishing it
  in a virtual learning environment
• Additional support is also necessary from
• Technology coordinator
• Administrator(s) Principal, counselor, etc.

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Teacher Education Goes into Virtual
Schoolinghttp//www.ctlt.iastate.edu/scholarship/
Research20Projects/Projects/tegivs/homepage.html
Confidential hot link http//projects.educ.iastat
e.edu/research/projects/tegivs/pilot/index.htm

• ISU will be the first preservice teacher
  education program to prepare for K-12 distance
  education
• All our graduates will be able to support DE in
  schools
• Some graduates will be prepared further as a VS
  teacher and/or course designer
• ISU is leading this innovation and research
• with programs in Graceland University, the
  University of Virginia, and the University of
  Florida
• In collaboration with M.D. Roblyer, Ray Rose
  (first VHS), Laferriere (Canadian telelearning
  project).

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References Further Reading

• Davis, N.E., Niederhauser, D.S., Compton, L.
  Lindstrom, D. (2005). Good practice to inform
  Iowa Learning Online Considerations for
  Developing Online Instruction and Virtual
  Laboratory Activities. Retrieved September 12,
  2005, from http//projects.educ.iastate.edu16080/
  7Evhs/consider.htm
• Davis, N.E., and Roblyer, M.D. (2005). Preparing
  teachers for the Schools that technology built
  Evaluation of a program to train teachers for
  virtual schooling. Journal of Research on
  Technology in Education, 37(4), 399-408.
• Harms, C.M., Niederhauser, D.S., Davis, N.E.,
  Roblyer, M.D., Gilbert, S.B. (accepted).
  Educating educators for virtual schooling
  communicating roles and responsibilities.
  Electronic Journal of Communication.
• Lai, K.W. Pratt, K. (2005). OtagoNet A
  videoconferencing network for New Zealand
  secondary students. World Conference on Computers
  and Education, Stellanbosch, SA. July 2005.
• Roblyer, M. D. (2003). Virtual high schools in
  the United States Current views, future visions.
  In J. Bradley (Ed.), The open classroom Distance
  learning in and out of schools (pp. 159170).
  London Kogan Page.
• Roblyer, M. D., McKenzie, B. (2000). Distant
  but not out-of-touch What makes an effective
  distance learning instructor? Learning and
  Leading With Technology, 27(6), 5053.
• Setzer, J. C., Lewis, L. (2005). Distance
  education courses for public elementary and
  secondary school students 20022003. Retrieved
  September 12, 2005, from http//nces.ed.gov/pubsea
  rch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid2005010
• Acknowledgements
• The contents of this presentation were partly
  developed under a grant from the Fund for the
  Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE),
  U.S. Department of Education. However, these
  contents do not necessarily represent policy of
  the Department of Education, and no one should
  assume endorsement by the Federal Government. We
  also wish to acknowledge support from all
  participating organizations.
• Support for Visiting Professor Niki Davis by the
  University of Otago Faculty of Education is
  gratefully acknowledged.