AERA 2013 – The Nature of Online Teacher Engagement at the Open High School of Utah

Im at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, taking place from 27 April to 01 May 2013 in San Francisco, and as best I can I will be blogging the K-12 online learning presentations that I identified from searching the program. The ninth and final session I am blogging is:

The Nature of Online Teacher Engagement at the Open High School of Utah

Presenters/Authors: Jered Borup (Brigham young University), Charles R. Graham (Brigham Young University)

Scheduled Time: 8:00am – 10:00am
Building/Room: Parc 55, Fourth Level – Mission I
In Session: K-12 and Community College Online Environments

Abstract: This research analyzed 22 interviews with 11 instructors at the Open High School of Utah—an online charter school with an overall course pass rate of 80% and higher than average standardized test scores. It was found that OHSU’s premade curriculum allowed teachers to spend the majority of their time tutoring and interacting with students. In most cases the curriculum was developed in house, allowing teachers to easily modify it to better fit student needs. In addition, teachers used a variety of strategies to motivate students. However, all teachers indicated some difficulty in engaging reluctant students because of teachers’ physical separation from students and the lack of visual cues.

Jered began with some background into K-12 online learning – as much of the audience wasn’t from a K-12 environment. Jered’s interest was the teacher and the role that the online teacher can play in improving success and retention in the online environment. He looked at the role of the online teacher through the Community of Inquiry framework. The original framework was created focused on discussion forum postings in higher education, so Jered was interested in focusing on K-12 environment and the holistic role of the online teacher – specifically the teacher presence aspects (e.g., designing and organizing, instructing, facilitating discourse, nurturing, motivating, and monitoring); which they re-named teacher engagement (as the final three of those items were things Jered added to the CoI).

The study was conducted at the Open High School of Utah – a full-time, cyber charter school that has been recognized at the state and national level. The data consistent of two interviews each with 11 of the approximately 20 teachers at OSHU.

Of the six items, the one that was the most prominent theme was facilitating discourse with students and, interestingly, with parents too. Jered went through some of the specific examples of types of discourse that the teachers had with their students and parents. There was also discourse that occurred between teachers. Jered went through the other five topics kind of quickly – providing some specific examples of each of the five remaining items (e.g., developing caring relationships under nurturing, identifying dishonesty under monitoring, or using positive praise under motivating).

Overall, the concept of teacher engagement proved useful. But there were several caveats.

AERA 2013 – Student Voices: Online High School Students’ Reactions to the Social Presence Model for a Quality Learning Experience

Im at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, taking place from 27 April to 01 May 2013 in San Francisco, and as best I can I will be blogging the K-12 online learning presentations that I identified from searching the program. The eighth session I am blogging is:

Student Voices: Online High School Students’ Reactions to the Social Presence Model for a Quality Learning Experience

Scheduled Time: 8:00am – 10:00am
Building/Room: Parc 55, Fourth Level – Mission I
In Session: K-12 and Community College Online Environments

Presenters/Authors: Somer Lewis (North Carolina Virtual Public Schools), Amy E. Garrett Dikkers (University of North Carolina – Wilmington), Aimee Whiteside (University of Tampa)

Abstract: We extended our research to learn about high school students’ needs and perceptions in regard to online learning. Through survey and other methods, we introduced students to the Social Presence Model and examined their perceptions of quality online learning and their needs as an audience. Our research questions were as follows: (a) What are students’ perceived benefits and challenges of online learning? (b) What are students’ perceptions of the Social Presence Model for quality teaching and learning in online environments? (c) Is the Social Presence Model a useful tool to gauge expectations of themselves and their teachers? Our findings revealed a few key perceptions from students that may make a marked difference for future K-12 online learning.

The study was conducted in a supplemental, statewide virtual school, with the majority of students enrolled

The first question focused on the challenges of online learning. Those challenges included: easily distracted, difficult without a teacher around at all time, questions to teachers were not answered quickly, struggled to regulate their own learning, connectivity issues, difficult to get oriented to tools and techniques of virtual school. On the benefits side, they liked the freedom to guide their own learning, a new sense of autonomy and responsibility, appreciated the increased course selection, also the ability to try school in a different format, and allow them to get a taste of the college experience.

The second question focused on what the presenters called the social presence model – which was a revision of the original social presence theory. It included: affective association, knowledge and experience, community connection, interaction intensity, and instructor involvement. The presenters found that the instructor involvement was the one that the students found to exist most prominently. The others were only found – based on student report – to only be seen from time-to-time. When asked which of the five components were most important to their learning, they indicated instructor involvement was the most important and the community connection was the least important.

Overall, the students felt that the benefits of online learning outweighed the challenges. Further, school-based personnel can help to mitigate most of the challenges. Interestingly, the students and online teachers did have differing views of what their roles were in the online environment – so there was a disconnect there. The social presence model was also far less useful to the students than it was to the teachers.

AERA 2013 – A Framework for Looking at Group Work in Asynchronous Online Courses for High School Students

Im at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, taking place from 27 April to 01 May 2013 in San Francisco, and as best I can I will be blogging the K-12 online learning presentations that I identified from searching the program. The seventh session I am blogging is:

A Framework for Looking at Group Work in Asynchronous Online Courses for High School Students

Presenter/Author: Susan Lowes (Teachers College, Columbia University)

Scheduled Time: 8:00am – 10:00am
Building/Room: Parc 55, Fourth Level – Mission I
In Session: K-12 and Community College Online Environments

Abstract: The ability to work in groups across time and space has become a frequent requirement for the workplace and is increasingly common in higher education, but there is a surprising lack of research on how online groups work. This research applies analytical approaches used in studies of face-to-face classroom “talk” to twelve groups in two online high school courses. We found two activities that demanded group problem-solving styles—one for deciding how to work as a group and a second for responding to the content of the assignment; that successful groups had directive leaders; that most groups divided the labor, working in parallel rather than collaboratively; and that there was therefore very little collaborative learning in the group projects examined.

Susan’s motivation for doing this research was focused on the importance that gets placed on group work, coupled with the fact that students don’t seem to like it or do it. Her research questions focused on how much collaboration actually occurs in group projects, what that collaboration looks like, and does collaboration affect the success of the final project. The study was conducted in two supplemental courses – one economics and one psychology – in a US-based virtual school that had students enrolled from around the world.

There are three types of group projects: cumulative (everyone adds a piece), jig-saw (everyone does a bit, need all bits to make a whole), and collaborative (everyone involved in all aspects). Susan found that regardless of the way the project was designed, students were able to take it apart and make it a cumulative project – although you wouldn’t be able to tell this from the final product.

Successful groups also had higher proportion of accepting and discussing, as opposed to rejecting (based on Barron’s work). This was particularly true of the first interactions – telling, (directive) telling with a question (tentative), asking (struggling). All of this discussion was focused on logistics, not on the content.

Groups tended to spend too much time getting organized, at least one students failed to show up in all of the groups, one student also disappeared at some point in the project for all groups, all discussions was about logistics.

In successful groups, one students took charge, other students agreed without discussing. When female students took charge, which they did most often, they did so with profuse apologies.

Finally, groups can have different styles from getting organized and actually doing the work. Those groups that were more collaborative did not do better on the final grades.

AERA 2013 – A Year in Review: An Evaluation of an Online Blended Science Curriculum Model in One Urban District

Im at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, taking place from 27 April to 01 May 2013 in San Francisco, and as best I can I will be blogging the K-12 online learning presentations that I identified from searching the program. The sixth session I am blogging is:

A Year in Review: An Evaluation of an Online Blended Science Curriculum Model in One Urban District

Presenters/Authors: Virginia Walker Snodgrass Rangel (Rice University), Jarrett Reid Whitaker (Rice University)

Scheduled Time: 10:35am – 12:05pm
Building/Room: Parc 55, Fourth Level – Cyril Magnin Foyer
In Session: Online Teaching and Learning Posters: Design and Pedagogy, and Blended Learning

Abstract: Online learning is rapidly expanding in U.S. public schools. Yet, most online programs remain understudied and it is unclear what the impact of these programs is on learning. The purpose of this study is to evaluate one online model, X STEM. This study draws on the science inquiry and the online learning literatures. The study compares student science achievement in elementary schools with X STEM to that in elementary schools without X STEM. Hierarchical linear modeling techniques will be used to analyze student performance on the 5th grade science exam in one large urban district, while controlling for classroom- and school-level factors. Early descriptive results are positive, suggesting that average scores are higher for students in X STEM classrooms.

As I have my own poster session going on at this time, and since this is a poster session, let me display the images I took of this poster.

Click on any image to enlarge.

Apologies for the quality of the images – it was VERY low light and taken using my iPhone.

AERA 2013 – A Blended Approach to Canadian First Nations Education: The Sunchild E-Learning Community

Im at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, taking place from 27 April to 01 May 2013 in San Francisco, and as best I can I will be blogging the K-12 online learning presentations that I identified from searching the program. The fifth session I am blogging is:

A Blended Approach to Canadian First Nations Education: The Sunchild E-Learning Community

Presenter/Author: Norman Davis Vaughan (Mount Royal University)

Scheduled Time: 10:35am – 12:05pm
Building/Room: Parc 55, Fourth Level – Cyril Magnin Foyer
In Session: Online Teaching and Learning Posters: Design and Pedagogy, and Blended Learning

Abstract: The purpose of this research study was to investigate if and how a blended approach to Canadian First Nations education could be used to foster student engagement and success. The study examined the Sunchild E-Learning Community program (2012) through the lens of the Seven Principles of Effective Teaching (Chickering & Gamson, 1999). Data was collected via an online survey, interviews, and site visits. The study participants indicated that the deliberate and intentional integration of local learning centers and mentors with online teachers, who provide synchronous tutorials through the use of a web-based learning management system and conferencing tool, was the key to academic success.

As I have my own poster session going on at this time, and since this is a poster session, let me display the images I took of this poster.

Click on any of the images to enlarge them.

Apologies for the quality of the images – it was VERY low light and taken using my iPhone.