Classifying K-12 Online Learning: A Look at Pennsylvania

To get a better understanding of online learning for our Virtual School MOOC, I examined several of the cyber programs that are available to Pennsylvania residents.  Four of the programs I briefly classify are regional virtual charter schools with a connection to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and because of this, Pennsylvania students are able to attend for free - the fees are covered by taxes paid by PA residents.  The last one is a district created cyber program servicing the students who attend their schools.  Each school/program was created to fulfill a unique need, and each is set up differently in reference to their curriculum and manner of supporting students.

This list is by no means comprehensive, as there are more cyber schools servicing students in Pennsylvania.  In fact, of the nine new charter schools that have opened in Pennsylvania this year, four are cyber charter schools.

PA Cyber – The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School

A regional virtual public charter school, PA Cyber was created to educate students in an area where the local high school had shut down due to a declining tax base.  It currently has over 10,000 students from Pennsylvania in attendance, and utilizes National Network of Digital Schools for its curriculum.

Commonwealth Connections Academy

This regional virtual  public charter school offers its services specifically to Pennsylvania residents.  Enrollment at its partner company, Connections Academy, is also available to Pennsylvania students, but as a national organization which charges a fee, not one where attendance is covered through PA taxes. Their curriculum is offered through Connections Academy.

PA Virtual – PAVirtual Charter School

This regional virtual public charter school in Pennsylvania opened in 2001, and currently serves over 3,400 Pennsylvania students.  Through a partnership with K12, a national company, PA Virtual offers a comprehensive curriculum for its students.

 21stCentury Cyber Charter School

A regional virtual public charter school servicing Pennsylvania students in grades 6-12, 21st CCCS was started as a collaborative effort  between the Intermediate Units of Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties, representing 64 school districts.  This charter school’s curriculum was developed by Pennsylvania certified teachers based upon PA Standards.

QCSD Cyber Program - Quakertown Community School District 

A district-based program, QCSD Cyber was created to meet the needs of students within the Quakertown Community School District.  Students may take as many online classes as needed to meet their graduation requirements from the district.  They offer an outreach program through a collaboration with the Bucks County Intermediate Unit to assist other districts in creating in-house online programs called Bridges Virtual Education Services.

Blended Learning - That which we call a rose...

A question of linguistics - how do you describe your online program?  I've found that conversations can get confusing, convoluted and down-right difficult when individuals discuss online learning programs.  In semantics, meaning is sometimes confused, or lost all together.  iNACOL has taken strides to work through this definition jungle, offering the Online Learning Definitions Project, and while I have never been a fan of jargon (my humble apologies, researchers) the question warrants discussion, especially as classrooms extend beyond their four walls achieving, sometimes, global reach.

My background with blended learning began as I coached teachers through integrating technology into their brick-and-mortar classes.  As our school district added a virtual program to meet the growing needs of students, and implemented a 1:1 computer environment at the high school setting, that role expanded to helping teachers find content-rich materials to add to both their fully online and/or blended brick-and-mortar class.  The idea was to offer ubiquitous learning - anytime, anywhere - as students' needs and interests continued to blossom under the influence of Web 2.0 philosophies and the constructivist classroom.  Teachers were able to create learning environments, rich with multimedia and online resources, that not only supplemented their curriculum, but became a integral part of it.

In our district, there was little difficulty in explaining what we were trying to accomplish for students.  If there was any confusion, it was easy to focus back on students and question, "What must we as an institution do in order to meet the needs of students?"  However, once I ventured outside of our district, and became engrossed in the panoramic online education landscape - vibrant with nuance and unique circumstances - my understanding of blended learning became muddled when reading the research, or having conversations with practitioners around the world.

Although these conversations have helped me grow as a professional, this adolescence has been painful, with misconceptions and misunderstanding abounding.  However, I have recently been introduced to a graphic which has offered a much clearer picture of what I've been trying to describe to others.  Through Greg Vanourek's Defining Dimensions of Online Learning I was offered my "a-ha" moment.

For me, it has been impossible to have a word, or word pairing, that encompasses all that is involved in online learning. This graphic - complete with punctuated stop lines that show divisions between concrete "types" as well as flowing arrows to designate a continuum - offered me the first clear picture, in my mind, of a way to describe, compare and contrast ones online program in a way that would be discernible to others.

I believe my confusion stemmed from an understanding of what "blended" learning is, and once that concept was in mind, a plethora of understandings came along for the ride.  It would be like using the word "snow" to represent what is meant by "winter."  In this graphic, visually I see represented aspects, or dimensions, of an online program, and by showing what one means, rather than forcing a concept to be hammered into a word, I believe conversations can more easily take place between practitioners.  By showing and explaining aspects or dimensions of my program, anyone can compare/contrast it with their own.  For conversations, this is brilliant, and I am so pleased to have this visual reference.

For offering studies, sharing information, and research work, a clear understanding and definition of terms is important, but as I spend time learning and sharing what I'm doing through conversations, I appreciate the power of a graphic!

Leadership in Online Learning - A Missing Link

The prevalence of online learning continues to spread.  Recently, Education Week reported on a district in Wisconsin that requires its students to take an online course for graduation.  This is not a new trend, but one that has been expanding through K-12 as districts look to prepare students for the 21st Century workplace and/or continued schooling.  In both cases, part of that continued education will most likely lead to an individual taking a course through electronic means, so the preparation is more than appropriate.

As this trend grows, colleges and universities that prepare students for the education field  have started offering courses and concentration areas in best practices in online teaching.  With guidance from organizations such as iNACOL, International Association for K-12 Online Learning and SREB, Southern Regional Education Board institutions of higher education have gained a clear and solid picture of the attributes needed in order to be a successful educator in an online environment.  This understanding has helped mold stronger teacher candidates graduating from these innovative programs - an impressive and necessary occurrence.

My focus shifts to the educational leader.  How are colleges and universities preparing leaders in the online environment?  I've found examples of guidance for current leaders who begin overseeing online programs, and there are current administrators who are successfully overseeing online programs, but the link that I am missing, or cannot find, is how higher education is preparing aspiring leaders to lead in the online environment.  

How can we embed leadership in the online environment into educational leadership programs, just as we have been embedding teaching in the online environment into teacher preparation programs?

Leaving a Legacy

You are what you leave behind.  As educators, we leave a constant stream of influences, which pulses out of our classrooms and affects much more than we will ever see.  However, it is in looking at our purpose, that we focus fully on what we are offering the world.  Like Randy Pausch delivering his last lecture "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" to a packed audience at Carnegie Mellon, or Mitch Albom returning to the company of his college professor for wisdom on the meaning of life, there is something within every educator compelling us to not only share, but also make this world a better place today than it was when we arrived.

We sit at an incredible threshold of educational philosophy.  No other time has been as interesting, or tumultuous, in our profession.  It is my hope in this blog to look at leadership in this time of change.  As I look into myself, molded by professors and mentors, I am driven to fulfill a larger purpose.  As a librarian, I affected many students - fostered a love of reading and learning in all I touched.  As a leader, I hope to affect those who teach, and create rivers, not streams of influence, that help reshape an educational system in need of change.

As I explore what it means to be a leader in this fantastic time for education, I will share my influences with you.  Please join me as I learn to lead.