1st in a two-part blog series

Having a great partner makes all the difference in life. For school districts across the U.S., joining forces with a high-quality online education provider offers students and teachers additional opportunities for success.

While the COVID pandemic necessitated that schools quickly adopt emergency online learning, many districts had already embraced the benefits of hybrid and online learning. They realized that, with the right partner, the boundaries of traditional learning can give way to a whole new world of educational opportunities.

“Online learning is here to stay,” said Jenny Oakley, director of eLearning & Literacy, Metropolitan School District of Martinsville and an Indiana Online partner. “It is the way of this generation, and that trend toward digital content will continue to grow. Martinsville immediately pivoted to address this reality, and we are honored to now be in this unique space we serve.”

A member of the Virtual Learning Leadership Alliance, Indiana Online is among 20 member programs offering supplemental online learning to school districts throughout the country. All are committed to serving as trusted education partners through online, hybrid, and supplemental learning.

A custom online fit for each district’s unique needs

Just what does a supplemental online school partnership look like? That’s the beauty of it – programs are designed to fulfill the district’s needs and vision. For Greene County Public Schools in Virginia, its collaborative efforts with Virtual Virginia, another VLLA member, covers several programs.

“We partner with Virtual Virginia so we may offer a larger variety of electives, AP, and world language course options,” said JoAnne Fox, online learning coordinator for Greene County Public Schools. “We also partnered with Virtual Virginia in implementing a learning management system that we use to deliver instruction to students who may miss school for a variety of reasons, including extended illnesses.”

Many districts, especially those in rural communities, rely on supplemental online education to broaden their course selections. Some need the basics while many others want to offer their students an array of choices so they can explore interests and discover new ones.

The Newport School District in Pennsylvania offers K-12 full-time online schooling. Students in K-5 are monitored and taught by the school’s own teacher while grades 6-12 are monitored by one in-house teacher, an advisor, and certified teachers provided through vendor partnerships and the Capital Area Online Learning Association (CAOLA), a VLLA member.

“Supplemental online learning is utilized significantly at Newport,” said Scott McGrady, director of curriculum, instruction and assessment for the Newport School District. “As a small district, we utilize online learning to supplement core curriculum, add supports for students, provide enrichment opportunities and experiences, enhance our career exploration program, and offer courses that would not otherwise be available.”

From American sign language and AP classes to educator enrichment and certifications, districts recognize the value of a trusted online resource.

The many benefits of supplemental online learning

Students can easily recite what they like about online learning – flexibility, self-paced, personal teacher interactions, self-motivating, and more. Districts also see many benefits, including enhanced student-teacher interactions, according to Bruce Enzmann, virtual learning coordinator of the Office of Teaching and Learning for Virginia Beach (VA) City Public Schools.

“Because it’s highly adaptable, virtual learning can often better meet students where they are academically, emotionally, and socially,” said Enzmann. “Virtual classrooms allow teachers to offer more support to their students through phone calls, emails, chats, videos, text messages, and more.”

Enzmann credits online education for encouraging students to be self-motivated and organized while developing critical problem-solving and research skills. Like others, he also notes online learning’s flexibility as a popular benefit for not only students but teachers, too.

“The benefits for teachers are like those for students. Teachers can work from their home office or any remote location, and it typically involves fewer hours teaching whole group sessions and more time in asynchronous and small-group instruction,” he said.

Just as there are all types of learners so, too, are there reasons for school districts to align with a supplemental online provider that best meets their needs and those of their students, educators, and community.

Across America’s rural communities, online learning partnerships are planting seeds for student success. As these cooperative efforts grow in our heartlands, so, too, does the measurable impact on rural K-12 learners.

In its March 2022 publication “Partnering for Rural Student Success: Best Practices for K-12 Districts and State Virtual Schools,”  the i4tl Center for Research and Innovation examines relations between virtual school programs and rural schools. The study highlights the positive outcomes for students, schools, communities, and teachers.

For the report, the Center outlined the significant impact of state virtual school programs on rural education from across the U.S., including VLLA member Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, and South Carolina.  To best understand and quantify the positive impact virtual learning has on rural settings, the research focused on common characteristics of successful partnerships.

Among these characteristics are the development of alternative accessibility and funding models, support of high-quality implementation of digital teaching and learning, and creative programming that expands learning opportunities. Additionally, continual data collection is key to a program’s success. 

NC Virtual: A Case Study for Rural Collaboration

The power of partnerships, especially how it relates to rural education, is evident to many of the country’s top online providers. NC Virtual, a member of the Virtual Learning Leadership Alliance, embraces the importance of educational equity for students in rural North Carolina.

“As an increasingly mobile society, there is a high likelihood that students in rural areas will ultimately live elsewhere,” said Rachel McBroom, Ph.D., chief academic officer at NC Virtual. “To ensure that these students are competitive in the future marketplace, the educational community must ensure that all students, no matter their zip code, have access to the educational opportunities necessary to ensure their lifelong success.”

North Carolina serves over a half million rural students, representing more than 1 in 3 of the state’s public school students. The state has long considered how to best address rural inequities in part of the long-standing Leandro lawsuit filed in 1994 by low-wealth rural districts over the issue of funding. The state has used strategies such as supplemental funding and comprehensive support models from the state education agency. Currently, the state is studying various funding options which address rural schools’ ability to provide an equitable educational experience.

To support collaboration between the state’s public schools and online learning programs, NC Virtual has partnered with rural schools in a number of ways. The driving factor in these partnerships is for NC Virtual to help its rural partners supplement their existing programs to meet their students’ needs, according to McBroom.

Co-teaching courses illustrates one type of partnership. These co-taught courses pair teachers in the face-to-face school with an experienced online teacher. Rural schools that struggle to provide mentors for their new teachers have embraced this model. NC Virtual’s experienced online teachers can provide mentoring to newly licensed teachers in rural schools as they co-teach content.

“Online learning allows rural schools to offer its students expanded opportunities,” said McBroom. “Common challenges faced by rural schools include limited fundings and/or human resources. Through online learning, rural students gain access to a wider variety of courses previously only available at larger urban schools.”

Collaborations not Kingdoms: An Analogy for Educational Access

Just over 1,600 miles northwest of North Carolina sits the Center for Distance Education in North Dakota, another staunch advocate for public school-online learning partnerships. In fact, State Director/Superintendent Matthew Lonn, Ed.D., muses that schools cannot operate as kingdoms.

“Maybe that is a little bit extreme,” said Lonn. “But the point is important. School districts do not have the luxury to function like a kingdom in Europe during the Middle Ages … or Game of Thrones if that’s an easier reference.”

The reference alludes to the typical kingdom in Middle Age Europe which had a strict social order. There was the upper-class nobility, the middle-class merchants and other educated professionals and, finally, the lowest level of the social ladder made up of the peasant class. The basic governmental structure was termed the feudal system, a kingdom made up of lords who owned large land estates often worked by the peasant and merchant class. The lords vowed allegiance to the region’s king. In return, the king protected the lords, and the lords protected their peasants in the event of attack. As such, the peasants promised to serve the lords and the king during times of war and provide funding via taxes.

Middle Age Europe was a time in history with much upheaval. Trade between kingdoms was often a dangerous venture. Kings and queens collaborated little with neighboring kingdoms because many felt they could provide everything they needed on their own. In addition, there was a general lack of trust regarding the ambitions of neighboring kings and or queens. The result was a map of scattered European kingdoms that relied on their own feudal systems for their prosperity and survival. The only real way to expand a kingdom’s resources was to invade another.

“Eerie parallels can be drawn between the Middle Ages and present-day school districts,” said Lonn. “Many districts today are very hierarchical in how they are managed. Most still follow a standard social order of superintendent, assistant superintendent, principal, assistant principal, teachers, students. Each has certain expectations placed on them that are associated with their position level.”

School districts also have confined land areas that they can legally operate in. Although to be fair, taxpayers do have the authority to vote on property tax increases which puts a little chink in the armor of this analogy. In addition, districts do not often invade neighboring districts, although, they do sometimes compete for students.

Unlike kingdoms during Middle Age Europe, school districts cannot fall into the trap of thinking they can meet the needs of their constituency in the 21^st century without partnering and collaborating with multiple regional, state, and national partners. Knowledge today is vast and supposedly doubling every 12 hours. New and improved services are being developed and improved constantly.

“If a school district is going to make sure that their students have access to quality content presented in mediums that have been shown to help kids learn, they can’t rely on their own staff to do it,” said Lonn. “They simply don’t have the time and resources.”

Instead, by partnering with organizations that invest heavily in new content development and technology, a district can allow teachers and support staff the opportunity to do what they do well. That is to work daily with kids, building positive relationships and helping navigate a world that is in a constant state of change.

Instead of each district trying to act as a fully self-sustaining organization, they must recognize the advantages of specialized education for students. Online learning programs do certain things well, including the delivery of high-quality online content and assessment via a Learning Management System and Student Information System. These complex systems are growing and changing almost daily.

“By partnering with regional, state, or national online learning programs, districts do not have to spend time and valuable resources providing a medium of learning that is not their strength,” asserts Lonn.

In contrast, classroom teachers do things well that online programs often struggle with. Hands-on, project-based group learning, live discussions and debate, and one-on-one tutoring are all advantages possessed by face-to-face school districts. By focusing on these advantages with their staff, districts have resources to provide choice and opportunity to students that they do not otherwise have the funds to offer for learners.

“What eventually killed the constant state of war that plagued Middle Age Europe was the realization that through trade and specialization with other kingdoms and nations, everyone can enjoy a higher standard of living without continual disruption,” concludes Lonn.

Many school districts realize that by partnering with online learning programs, students gain choice in their education and school district staff gain the ability to work more one-on-one with students. The result is an educational experience that provides students, especially rural learners, with the skills they need to be successful adults.

Sources:

Partnering for Rural Student Success: Best Practices for K-12 Districts and State Virtual Schools, i4tl Center for Research and Innovation, March 21, 2022, https://www.i4tlresearch.org/partnering-rural-student-success

Rachel McBroom, Ph.D., chief academic officer, NC Virtual, https://ncvps.org/

State Director/Superintendent Matthew Lonn, Ed.D., Center for Distance Education, https://www.cde.nd.gov/

At its very best, technology can connect people worlds apart, bridge cultures and create a limitless path to knowledge. Digital equity, specifically, characterizes the success of a society where all people can fully pursue the same opportunities.

Nowhere is digital equity more critical than in the education of children. Students in rural America, urban centers, and indigent communities as well as those with learning challenges all deserve quality instruction and equal access to the best learning tools. Online learning has definitively opened up a world of knowledge with multiple course selections for many K-12 students

While the COVID pandemic may have shined a revealing light on the nation’s unpreparedness, we now are emerging into a world with the very best technologies and education. Embracing digital equity and doing the work to achieve it means all children will have the opportunity to engage in high-quality learning.

Digital equity research and news abounds and is providing sage guidance to school administrators, educators, researchers, and communities. Their collective role now and post-pandemic will help guarantee that all students have the same chance of educational success.

The eSchool News offered several actions to achieve digital equity in the classroom in its 2021 article, “8 steps to digital equity after the pandemic.” Superintendents from across the country provided insights on how best to resolve the issue, including access, student and educator training, monitoring, and reporting outcomes.

New research from Michigan Virtual, a member of the Virtual Learning Leadership Alliance, emphasizes the need for digital learning initiatives to align with the instructional program. Focus must remain on student, teacher, and school community needs in an environment that joins technology, content, instructional strategies, and learning principles.

The research acknowledges the efforts already underway and encourages further development, saying, “… school leaders continue to push forward to design and implement learning models aimed at providing an equitable education for their students — models that meet the needs of all students. These leaders will continue to rely upon digital resources to evolve their learning models to better serve their students.”

Yes, the pandemic was long and challenging for many, especially educators and students. The very best of technology and education, however, awaits teachers and students as they emerge from the pandemic. Embracing digital equity and doing the work to achieve it means all children will have the opportunity to engage in high-quality learning.

Sources

https://www.digitalinclusion.org/definitions/

https://www.iste.org/explore/Lead-the-way/5-things-every-educator-should-know-about-digital-equity

https://www.digitalequityact.org/

https://www.nsba.org/ASBJ/2021/june/digital-equity-for-all

• Pew Research

https://www.digitallearningcollab.com/equity-and-access

https://michiganvirtual.org/research/publications/vision-digital-learning-michigan-schools/

A Vision of Digital Learning in Michigan K-12 Schools, Sept2021

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/06/22/digital-divide-persists-even-as-americans-with-lower-incomes-make-gains-in-tech-adoption/

https://www.eschoolnews.com/2021/01/22/8-steps-to-digital-equity-after-the-pandemic/#

It’s no secret that children’s screen time has increased with modern technology and a year spent primarily learning online. Coupling additional screen time with other distractions can cause students to lose focus. This is a concern shared by parents and schools who are deciding how to best implement virtual options for the upcoming school year. So, how do we keep students engaged when they’re learning in front of a computer screen?

For anyone considering virtual learning, or instructors looking for strategies to engage students in their online course, don’t worry. A bit of innovation will help keep students engaged and interested in learning online.

Use various forms of media

Today’s students are very attuned to the latest technology. More students spend time creating digital content and expect to use these multimedia resources to learn since they are familiar with the platform. In fact, 40% of K-12 students said they find online videos help them better understand concepts they are learning in school, according to a survey conducted by Project Tomorrow.

Apart from videos, teachers can use animations, music, polls and other forms of media to enhance the learning experience. We’re past the era of PowerPoint slides with endless blocks of text. Students need something more engaging to stay interested in the lesson.

Connection to instructional design standards

In addition to various forms of media, effective online courses utilize instructional design strategies to keep students engaged in the learning process. The National Standards for Quality Online Courses provides a benchmark for quality online learning design practices. Standard C, Instructional Design, provides helpful indicators to address media/materials and enhanced engagement in the online course.

One example is indicator C6 states, “the online course provides learners with multiple learning paths as appropriate, based on learner needs, that engage learners in a variety of ways.” Courses designed to provide students with several ways of expressing knowledge allow for learner voice and choice. One example of this is for teachers to provide modified instruction to meet each student’s personal needs.

“Online course instructional materials and resources present content in an effective, engaging, and appropriate manner,” is indicator C9. This is achieved through providing accessible, appropriate, and relevant materials to diverse students and communicates course content in an effective way to master concepts. An example of this indicator could be presenting images by well-known painters, such as Van Gogh, to illustrate painting techniques used.

How skills learned apply to the real world

 Just because students are learning virtually doesn’t mean they need to feel detached or isolated. Building teacher-to-student and student-to- student relationships are important for a successful learning experience. Include opportunities for virtual synchronous class discussions to show your students how to apply skills they learn online outside of class.

These real-world applications help prepare students for college and future careers. In the hands of well-trained and knowledgeable teachers, digital learning has the potential to support the following, according to the International Literacy Association:

• Personalized and self-paced learning
• A positive emotional climate
• Social and emotional learning
• Authentic real-world learning
• Collaborative learning
• Data gathering, analysis and timely feedback

When students understand how the skills they learn online apply outside of the classroom, they’re more involved and better prepared for life after schooling.

Instructor strategies

Even though students are learning asynchronous most of the time, teachers can implement several strategies to stay connected with the students, guide their learning and keep them engaged.

Here are some ways to maintain connections with students, based on Virtual South Carolina’s Delivering Effective Digital Instruction guide:

• Check in with students daily via web conference, email, and/or telephone
• Use humor and share stories.
• Be transparent with the students and let them know that this is as much of a learning experience for you as it is for them.
• Use students’ names during your live sessions, in written communication, and in assignment feedback.
• Utilize video conferencing tools for face-to-face meetings or pick up the telephone to call students – especially when they need assistance, when you need to explain complex concepts, or when you sense a disconnect.
• Contact parents and guardians regularly to ensure they know what is expected of students and to assuage any concerns they have.
• Remind students and guardians that this is a different mode of teaching for everyone. Allow them grace and ask for grace in return.
• Follow up on all communication as soon as possible to keep the lines open.
• Keep a record of all communication you have with students and parents. A log will be a useful reference in case issues and questions arise.

How parents can help

Some students may need more assistance and education management, and that’s where parents can help. One way is to set guidelines for smartphone use. A major focus in daily life, phones can distract students when they are not physically in the classroom. Powering down phones and putting them away limits distractions if they aren’t needed for online sessions.

Just because online learning can be done from home doesn’t mean routines should go out the door. Helping your student set up a routine will help them stay focused on learning. For example, eating a good breakfast before starting any lesson can boost a student’s performance. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and helps with focus and eliminates multi-tasking during class lessons.

Keeping students’ attention in such a tech-centric environment can present challenges but none are insurmountable. Working together with students in the virtual classroom can aid educators in deciding which online learning tips work best for them.

Key words: engaging, media, videos, smartphones, virtual, learning, skills, technology, online, students