Roundtable Discussion at the  Association of Teacher Educators Annual Meeting
In New Orleans, February 17-21, 2001
Tuesday, February 20, 2001, 1:15 pm
Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, Pontchartrain C/D, Table 1
also found at http://www.csudh.edu/soe/faculty/NMach/ate2001online.html and http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/stoloff/ate2001online.html on the WWW

Title of Session Online Learning Opportunities as Advocacy for All
Type of Session:  Roundtable Discussion
 
David L. Stoloff, Ph.D., 
Professor and Department Chair, Education Department
Eastern Connecticut State University
83 Windham Street, Webb Hall Room 129
Willimantic, CT 06226
tel. no. (860) 465 - 5501  fax. no. (860) 465 - 4538
email:  stoloffd@easternct.edu		 Nada Mach, Ph.D., 
Coordinator, Secondary Alternative Credential Program
California State University, Dominguez Hills
Teacher Education Department
1000 East Victoria Street
Carson, CA 90747
tel. no. (310) 243-3915
email: nmach@DHVX20.CSUDH.EDU

Strand Identifier: Advocacy for All -
How can teacher educators work to ensure opportunities for all learners?

Summary for Conference Program:
Forum to discuss strategies for creating and implementing online coursework and programs for high school students, preservice and inservice teachers, professional development, and collaborative projects and resource-sharing for all educators.

Participation:
Dr. Stoloff and Dr. Mach co-facilitated a roundtable discussion at their first ATE conference last year.

 Description of Roundtable Discussion on Online Learning Opportunities as Advocacy for All

Purpose of the Presentation

 The purpose of this roundtable discussion would be to create a forum for teacher educators who develop and implement workshops, courses, professional development opportunities, and collaborative projects through the use of the World Wide Web or other online settings.  Topics discussed would include school-university online courses for future teachers and for introductory college credit and models of Virtual High Schools providing specialized coursework for geographically isolated students.  Also discussed would be general education courses for undergraduates, teacher education courses for upper division students, inservice graduate coursework, graduate programs online, and professional development learning communities for educators.  Within the roundtable discussion, time will be allocated to discuss unanticipated outcomes from online learning and teaching and successful problem-solving of some of the challenges faced when institutionalizing these variety of instructional strategies.

Relationship to Conference Theme and Strand

 The roundtable discussion will focus on how teacher educators are using Information and Communication Technology to ensure opportunities for all learners.  Online curriculum will be examined as a method to provide full access and opportunity for students with special needs and requiring special accommodations.  The nature of learning and teaching online, with threaded discussions, the uses of email, document-sharing, and asynchronous learning, will be discussed for strategies to ensure academic achievement for all learners.  A goal of this roundtable would be to attract ATE members who are advocates for the incorporation of online learning and teaching as one of the variety of instructional tools designed to enhance learning opportunities for all students.  It is hoped that this roundtable, and an online interest group that might arise from the participants, might serve as an incubator for wider discussions on how innovative technologies might be infused in teacher education to enhance student learning and faculty and curriculum development.

Abstract of Presentation

 This roundtable will overview the applications of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for high school students, undergraduate coursework, graduate programs, inservice professional development, and the creation of virtual learning communities for educators.

 Examples of online learning and teaching for high school students include the recent development of virtual high schools offering specialized coursework to geographically isolated students. Also, online projects, such as Connecticut's Young Educators' Societies webpages, designed to serve as a bridge between high school and university curriculum, particularly in the areas of School-to-Career programs, will be described.

 Distance learning consortia and the growth of online learning and teaching will be examined in the light of advocacy for education for all.  OnlineCSU and the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium will serve as models of attempts to create readily accessible learning systems for all the students of a state.  The process of planning and implementing online coursework and programs will be examined for the benefits and challenges of such efforts.

 Models for ensuring opportunities and full access for all learners in their professional development will be examined for educators in PK-12 schools and for teacher educators in post-secondary education.  School-university partnerships, which have developed electronic textbooks and online curricular units, will be described.  A current project to create a virtual learning community for educators committed to advocacy for their educational settings, grant-writing, and curriculum and professional development based on ICT resources will be evaluated within the roundtable and its parallel website.

 Participants in the roundtable will be highly encouraged to share their experiences on the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a tool to ensure academic achievement for all of their students and as a source of professional development for themselves.  They will also be invited to participate in online follow-up conversations on the advocacy for all using ICT.

Examples of online resources include -

1) models of Virtual High Schools

Resources: http://www.cyberschool.k12.or.us/~layton/cyfc2/resources/ - lists articles, journals on distance education, virtual schools in existence.

CompuHigh http://diplomaonline.org/
Courses are listed at http://diplomaonline.org/cour.htm . For public school students, homebound students, that need to get that extra credit.  We offer courses that your  school may not offer during summer school.

Illinois Virtual High School http://www.ivhs.org/
The mission of the Illinois Virtual High School is to use new and emerging technologies that expand the boundaries of space and time to provide Illinois students and their  teachers with increased equity and access to the highest quality educational  opportunities. The IVHS intends to deliver high-quality courses aligned with the Illinois Learning Standards.

Kentucky Virtual High School - http://www.kvhs.org/
The Kentucky Virtual High School is a statewide educational service delivering high school courses and online learning opportunity to Kentuckians

Louisiana Virtual Classroom   http://www.lcet.state.la.us/distance/
The Louisiana Department of Education/Louisiana Center for Educational Technology is piloting a project to create a Louisiana Virtual Classroom.  The list of course offerings may be found at http://www.lcet.state.la.us/distance/sources/CourseDescription.asp

Maryland Virtual High School of Science and Mathematics http://mvhs1.mbhs.edu/
The Maryland Virtual High School of Science and Mathematics entails bringing to the classroom the same team problem solving, technology rich approaches currently used in research and business.

Nevada Virtual High School http://nvhs.whitepine.k12.nv.us/
Nevada Virtual High School is the nation's first full service interactive online high school program open to students everywhere.  Established in 1998, the school has over 50 graduates. 140 high school  level classes are offered with online teacher  support twelve hours daily.  All classes meet or exceed current national standards.

Cyberschool: http://www.cyberschool.k12.or.us/

The goal is to make it possible for schools to provide their students a wide range of curriculum regardless of the school's size or location.

Philosophy: The only way to take advantage of this distance learning gift that technology has provided is to do the one thing that we, as educational institutions, have little or no experience in doing; the one thing that our children must learn to do to thrive in the 21st century: we must learn to cooperate. We must learn to share. We must learn to work and play well with others. We must capitalize on the strength that comes from unity.

The Consortium: The CyberSchool International Consortium is an association of public educational institutions who band together to provide distance learning opportunities for students via the Internet. Its teachers are all state-certified. Currently the public school partners are in Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and California. When complete, it will be composed of one school district from each state in the United States and one or more comparable institution(s) in every country of the world. Each of these institutions will be a member of the consortium. Consortium members will provide licensed teachers offering courses that can be taken by any student with reliable connections to the Internet planning for Virtual High Schools.

The Virtual High School http://vhs.ucsc.edu/
California-based conference which includes a listing of curricular resources and models - http://vhs.ucsc.edu/vhs/curric.htm and a link to the California Virtual University - listing of all online courses in California - http://www.california.edu and the Interactive University - http://www.lhs.berkeley.edu/iu/ - high school science and math

U. S. Department of Education: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/ORAD/LTD/newtech_progs.html “Exemplary & Promising Educational Technology Programs (2000)” The following seven programs were designated as exemplary or promising out of a total of 134 educational technology programs submitted to the U.S. Department of Education's Educational Technology Expert Panel. Selections were based on the following criteria: (l) Quality of Program, (2) Educational Significance, (3) Evidence of Effectiveness, and (4) Usefulness to Others.

Exemplary Programs:

Challenge 2000 Multimedia Project Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network (http://pblmm.k12.ca.us),

Generation www.Y:  Olympia School District (WA) (CA) (http://207.225.234.197/genwwwy/)

Promising Programs: Maryland Virtual High School CoreModels Project: Montgomery Public Schools (MD) , Middle-School Mathematics through Applications Program: WestEd (CA) (http://mmap.wested.org/),

Modeling Instruction in High School Physics:   Arizona State University (AZ) (http://modeling.la.asu.edu/modeling.html),

One Sky, Many Voices: The University of Michigan (MI) (http://www.onesky.umich.edu/),

The WEB Project: Montpelier School District (VT) (http://www.webproject.org/).

2) school-university online courses for future teachers

The South Carolina Center for Teacher Recruitment http://www.scctr.org/
The purpose of the South Carolina Center for Teacher Recruitment (SCCTR) is to  provide leadership in identifying, attracting, placing and retaining well-qualified  individuals for the teaching profession in our state.   Teacher Cadet program

Young Educators' Society (YES) and  Future Teachers of Connecticut Clubs  http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/yes.html
Online Modules on  Preparing to Teach  in the New Century

Teachers.Net Chatboard http://teachers.net/chatboard/ invites future teachers to participate in online discussions.

Developing an Internet Enabled Network of Professional Development Schools (PDS)
http://www.coe.uh.edu/insite/elec_pub/HTML1997/fd_lafe.htm
Since its inception, the Professional Development School (PDS) model has inspired the establishment of a network of
associated schools as a constituent part of the four-year integrated education program for future teachers at Laval University,
Quebec City, Canada.
 

3) general education courses for undergraduates,

The Sloan Center for Asynchronous Learning Environments (SCALE)  http://w3.scale.uiuc.edu/scale/
"aimed at restructuring undergraduate courses to integrate various techniques associated with asynchronous learning networks (ALN)"

Virtual campuses -

University of Massachusetts Amherst virtual campus - http://www.UMAmherstOnline.org/

OnlineCSU http://www.onlinecsu.ctstateu.edu/
OnlineCSU is the online classroom of the 4 Connecticut State Universities.

Connecticut Distance Learning Consortiumhttp://www.ctdlc.org/index.html
The consortium, or CTDLC, provides a wide array of distance learning opportunities. These courses make it possible for you to learn anytime and anyplace, and most courses can be used to meet degree requirements at member institutions.

4) online teacher education courses and resources for upper division or graduate students,

OnlineLearning.net http://www.onlinelearning.net/
85 teacher education courses presented by a consortium of UCLA Extension, Houghton Mifflin, University of San Diego, California CPA Education Foundation

California Learning Interchange (http://www.gse.uci.edu/cli/),
This site was developed by UC Irvine's School of Education as a part of a PT3 Grant (Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to UseTechnology) from the United States Department in partnership with Apple Computers and the Apple Learning Interchange. It features video case studies of best practices in teaching, as well as other resources for those who are training to become teachers.

5) inservice coursework

THE HERITAGE INSTITUTE ONLINE http://www.hol.edu/
Continuing education for K-12 teachers - more than 67, self-paced courses which can be done  from home, started at any time and with one year to complete.  Credit through Antioch College.

National Teachers Enhancement Network (NTEN) http://153.90.193.71/Nten/home.shtml
The National Teachers Enhancement Network (NTEN) delivers quality teaching resources and professional development opportunities through the Internet directly to K-12 science teachers.

6) graduate teacher education programs online

Oregon State University's Online Professional Technical Teacher Education Program http://www.orst.edu/instruct/pte/superhom.htm
The Professional Technical Teacher Education & Licensure (PTE) Program is part of an online Masters in Education (EdM). The first 28  credits of the program qualify students for initial licensure in Business Education, and Technology Education in the State of Oregon.  Continuing Students take another 20 credits, making up the 48 credits of the full Masters in Education.

Masters of Science in Science Education, Montana State University http://153.90.193.71/msse/
Masters of Science in Science Education is an intercollege, interdisciplinary program featuring many distance learning courses.

CalStateTEACH  http://www.calstateteach.net/
CalStateTEACH is a program created by the California State University to help uncredentialed teachers who are currently already working in a school site. It is designed around a set of on-line activities and organized study that recognizes the importance of the school site as a significant teacher preparation environment. In one of five regional centers, candidates meet face to face in workshops several times during the school year, have school-based mentors, and are visited by learning support faculty who guide them through online learning activities hold tutorials on the school site.

Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology On-Line Programs http://gsep.pepperdine.edu/gsep/programs/MAET/omet/
Pepperdine University runs masters and doctoral programs in educational technology online, but has not yet put its a credential programs on line. They call this a "community of learners."

7) professional development learning communities for educators.

Education World http://www.education-world.com/pro_dev/
home for educators on the Internet, a place where teachers could gather and share ideas

Minority Teacher Recruitment and Retention  http://minorityteacher.intranets.com/
A cyber-forum on ideas and initiatives designed to diversify the teaching force.

Virtual Community for K16 Learning and Teaching http://virtualcommunity.intranets.com
A virtual community for K16 learning and teaching designed to provide support for educators to develop online learning resources and to discuss issues in educational technology and effective teaching practices.

Apple Learning Interchange (http://ali.apple.com/) also for higher ed (http://ali.apple.com/alihe/)
"A dynamic online community where educators share, learn, and communicate." Courses are available.

Tapped In (http://www.tappedin.org/)
TAPPED IN™ is the online workplace of an international community of education professionals. K-12 teachers and librarians, professional development staff, teacher education faculty and students, and researchers  engage in professional development programs and informal collaborative activities with colleagues.  Partners in this professional development community include:


Description of Participant Involvement

 Participants in this roundtable will be asked to discuss their involvement in the development of online curriculum in their educational settings. Names and e-mail addresses will be collected to initiate increased networking among colleagues interested in Information and Communication Technology in Education.  Notes on the roundtable discussion will be published on the WWW and participants will be encouraged to continue the conversation online.

Other Web Resources and Publications on the Virtual School

Barr, Robert B., and John Tagg. 1995. "From Teaching to Learning: A New Paradigm for Undergraduate Education." Change. November/December: 13-25.

The Benton Foundation. “The Learning Connection: Schools in the Information Age,” http://www.benton.org/Library/Schools. Washington, D.C.: The Benton Foundation, last updated, November 2, 2000.

Boyer, Ernest L. 1990. Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate. Princeton, NJ: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Carr, Sarah, and Young, Jeffrey R. “As Distance Learning Spreads, Colleges Help Set Up Virtual High Schools.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, “Information Technology,” October 22, 1999. http://chronicle.com/free/v46/i09/09a05501.htm/.

Carr, Sarah. “2 More Universities Start Diploma-Granting Virtual High Schools. The Chronicle of Higher Education, “Information Technology,” December 10, 1999. http://chronicle.com/free/99/12/99120601u.htm

Chaffee, Ellen Earle, and Lawrence A. Sherr. 1992. Quality: Transforming Postsecondary Education. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 3. Washington, D.C.: The George Washington University, School of Education and Human Development.

Fulwider, John. “Kentucky Students to Learn Via Nebraska Courses.” http://nebraska.statepaper.com/vnews/display.v/ART/1999/10/12/38029f250. Nebraska State Paper.Com., October 12, 1999.

Goldsborough, Margaret W. “A New Enterprise Joins Growing community of Online Schools.” The New York Times on the Web, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/24/technology/24EDUUCATION.html., January 24, 2001.

Green, Kenneth C., and Steven W. Gilbert. 1995. "Great Expectations: Content, Communications, Productivity, and the Role of Information Technology in Higher Education." Change. March/April: 8-18.

Keegan, Daniel. “Cyberschool: Students and Teachers Experiment with Virtual Learning.” http://www.fcw.com/civic/articles/2000/august/civ-cybersch-08-00.asp. Federal Computer Week: FCW.com, Civic.com, August 7, 2000.

Krebs, Arlene. 1996. The Distance Learning Funding Sourcebook: a Guide to Foundation, Corporate, and Government Support for Telecommunications and the New Media. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt.

Kozma, Robert B., Zucker, Andrew A. & Espinoza, Carlos. October, 1998.  SRI International, “An evaluation of the virtual high school after one year of operation.” http://www.sri.com  The Virtual High School (VHS (http://vhs.concord.org/home.htm) is a consortium of high schools, founded in Massachusetts in 1996, but located across the United States, that offer network basked courses taught by consortium teachers for students in consortium schools. November 1999, there was another publication, “An Expert Panel Review of the Quality of Virtual High School Courses: Final Report”, by Kyo Yamashiro and Andrew Zucker, also in SRI International. Both reports are available in PDF format on line at the SRI Web site.

Kulisch, Eric. “More Schools Going Virtual.” http://www.fcw.com/civic/articles/2000/1016/web-apex-10-18-00.asp. Federal Computer Week: FCW.com, Civic.com, October 18, 2000.

Mayfield, Kendra. “Virtual High, Real Opportunity.” Wired News Online, http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,31983,00.html, Oct. 25, 1999.

Newsweek. “High-Tech High.” Newsweek, Weekend Edtion, http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/nw-srv/issue/14_99a/tnw/today/cs/cs02fr_1.htm. April 3-4, 1999.

Sarkar, Dibya. “Site Matches Distance Learning Options.” http://www.fcw.com/civic/articles/2000/0911/web-learn-09-12-00.asp. Federal Computer Week: FCW.com, Civic.com, September 12, 2000.

Sarkar, Dibya. “Ala. Pilots Virtual High School.” http://www.fcw.com/civic/articles/2000/oct/civ-comm7-10-00.asp. . Federal Computer Week: FCW.com, Civic.com, October 2, 2000.

Swan, Michael K. “EFFECTIVENESS OF DISTANCE LEARNING COURSES? STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS.” http://www.ssu.missouri.edu/SSU/AgEd/NAERM/s-a-4.htm

Thomas, Karen. “One School’s Quantum Leap Online.” USA Today: Tech Report.
http://ww.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/cth693.htm. June 7, 2000.

Thomas, Karen. “Online Learning Picks up Pace.” USA Today: Tech Report. http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/cti498.htm. September 7, 2000.

Thomas, Karen. “The Rigors of Online Learning Surprise Some.” USA Today: Tech Report. http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/cti497.htm. September 7, 2000.

Thomas, Karen. “Web-based High School to Go Nationwide.” USA Today: Tech Report. http://ww.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/cti716.htm. October 25, 2000.

Trotter, Andrew. “For-Profit company to Offer High School Diploma Over Internet.”
Education Week on the Web, http://www.edweek.org/ew/1999/32neb.h18. April 21, 1999.
 

Van Dusen, Gerald C. 1997.  “The Virtual Campus: Technology and Reform in Higher Education.” Washington DC. Graduate School of Education and Human Development.ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education.  Washington DC ED412815,. http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed412815.html
Encompasses the implications of teaching on the virtual campus: how classroom learning will be different; what the new scholarly agenda is for research;  if technology will be able to create a new “culture of quality;  how governance and finance will be managed. Seven  recommendations for beginning the process of integration: (1) create a venue where key stakeholders can analyze major technology issues andpurchases; (2) assert the value of technology-based learning from a variety of research perspectives; (3) establish quality standards for certificate and degree programs; (4) avoid pitting traditionalists against technology enthusiasts; (5) make collaboration and cooperation, not reengineering and restructuring, the new institutional buzzwords; (6) retain a strong commitment to adequate library staffing and funding; and (7) prepare for success by creating the necessary support structures.

“Virtual Places for Collaborative Distance Learning” http://www.sri.com/policy/ctl/html/virtual_places.htm. With funding from the National Science Foundation, SRI is designing and developing a network-based learningenvironment that supports a range of asynchronous and synchronous collaborative interactions among distributed students and teachers on heterogeneous platforms. Their objective is to facilitate highly interpersonal learning at a distance--they want to build the kind of computer-based social and task environment that fosters  enduring, highly interactivepersonal relationships and activities that motivate continuous learning. They are developing specifications for specialized virtual places, resources, and capabilities that support the social roles and cognitive strategies involved in learning science.

Weiner, Rebecca S. “Distance Learning Goes Niche.” Technology Section, The New York Times on the Web, Education Column, http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/06/technology/06EDUUCATION.html., September 6, 2000.

Weiner, Rebecca S. “Educators Turn to Internet for Advanced Placement Classes.” Technology Section, The New York Times on the Web, http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/08/technology/08EDUUCATION.html., November 8, 2000.

Weiner, Rebecca S. “Pennsylvania Launches Competition for ‘Digital School District’ Funding.” Technology Section, The New York Times on the Web, Education Column, http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/13/technology/13EDUUCATION.html., September 13, 2000.