A colleague of mine, back on Saturday, alerted me to the fact that this article had finally been published on Twitter.
What are They Doing and How are They Doing It? Rural Student Experiences in Virtual Schooling
Michael K. Barbour and Janette Hill
The Journal of Distance Education / Revue de l’Éducation à Distance, Vol 25, No 1 (2011)
Abstract This qualitative study examined a Canadian virtual school learning experience for students and the kinds of support and assistance most frequently used and valued by students learning in a virtual environment. Students were interviewed and observed during their virtual school classes. In-school teachers were also interviewed and online teachers were also observed. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. Findings indicated that during their scheduled asynchronous class time students were often assigned seatwork or provided time to work on assignments, however, students rarely used this time to complete virtual schoolwork. It was during their synchronous class time that both the students and the online teachers were most productive. Students sought assistance from local classmates before turning to their online teacher or in-school teachers, and did not use the other support systems provided by the virtual school.
Résumé Cette étude qualitative a porté sur une expérience canadienne d’apprentissage pour les élèves en école virtuelle ainsi que les types de soutien et d’aide les plus couramment utilisés et prisés par les étudiants qui font des apprentissages dans un environnement virtuel. Les étudiants ont été interviewés et observés pendant leur cours virtuels. Des enseignants travaillant à l’école ont également été interviewés et des enseignants travaillant en ligne ont aussi été observés. Les données recueillies ont été analysées à l’aide de la méthode comparative constante. Les résultats démontrent que pendant leur temps de class asynchrone déterminé, les étudiants se faisaient souvent donner du travail individuel ou donner du temps pour travailler à leurs devoirs. Toutefois, les étudiants utilisaient rarement ce temps pour effectuer des travaux scolaires virtuels. C’était durant leur temps de classe synchrone qu’à la fois les étudiants et les enseignants en ligne étaient les plus productifs. Les étudiants faisaient appel à l’aide de leurs pairs locaux avant de recourir à leur enseignant en ligne ou aux enseignants travaillant à l’école et ils n’utilisaient pas les autres systèmes de soutien fournis par l’école virtuelle.
Available online at: http://www.jofde.ca/index.php/jde/article/view/725/1248
This is the long awaited overview article from my dissertation. This is actually the second article from my dissertation, as I added a context chapter that was published prior to the submission of my dissertation. In addition, I hope to craft a specific manuscript from each of the three research questions over the next few months. I also have one article in press, one manuscript under review, and one manuscript under revising from data taken from the four participants that I had to exclude from my dissertation study due to incomplete data sets. So I am hoping that in the end my dissertation will result in eight different articles.
It has actually been a good thirty days for me, as since 11 June – including this article – I have had four that have made it into print:
- Asynchronous And Synchronous Online Teaching: Perspectives Of Canadian High School Distance Education Teachers
- An Examination Of Government Policies For E-Learning In New Zealand’s Secondary Schools
- The Promise And The Reality: Exploring Virtual Schooling In Rural Jurisdictions
Thanks to my co-authors on this one and the first two on that list.
