Teacher education

This blog is taking a break until early September. drug and alcohol services.

David Chater, head of policy at youth charity Rainer, says the tax is a brave proposal.  The treatment tax is a brave step and is really positive, it would double the budget for drug and alcohol services. It takes a brave politician to say they  increase tax, especially on something like alcohol.

But Chater is less impressed with the report&s emphasis on abstaining from drugs and alcohol.  Measures like reclassifying cannabis as a class B drug, risk dragging a lot more young people into the criminal justice system. The best bits are outside the addiction section, with ideas for family support that will do more to tackle substance misuse than abstinence programmers.

Filed under: Conservatives

One of the other blogs devoted to the virtual school is to decide on Schools Online (DAOS) note that this blog is no longer available . I know  t think it would be unfair to characterize this as a blog with a specific agenda (like most blogs, websites and even do). On the page purposes, it has two major goals:I ‘ll post more about this attempt to destory public education, then I  sure). I  Trackbacks I posted on their blog and I  confident that they can correct me if I wrong.and at the federal level?
-Can the e-learning to help students make progress towards the objectives of the No Child Left Behind? most burning right now? And, do you have any thoughts about your responses to those two questions?

If you fall more into the educator category, which two questions do you see as the most burning right now? And, do you have any thoughts about your responses to those two questions?

Tags: virtual school , cyber school , charter school , high school , education

We skipped the comics altogether last week – both due to the amount of items I posted over the weekend and my own laziness in getting them copied and pasted over. Anyway back to Friday this week, and as always courtesy of Darren at TADO .

- Cartoon of the day

- Be Realistic (and for my sake, he starts naming them again – thanks Darren, much appreciated!)

- That hurts.

- Home is… (unfortunately this one rings a little too true for me)

- Ah Interesting

- If computers could talk…

- Biblical computers

- God Complex

- Super user abuse

Until next week…

Reminder: Spaces of Interaction: Thursday LIVE Sessions & Recordings Posted.

I had high hopes for the PowerPoint is Tyranny talk by Jay Cross but he changed the topic to something like What Constitutes a Good Conference and I found the presentation wanting, alas. How to put together good presentations is of interest to me (and all who have sat through boring presentations). I want to learn how to captivate the audience and not use techniques just because they are available. What aspects of the technology lend themselves to understanding the material? How can I guide the learner and still give enough room for different learning styles and what they bring into the space? I too have been guilty of using transitions and music that likely distracted rather than amplified and clarified.

Comment by davidmbsr — February 21, 2009 @ 6:04 pm | Reply

Nothing to do with virtual schooling or K-12 online learning from the remainder of the day, I wanted to use this forum to remind folks – particularly Canadians – of a dark day in our history.

Twenty years ago today, a 25 year old man walked through the doors of Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal and spent the next 45 minutes hunting women. In the end 14 women lay dead, over a dozen others injured, with the killer having committed suicide. Stories surfaced of how he walked into a classroom, separating the male and female students, then allowing the male students to leave as he began shooting. In the days following, it was discovered that Marc Lepine had applied to the engineering program at Ecole Polytechnic, but was rejected. He blamed this rejection on the school’s affirmative action policy, which he perceived to be passing him over in favour of women. [For those unfamiliar with these, the CBC Archives has a fairly good entry on the Montreal Massacre .]

Months later, the federal Government passed gun control legislation. You see, even those Lepine had been turned down for the military service because he was deemed to have mental issues. And while the military found him unfit to carry a gun, the regulations in Canada at the time allowed him to simply fill out a form, check a box that he was mentally fit, and then he received a permit to allow him to own any kind of firearm available for purchase in Canada – from a simply handgun to a military-style, semi-automatic assault rifle. Primarily due to the events on 06 December 1989 the laws were eventually changed to require a much higher standard for obtaining a firearms acquisition certificate, many of the weapons previous available were banned, and all gun owners had to register their guns in a national registry.

The current Conservative (i.e., right-wing – not the former Progressive Conservatives of old which were more centre/centre-right – this current group is made up largely of elements from the far right of the former Reform Party) have essentially left the gun registry die. It is still on the books, but the Government has not provided the funding, have not done any of the maintenance, etc. to the point where the registry is so out of date that it has become a useless tool for law enforcement. The current Government is even floating ideas that would lift the current restrictions on certain hunting weapons that play well to their rural and western base (as if somehow a rifle used to shoot a deer couldn’t have been used almost as effectively as the weapon that Lepine chose to go hunting with).

On this day, a day which has become known in Canada as a National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women , remember these women and continue to fight for kind of gun control that would help in preventing this kind of gendercide from happening again

I apologize for the delay in posting these items, but the conference hotels do not provide free wireless access. The first paper in the K-12 Online Teachers: SIG-Online Teaching and Learning session was:

Who’s at the Keyboard? A Description of K-12 Online Teachers in the United States

Schedule Information:
Scheduled Time: Tue, Apr 14 – 12:25pm – 1:55pm Building/Room: San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina / Newport Beach
In Session: K-12 Online Teachers

Authors:
*Leanna Matchett Archambault (Arizona State University)
Kent J. Crippen (University of Nevada – Las Vegas)

Abstract: Virtual schools continue to grow in popularity as a realistic alternative to traditional education. Because of this, a growing number of teachers throughout the nation are facing the challenge of creating and presenting quality online content and instruction. Little is known about this population of educators and how they compare to traditional teachers. This study presents data gathered as a result of a national survey of 596 online teachers and describes the characteristics of a group of K-12 online teachers from 25 different states. By studying this particular population, teacher educators can better understand the specific needs of online teachers. This, in turn, can inform changes, adaptations, and improvements to teacher preparation programs across the United States.

So, I missed the first few minutes of Leanna’s and Kent’s presentation, as I was trying to find the well-hidden Newport Beach room in the Marriott. This portion of the presentation was based on Leanna’s dissertation.

The study itself was based on a national survey that was solicited via e-mail – using the Keeping Pace report and Google searches to identify the various virtual schools. She was able to contact a variety of different types of online teachers.

She used an interesting model for contacting the teachers, which she called “Tailored Method Design (Dillman, 2007)”, which I think was useful for other researchers. It followed:

Step 1 – pre-notification e-mail
Step 2 – E-mail with survey access link
Step 3 – E-mail with survey access link
Step 4 – Follow-up e-mail
Step 5 – Final e-mail (included an MS Word version)

Leanna specifically mentioned that she received positive feedback from the respondents concerning her use of this model, particularly Step 1. She noted that none of the teachers completed the MS Word version (i.e., they either completed it online or not at all).

In her searching, Leanna identified 2262 potential respondents. Based on the e-mail sent out in Step 1, 413 bounced back as undeliverable – 48 were corrected and re-sent for a total sample of 1897. Of those, it was determined that 102 teachers did not meet the criteria so the survey was sent to 1795 online teachers.

There were 549 respondents and the sample represented all 50 states, although none of the online teachers in Michigan or New Mexico completed the survey. Of those who did complete the survey:

-77% were female

-63% were between 26-45 years of age

-91% were Caucasian

-they had an average of 14 years of overall teaching experience

-they had an average 4 years of online teaching experience

-62% had Master’s degree and 13% had more than Master’s

-54% full time and 36% were part-time

Compared to traditional teachers, there were 21% more online teachers with Master’s degree than brick-and-mortar teachers. Also, there were 6% more online teachers with higher than Master’s degree education than what is found in brick-and-mortar schools.

In looking at some of the differences between part-time online teachers and full-time online teachers. For example, part-time online teachers had on average 4 more years teaching experience and 0.4 years more online teaching experience.

Of the online teachers who responded:

-81% reported teaching asynchronously

-38% reported to teaching in state-based schools, while 31% reported to teaching in an online school managed by a local education authority

-80% of respondents taught all of their classes online with an average of 97 students

Interestingly, when asked who authored the content that the online teacher taught with, they responded:

-38% the teacher themselves

-42% a content provider

-20% a curriculum specialist

-15% a colleague

-7% other (e.g., a team of teachers – and the online teacher may have been one of those, a textbook provider, etc.)

With the qualitative data, the teachers were asked an open-ended question about why they taught online. The responses included:

-ability to work from home (19%0

-new model of education (14%0

-need for employment (10%)

-flexibility (8%)

-retirees (3%)

In response to another open-ended question, K-12 online teachers also reported:

-63% reported a positive response to teaching online

-29% had mixed experience (challenging, but rewarding)

-8% had a negative experience

Finally, participants found online distance education allowed them to work more one-on-one with students and being able to provide them with more individual support, moreso than the brick-and-mortar environment.

Again, sorry I missed the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) stuff that Kent presented at the beginning (which formed the lens through which Leanna looked at this data). If you’re reading this Leanna, please add a few sentences in the comments to describe the part that I missed.

organic mama
October 22, 2006 at 5:14 pm

What is also so galling is that this is a viable conversation topic AT ALL. Will they train the students on effective blocking and/or throwing techniques? What about the counseling for those students who worry about A. whether it will ever happen and B. what if they don’t do it right. Doesn’t this sound like satire? Why not body armor? How about we stop the GUNS in this flipping country!! Apologies for soapboxing, but this is INSANE!!

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More Musings About Current Events.
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The superintendent of our school district called my cell phone Monday morning and left a message inviting me to watch the school board meeting on public access cable on Monday night. The first thing I have to say is DAMN! School board meetings are BORING!

As promised, the superintendent spoke about school security, and rather early in the meeting (thank heaven!). While he talked a lot about locked doors and security cameras, crisis preparedness and how closely the school district works with the city’s police and fire departments, he didn’t mention anything about EDUCATION.

I really think many of our current school violence problems can be alleviated through education. We need to TEACH kids how to deal with their stress just like we teach them language, mathematics and how to avoid drug use. We need to show children that it’s not okay to cope with your problems with violence. As responsible adults in schools and other child-rich environments, we need to be aware of which of our students come from homes and family situations that may be prone to pass, shall we say, less-than-ideal social skills to the students. We need to know which students share their homes with guns.

Let me say that again: We need to know which children share their homes with guns.

Why do I want to invade the general privacy of some families by knowing whether the household owns a gun? The same superintendent who spoke about door locks and security cameras wrote to me last week in response to my email. He told me that, when he was principal of my daughters’ school about ten years ago, a fifth grader brought a .375 to school, and that the weapon had been discharged in a classroom by accident. Locks on school doors and security cameras would have done nothing to prevent this.

When I was strolling up and down our city’s main street during the annual autumn festival this past weekend, I saw that our police station had a tent set up along side the merchants and service companies. An officer stood in full uniform behind a bin of trigger locks. A bin of FREE trigger locks. A bin of free trigger locks standing behind a sign that essentially said “please take one – no questions asked.” While no one was hurt in the .357 incident, a trigger lock could have prevented the punchline of the whole story (though it could be argued that a nine year old having access to a gun in the first place should be a felony offense on the part of the parents).

It’s all about education. We need to teach parents to be responsible with the care and keeping of whatever weapons they feel they need to possess. We need to teach children to deal with their feelings in socially acceptable ways. We need to teach everyone to see themselves in others and to do no harm.

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elise
November 16, 2006 at 2:02 am

Oooh, I just discovered you through the NaBloPoMo thing and am thrilled.

You see, in my circle I am referred to as the “Spelling Nazi” but it’s never really been limited to spelling .

Do a post on answering the phone!

“Hello, may I speak with Mr. X?”
“Yes, this is him ”

Aaaaaggghhh! It kills me.

Reply

8 Comments.
feather
November 14, 2006 at 5:47 pm

My brother has stopped watching sports shows in the living room because I inevitably wander through and complain about the announcers’ grammar.

Though I do admit to frequently messing up well and good in the “How are you doing?” instance. The fact that most people, myself included, drop the implied “doing” from “I’m well” trips me up. And what about if you drop the “I’m” completely and just give a one word response? It sounds strange to say “well,” and it would probably get me very strange looks if I did it here, in my small midwestern hometown. I think that perhaps this is one area where language is evolving past the rules of grammar. In practical day-to-day usage outside of English departments it seems perfectly acceptable, maybe even more appropriate, to say “good” in response to “How’s it going?”

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3 Comments.
organic mama
November 13, 2006 at 10:16 am

Why do you WANT one?

Perhaps you’re nuts. Maybe it is to show you can. Why not? I mean, aside from the years of work and piles of money.

Ph.D. is the pinnacle, the ultimate academic achievement, and I want to go for one too. Why? Well, because it predicates a great deal of specific, primary research that it entirely up to YOU. Instant expert, albeit in a narrow field, as a result of courses you want to take, things you want to write about and research that YOU direct. I feel like the next few professional years are clandestine research for what I will eventually want to scrutinize for a Ph,D,.

PLUS at the end of the road there’s a squishy hat and really cool robes.

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Petit Posted August 31, 2006 at 7:26 pm | Permalink

Using new windows to open off site links can be frustrating or not.

If I want to make sure, my readers finds their way back from a visit somewhere else, I may open them a new window, but a named one. This means that clicking many window opening links on my site, will paint all the off site stuff in the same window.

I’m not using this technique often though, just when I invite my visitors to take a short excursion in the middle of my text.

Lorelle, don’t you contradict yourself a bit here?

In your excellent tutorial “A Tagging Bookmarklet for WordPress and WordPress.com Users”, under “Changing the Tagging Bookmarklet Tag Links” you say about bookmarklet links:

“They can be off-site or on-site (intrasite) links. I personally prefer to keep my visitors on my blog, so I use intrasite links.”

Yes, you do for some strange reason.
Your writing is good enough, that I’m coming back time and again, despite the fact, that I’m visiting others as well

Behind the Scenes of Blogging: How I Blog Series by Blogging Herald.

The Blogging Herald has started a “How I Blog” series featuring interviews and posts by a variety of bloggers on how they blog.

The bloggers share their methodology and practices about how they blog, including why they blog. The range of tips, advice, and techniques is educational for all bloggers, but the overriding theme is passion. These people really care about what they write and what they have to say and it guides their work. And they come up with some amazing ways of incorporating blogging into their lives.

A good number of these have a substantial income from their blogging, so it’s also a look into the business side of blogging.

Check it out.

Site Search Tags: blogging , blog , blogger , write , writer , tips , advice , techniques , writing , life , lives , work , business , company , professional , interview , series , corporate Copyright Lorelle VanFossen , member of the 9Rules Network

mrschili
December 30, 2007 at 11:06 am

It’s a class that meets once a week – on Monday mornings – for two hours. The rest of the credit hours are done “online,” whatever the instructor cares to make that mean.

In the past, I’ve just given them homework assignments that have to be submitted to me via the internet and called that the online portion of the class. I’m insanely dissatisfied with that, though, as I know that most of the students did insufficient work to make the online portion any kind of valuable.

What I really want is to make the kids learn half the class material on their own – a long shot, given that most of them, in my experience, aren’t exactly self-starters. I’m trying to figure out a way that I can direct them to websites and activities that will teach them the concepts that I WOULD be giving them if we met Monday/Wednesday – making them do the “Wednesday” part of the class on their own. I’ve just got to decide HOW I’m going to do that and WHERE to send them online to get the material – oh, and what to have them do to demonstrate that they’ve actually DONE it…

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8 Comments.
mrschili
December 4, 2007 at 6:25 am

Seester, there’s nothing wrong with you at all, tragically or otherwise. Sometimes, stories just don’t work for us, despite their being favorites of seemingly everyone else. There are a few stories I feel that way about, too. Tell me, though – is that why you want to go with a new book for the DSBC? Hmmmmm?

Falcon, it’s been literally decades since I’ve seen the Mr. Magoo version; I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Rich Little. That you have them on VHS doesn’t help me, though; the lightning strike we had a few summers back took out our VCR, and we never replaced it….

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I think I mentioned this before, but since I have come to Wayne State University I have formed two research groups with some of the graduate students. One of these groups was focused on gaming in education, the other was focused on K-12 online learning. Basically the group meets once a month to discuss some reading that we have selected, and we also undertake a variety of project (or they become involved in different projects that I am currently involved with).

This past semester the group of graduate students that form the K-12 online learning research group and I have been working on a glossary of virtual schooling. Basically, it’s purpose is to collect all of the terms that we can think of related to virtual school and to define them (based upon existing definitions in the literature or by creating our own definitions).

At this stage, we are ready to announce the glossary:

http://virtualschool.wikispaces.com/glossary

In addition to announcing the results of our efforts, we would also like to encourage feedback from the virtual school community. So, if you have comments about any terms that we may be missing or any definitions that you’d like to suggest revisions to, please e-mail me at mkbarbour-at-gmail-dot-com or post a comment to this blog.

Virtual Schooling in the News.

Beginning with the Yahoo News! Alert for virtual school.

I-SS tests virtual school program
Mooresville TribuneMon, 07 Apr 2008 7:11 AM PDT
Iredell-Statesville Schools is one of nine school districts statewide implementing the N.C. Virtual Public School pilot program. The school district began offering the online courses during last year’s summer school sessions.
I-SS testing virtual school program

Statesville Record & LandmarkMon, 07 Apr 2008 2:17 AM PDT
Iredell-Statesville Schools is one of nine school districts statewide implementing the N.C. Virtual Public School pilot program. The school district began offering the online courses during last yearaˆ™s summer school sessions. Students throughout I-SS have completed 837 courses, with Collaborative College for Technology and Leadership (CCTL) students leading the way. NCVPS Executive …

Brooklyn’s Edward R. Murrow High School Wins First Place in Fourth Annual US Network of Virtual Enterprises and …
Business Wire via Yahoo! FinanceTue, 08 Apr 2008 12:50 PM PDT
NEW YORK—-Two New York City high schools and one California high school won the top three awards in the fourth annual US Network of Virtual Enterprises & Merrill Lynch National Business Plan Competition of aspiring young business managers from public high schools across the country.

Kaplan Virtual Education Renames Private Online High School Kaplan College Preparatory School
Business Wire via Yahoo! FinanceTue, 08 Apr 2008 5:30 AM PDT
HOLLYWOOD, Fla.—-Kaplan Virtual Education today announced that it has changed the name of its private online high school to Kaplan College Preparatory School. Previously called the University of Miami Online High School, the renaming serves to align the college preparatory high school with the Kaplan family of companies.
Doyle signs virtual school agreement into law
Stevens Point JournalMon, 07 Apr 2008 3:41 PM PDT
MADISON, Wis. (AP) Gov. Jim Doyle has signed into law a bill that will keep online public charter schools open. The deal was reached by the Legislature and passed last month. Changes were required after an appeals court ruled last year that the virtual schools were violating state laws on charter schools, teacher licensing and open enrollment. The ruling threatened to close 12 schools that …
Kaplan renames online high school
South Florida Business JournalTue, 08 Apr 2008 9:43 AM PDT
Kaplan Virtual Education said it has changed the name of University of Miami Online High School to Kaplan College Preparatory School to align the college preparatory institution with the Kaplan family of companies.
Doyle signs virtual school agreement
The Appleton Post-CrescentTue, 08 Apr 2008 2:24 AM PDT
MADISON Gov. Jim Doyle signed into law Monday a bill that will keep online public charter schools open.

Doyle signs virtual school agreement into law
WKBT La CrosseMon, 07 Apr 2008 2:42 PM PDT
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Gov. Jim Doyle has signed into law a bill that will keep online public charter schools open. The deal was reached by the Legislature and passed last month.

No more private tuitions for school kids… enter the virtual classroom
Express IndiaTue, 08 Apr 2008 11:14 PM PDT
With the new academic session for school students beginning in April, E-learning is vying for its space in the education…

Kaplan renames UM online high school
Sun-SentinelWed, 09 Apr 2008 0:29 AM PDT
The University of Miami Online High School, run by Hollywood-based Kaplan Virtual Education , has been renamed the Kaplan College Preparatory School to better align it with the Kaplan companies. The school, which counts about 3,000 enrollments in its grade 8 through 12 online curriculum, has been offering secondary education courses since 2001.

Virtual school to hold information session
The Times-NewsFri, 11 Apr 2008 11:36 PM PDT
Staff report The Idaho Distance Education Academy will hold an information session about the school and enrollment from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday in Burley.

Next the Yahoo! News Alert for cyber school.

No cliques, lots of clicks
The Daily ItemSat, 05 Apr 2008 9:13 PM PDT
LAIRDSVILLE — Tasha Snyder sums up the best thing about cyber school in two words: “No drama.” She opted for online high school because there was entirely too much social angst at her former high school.

PA Cyber Charter School Honors Online Teachers
PR Newswire via Yahoo! FinanceThu, 10 Apr 2008 1:50 PM PDT
The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School has recognized 15 of its online teachers in an ongoing Teacher of the Month program.

Chambersburg Academy funding partially at risk
The Herald-MailSat, 12 Apr 2008 5:14 AM PDT
CHAMBERSBURG, PA. – Chambersburg Academy, an online educational program started last year by the Chambersburg Area School District, could be among the programs facing a cut in the district’s 2008-09 budget. Begun as a pilot program for homebound and alternative education students, as well as a way to lure district students back from cyber charter schools, Chambersburg Academy has 24 slots at a …

Moving on to the Google News Alert for virtual school.

-SS testing virtual school program
Statesville Record & Landmark – NC, USA
By Chyna Broadnax Iredell-Statesville Schools is one of nine school districts statewide implementing the NC Virtual Public School pilot program. …
See all stories on this topic

Linking with NASA
Bucks Free Press – London,UK
The transatlantic conversation with pupils from the Florida Virtual School in America was arranged after Holy Trinity won an award. …
See all stories on this topic

Virtually independent
Twin Falls Times-News – Twin Falls,ID,USA
On the other hand, there are key questions about the use of public money in virtual school settings and how that money is utilized. …
See all stories on this topic

Case study: Emerson Park school ’shosted software service to …
PublicTechnology.net – UK
“Emerson Park School is being transformed into a fully fledged ‘virtual school’. Two weeks after the portal went live in June 2007, 75% of students opened …
See all stories on this topic

Police investigate charter school “hit list”
The Plain Dealer – cleveland.com – Cleveland,OH,USA
While police were at The Virtual School, in the 700 block of Lakeview Avenue, security officers there told police they saw a student hide a gun near the …
See all stories on this topic

New Web site a place to discuss school issues
Concord Journal – MA, USA
… COO Preston Carey, who said the site uses existing technology to create a virtual school community modeled on existing offline school communities. …
See all stories on this topic

Finally, the Google News Alert for cyber school.

California senior aims for career in academia
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review – Pittsburgh,PA,USA
When Wohar finishes high school, she said, she will miss the good friends both here and at her cyber school. “Educationally and individually, they both have …
See all stories on this topic