Teachers and social media: trekking on treacherous terrain

Social media has pros and cons when the classroom is involved

When news broke last month that Newark teacher Krista Hodges used Twitter to express her desire to stab some of her students and pour hot coffee on them, the questions arose quickly: Aren’t there rules about that? Why wasn’t she fired?
The answer is that teachers who use social media are living in the Wild West: Rules are few and far between, and discipline for stepping over the line is a hit-or-miss proposition.
In Hodges’ case, she acknowledged receiving a written reprimand from her school district. After this newspaper’s disclosure of her tweets, local police initiated an investigation into the matter. In other cases, teachers have been fired for much less.
“We’re not given any guidelines, really,” said Carissa Weintraub, a science teacher at Ygnacio Valley High in Concord and a Twitter user. “At this point, it’s sort of a free-for-all and we’re learning as we go along. I’ve heard horror stories across the country about people losing their jobs after posting stuff on Twitter or on Facebook.”

Weintraub added that teachers need to be trained how to use social media “the same way students need to be taught how to use it.”
Newark Unified School District Interim Superintendent Tim Erwin said the district, like many others, has no policy on teacher use of social media nor does it have written guidelines for dealing with teachers who go too far.
Eric Goldman, a law professor and co-director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law, said the drafting of policies is not easy.
“Some school districts are making rules,” Goldman said. “But it requires careful thought. The policy has to navigate between legitimate use of social media and the free speech rights of employees. School districts basically have to tell their teachers not to do anything stupid online. That’s the gist of it.”
Or as Ligia Giese, a Berkeley mother of two students in public schools, put it, it’s about respect.
“I think if you’re talking about your job, whether it’s in public, on the Internet or in any other forum, I would like the teacher to have respect for the students,” Giese said. “I couldn’t pinpoint the wording of the rule, but I would expect a teacher, like any professional, would speak with a modicum of respect.”
While teachers have the protections of free speech, when they post things on the Internet, be it in blogs, emails or social media like Twitter and Facebook, they need to know they are giving administrators information about their job performance and responsibilities that they would not otherwise have, Goldman said.
“We all joke about the ways that we could maliciously behave in our jobs,” Goldman said. “That’s gallows humor. Going online gets problematic. With (Hodges) it was not just a joke, it was a running theme. At some point it crosses over from being a joke to a warning sign.”
Other teachers have been fired for posting much less offensive things than what Hodges wrote.
Just this summer, according to Goldman’s Technology & Marketing Law Blog, a judge upheld the firing of a Pennsylvania teacher who used a blog to call her students “frightfully dim” and “rat like” and said the parents were “breeding a disgusting brood of insolent, unappreciative, selfish brats.”
The court said her speech was not protected because her comments were not a matter of legitimate “public concern,” an oft-used standard in cases of free speech rights of public employees.
“When it comes to government employees, we need to believe they are exercising their discretion properly because they are acting on behalf of the public,” Goldman said.
Last year a New Jersey teacher was fired for posting on Facebook that “I’m not a teacher — I’m a warden for future criminals!” She sued, asking for her job back on free speech grounds, but was rejected.

Here in the Bay Area, school districts are grappling with the problem regularly, but none contacted for this story have established a formal social media policy.
However, the board of the Mt. Diablo Unified School District has written a draft policy that says teachers will be disciplined for posting “inappropriate threatening, harassing, racist, biased, derogatory, disparaging or bullying comments toward or about any student or employee.”
The Berkeley, Oakland and San Jose Unified school districts have not put anything in writing. Nor has the Fremont Union High School District, which runs schools in San Jose, Sunnyvale and Cupertino.
“We researched this specific issue because of questions from teachers, and the best advice we can give them is use common sense and remember you are a public sector employee,” said Cathy Campbell, president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers. “We also encourage them to not engage in a lot of social media with their students. There are no laws or court cases that clarify exactly what they can and can’t do. That’s the biggest challenge right now.”
Marisa Hanson, president of the East Side Teachers Association in San Jose, said the California Teachers Association counsels teachers not to have minors as Facebook friends.
But Newark Unified’s Erwin said social media, “when used appropriately, can be a very helpful tool in communicating with students, because that is where our students are a lot of times.”
The more common social media issue, Hanson said, is students posting inappropriate comments online about a teacher — a situation that may produce a conversation between district administrators and parents.
In Oakland, school district spokesman Troy Flint said he hasn’t heard of any teacher being disciplined for inappropriate social media use, and the district offers “very little guidance.”
“Right now, it’s a hodgepodge of practices that vary from school to school,” Flint said. “Creating a more universal standard that gives teachers guidance is something we should do. In the meantime, we’ve trusted teachers as professionals to use social media responsibly.”

Read More

16 educators new teachers should follow on Twitter

During Connected Educator Month, do just that—connect with teachers on Twitter

It’s no secret that new teachers need lots of support, and these days, teachers often find support online and through social media. In fact, following just a few inspirational educators on Twitter can help new teachers start their classroom careers off on the right foot.
Data shows that many teachers leave the profession within their first three years of teaching, and most cite a lack of support, lack of mentoring, and feeling isolated as their top reasons for leaving.
Using professional learning networks (PLNs), educators have at their fingertips a vast array of resources, including fellow educators willing to mentor new teachers. Building a strong PLN and remaining active prompts new teachers to find the support they need to be successful.
During an edWeb webinar as part of Connected Educator Month, veteran educator and new teacher coach Shannon Holden shared 16 educators for new teachers to follow on Twitter.

PLNs–informal learning networks through which people learn via the connections they make–are popular because they let the learner control who they associate with and how much or how little they participate and interact, Holden said.
Educators can begin by joining an interactive community that lets them interact with fellow members, ask questions, and share resources.
On Twitter, teachers can start by searching hashtags to find people to follow. Many hashtags are associated with monthly chats, during which participants discuss topics and add the specific hashtag to the end of a tweet, in order to include that tweet in a hashtag search.
“You need to tweet regularly to build a following,” he said. “If you just get on Twitter and sit there, people aren’t going to be interested in what you have to say, because you’re really not saying anything.”
Tweeting resources, classroom experiences, and questions are all easy ways to accumulate regular tweets. Educators can check out Twitter4Teachers.com for more help.
“This is your way to personally interact with leaders in education,” Holden said.
Holden highlighted 16 educators for new teachers to follow and build their PLNs.
1. Tom Whitby @TomWhitby
Whitby founded #edchat, has authored several books about teaching and learning, and taught middle and high school for 34 years.
2. Dan Brown @DanBrownTeacher
Brown is executive director of the Future Educators Association, is very active on Twitter, and offers great tips for teachers.
3. Karina Barley @karinadawn
Barley is the president of Autism Australia and authored an online course series that teachers educators how to use iPads to engage students who are on the autism spectrum.
4. Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher
Davis maintains the Cool Cat Teacher blog and focuses on using new technologies in the classroom.
5. Gisele Santos @feedtheteacher
Based in Brazil, Santos tweets frequently on project-based learning and the Maker Movement. Santos also focuses on the role of technology and tech tools in education.
6. Jennifer Carey @TeacherJenCarey
As director of educational technology at the Ransom Everglades School in Florida, Carey tweets about expanding PLNs in an effort to integrate technology into the classroom.
7. Mary Beth Hertz @mbteach
Hertz is a technology integration specialist in Philadelphia and has a particular interest in addressing gender gaps in schools, as well as implementing technology at the classroom level. She is an Edcamp Foundation board member and organizer.
8. Todd Whitaker @ToddWhitaker
Whitaker focuses on leadership, teaching, and motivation, and has written more than 30 books. He is a professor at Indiana State University.
9. Eric Sheninger @E_Sheninger
Sheninger‘s influence is widely felt in education and on Twitter, and Time Magazine named his Twitter feed one of the best to follow in 2014.
10. Pernille Ripp @pernilleripp
Ripp, a 7th grade teacher, is creator of The Global Read Aloud Project, which encourages students from across the globe to collaborate and interact with one another. Ripp is the co-founder of Edcamp in Madison, Wis.
11. Josh Stumpenhorst @stumpteacher
Stumpenhorst teaches 6th grade language arts and social studies and offers an inspiring and humorous perspective on teaching tips.
12. Scott Newcomb @SNewco
Newcomb specializes in mobile learning, iPad apps, project-based learning, and mobile learning. Newcomb is the author of The Mobile Native.
13. Amy Mayer @friEdtechnology
Based in Texas, Mayer is an instructional technology guru and offers ed-tech advice, educational developments, and job openings.
14. Nicole Bucka @nbucka
Bucka focuses on autism and special education and offers RTI support for secondary schools in Rhode Island.
15. Wendy Kopp @WendyKopp
Kopp is the CEO and co-founder of Teach For All, a global network that aims to expand educational opportunity across the world. Kopp was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2010.
16. Jessica Johnson @PrincipalJ

Read More

Schools begin teaching kids to cope with life online

Students are learning how to manage social media, online behavior

Like many kids her age, Bloomingdale High senior Tranae Robinson has dozens of social media applications at her fingertips and routinely logs into at least seven of them on her smartphone–Twitter, Snapchat and Pinterest included.
She admits teens could be more mindful of Internet safety and how they present themselves online, especially now that she and her classmates are allowed bring their own devices to school.
“It’s very nonchalant, the way we handle it,” Robinson said. “We don’t try to filter ourselves. Not everything is as private as you think.”
This school year, Robinson, along with every other student who attends a Hillsborough County (Fla.) public school, will be trained in how to handle themselves safely and responsibly online. The initiative goes hand-in-hand with the new program that lets them bring their phones, tablets, and laptops to school.
They are learning about the dangers of cyberbullying, how to create secure passwords, how to avoid identity theft and how to leave a positive digital footprint on their devices.

“It’s very important,” Robinson said. “Students are going to have them regardless. If the school district educates us, it will be more of a positive than a negative.”
Sixty schools so far–including all 27 high schools and most middle schools–have been approved for the bring-your-own-device program. Instructional technology supervisor Troy Suarez expects all schools will be on board by the end of December. Students will use the once-forbidden devices during class, for learning.
“It’s no longer, ‘We see it, we take it,’” Suarez said. “As we are rolling this stuff out, it’s a responsibility for us to prepare our students to be safe while they’re using technology, and teachers as well.”
Throughout the school year, media specialists will use information from curriculum-providers Common Sense Media and Netsmartz to form their own lessons, said John Milburn, the district’s supervisor of elementary library media services. Some media specialists use school morning shows as a platform. They also visit classrooms and teach in school media centers.
“As a parent, we’ve always sent our kids into the world to develop, learn and grow,” Milburn said. “We taught them to be safe, who not to talk to, where to go if you get in trouble. This is just another world–it’s a digital world. But they still need to know how to be safe.”
At the middle and high school level, media specialists have to get a little more creative because students bounce from classroom to classroom throughout the day.
For them, topics like determining whether information on a website is valid is incorporated into school orientation and into the school day when possible, said Christine VanBrunt, the district’s supervisor of middle and high school library media services.
Nikki Rideout, a media specialist at Woodbridge Elementary School, said teaching students how to act online has become part of her job.
“The media specialist position has changed so much,” Rideout said. “We are no longer keepers of the books. It’s an instructional technology piece we’ve brought under our wing.”
So far this school year, Rideout has met with several classes each week and other teachers have requested that she work with their classes, too. She has the students practice their social media skills on Edsby, the district’s online gradebook and communication site.
“The students are so receptive,” Rideout said. “We need to capitalize on that. By the time they get into middle school, it’s almost too late to fix it.”
The rollout of digital citizenship lessons in September was followed by the launch of a new website that describes for parents the benefits and dangers of 17 social apps.
The site also includes resources for teachers and information about the digital citizenship curriculum, which was selected by a school district committee formed last spring.
Included in the list are Vault, which is designed to hide other apps, Kik Messenger, photo-sharing service Snapchat, and the Tinder dating app.
An example of a warning to parents on the site: “Tinder’s terms of use indicate that it can be used by anyone 13 and up, but the app’s widespread reputation as a hookup site, its use of location, and its lack of privacy settings make this a no-go for teens.”
Robinson, the Bloomingdale High student, is getting a little extra digital citizenship training this school year–she is taking Social Media 1, which is being taught for the second year by Heather Hanks. Hanks, who also teaches journalism and photography, became the first Florida teacher to offer the class last school year.
“If we’re putting devices in the hands of our students, they need to be equipped to deal with the consequences,” said Hanks, who served on the district’s digital citizenship committee. “The county has kind of shied away from dealing with it before. Now they’re embracing it.”
Last spring, Hanks’ students created videos to share with students across the district, spreading a message that they should not carry themselves differently in the online world than they do in the real world.
One video shows a teen standing in the middle of a crowded hallway at school, yelling everything she is thinking. In another, a student shares her keys with others, showing that passwords shouldn’t be shared.
This school year, a social media course is being offered at two additional high schools, Hillsborough and Robinson.
School board member Cindy Stuart said she would like to see more schools begin offering the course.
“The student message is very strong,” Stuart said during a recent school board meeting. “It’s stronger than my message when I speak to my 16-year-old.”

Read More

5 Twitter hashtags you should be searching

Regularly searching education-related Twitter hashtags can help educators expand their professional growth

Social media remains a game-changer in education. Through platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, students are able to collaborate on projects or discussions about assignments.
Educators connect with peers across their district, state, or, in many cases, across the world. This ability to stay connected has led to the development of professional learning networks, sometimes called professional learning communities, in which educators build networks of peers they admire, those they share common interests with, and those they hope to learn from.
Much of this connecting occurs on Twitter. Many states have regular Twitter chats focusing on general education or highlighting specific education topics.

Below, you’ll find five hashtags that offer engaging and thought-provoking tweets from educators across the planet.
To access the most recent tweets categorized under any of these hashtags, simply enter the hashtag in the Twitter search field, or click on it within any Tweet that contains it.
#edtech
The #edtech category contains, as you probably guessed, tweets about education technology, technology in schools, and reasons why classrooms and students benefit from teachers who correctly implement and use technology during instruction.
Recent tweets cover critical thinking and The Maker Movement.

Read More

10 ways to use social media to pass bond issues

School leaders share social media strategies that successfully support district efforts

As the fight to get voter approval for bonds becomes more challenging, school district leaders and their supporters are tapping into Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of social media to win their campaigns.
“Schools that don’t use social media are missing out on one of the most effective forms of communication to large audiences and stakeholders,” said Rick Kaufman, executive director of community relations and emergency management for Bloomington Public Schools in Minnesota.
Social media campaigns have become especially important as more district leaders face tight budgets and a voter base reluctant to pay more taxes to finance repairs and new equipment–even as buildings age, technology grows obsolete, and other expenses mount.
Pattonville School District, in St. Ann, Mo., launched its Facebook page in July 2013, just a few months before its Prop P tax levy went before voters. Prior to that, the district’s only social media presence was a Twitter account with about 140 followers.
“We knew social media could play an important role in spreading accurate, factual information among parents and staff,” said Mickey Schoonover, director of school-community relations for the district.

In the months following the Facebook page launch, the district heavily used the social media site to communicate facts about the tax levy. By election day, the Facebook page had more than 46,000 views and received 1,800 “Likes”. The bond passed with a 70.2 percent ‘Yes’ vote.
As more school districts and bond committees turn to social media to help publicize and/or advocate for school bond issues, here are 10 tips from district leaders and bond committee members who’ve been there:

• Incorporate social media as part of a wider plan. Use social media to support a unified message or key messages. Social media isn’t an “instead of”, but an “in addition to” tool, said Kaufman of Bloomington (Minn.) Schools. It should be an integral part of your campaign, but is still one of many strategies you will want to deploy.

• Keep your information brief and pertinent. Keep social media messages short and conversational. Dole information out in small bites. Remember, people aren’t reading; they’re scanning.

• Let your local citizens’ committee handle the “Vote Yes” campaigns. Local citizens can freely advocate for bond issues. The committee should set up a separate account to handle any information that includes openly supporting a bond. However, it’s important for the overarching messages and information between the district and the committee to be aligned. The two efforts are separate, but complementary.

• Don’t get sucked into negative online debates. Bonds are a tough sell because they often come with a tax increase. Opposition to bonds can get ugly, but as tempting as it is to fight back against naysayers or block negative comments, try to stay above the fray. Provide accurate information to clarify misconceptions.

• Have a comprehensive communication plan for the campaign. Outline what you want to accomplish in the campaign, the audiences you need to reach, and your key messages. Next, map out specific, measureable strategies targeted to those audiences, said Kaufman. Include social media in the overall plan. The local bond committee for Mooresville City Schools in North Carolina developed a media strategy that included coordinated articles, letters to the editor, print media ads, and email blasts that linked to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter posts. This allowed the committee to deliver a consistent message to several audiences. In addition, all the content was mirrored on the committee’s website.

• Use images and video. Recent studies show that social media users like and respond better to video than words, says Nora Carr of Guilford County Schools in North Carolina. If you want to show leaky roofs and broken pipes, video will do more than lots of words. Social media users also like photos and infographics. The successful Streetsboro City Schools (Ohio) bond campaign included different images of residents, students, and logos during the last few weeks of the campaign to bolster voter support. The committee also created a 10-minute video of interviews with students, parents, teachers, and administrators showing how the bond would benefit the district and posted it to YouTube and Facebook.

• Know your legal context and the existing parameters for your district and schools. Make sure you understand the legal framework for your state and/or local school district. School districts are not allowed, by federal law, to promote bond issues, but can use social media and websites to provide information and facts about a bond. What the local bond committee does separately should be clearly labeled with disclaimers such as “Paid for by Citizens for ABC School Bonds.” Carr said district leaders also should check school board policies. In general, publicly funded organizations, like public school districts, have a duty to keep the public informed about matters of importance, including how tax dollars are being used.

• Match your message and medium to your audience. Don’t treat all social media outlets as the same. While there’s some overlap, people tend to gravitate to different social media outlets. The demographics on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube tend to fit the audiences most schools and districts need. Most parents of school-aged children use Facebook, Twitter, and sometimes Instagram. Teachers and moms also use Pinterest.

• Time social media posts to when people are on social media or to occur with frequency. Posts timed early in the morning, or in the evenings, tend to get the most traffic, said Lisa Gill of the Mooresville Schools bond committee. “You want posts to be somewhat high on fans’ timelines,” she said. Even having one post timed at higher traffic times on Facebook gets people to your page, where they will usually scroll down and read more. Nicole Lawrence, communications coordinator for Waukee Schools in Iowa, suggests using Hootsuite to write and schedule posts ahead of time so you can plan accordingly and not be overwhelmed.

• Create a timeline for your communications and social media campaign. Plot when you will post social media content week by week. Starting early will build a large following. Roll out different aspects of the bond and the voting process at strategic times. Lawrence of Waukee Schools started her district’s campaign for its bond 16 weeks before election, but started using social media nine weeks prior to the election, with each week focused on specific information such as a “Save the Date”, absentee ballot information, etc. Feeds were posted to Twitter and Facebook with links to the districts website and its Frequently Asked Questions section.

Read More

District policy change could ban selfies

Students would need teacher permission to take selfies in school

Whether by design or not, a proposed Wake County (N.C.) school policy change could ban students from taking pictures of themselves and others in school.
One of the revisions to the school district’s technology policy would prohibit students “from taking pictures or videos with any device unless directed by a teacher.” The wording comes at a time when “selfies,” self-portraits usually taken by cellphones with cameras or webcams, have become a staple of youth-driven social media.
Several Wake school board members questioned the wording on taking photographs when the changes to the technology policy were discussed last week by the policy committee.
“We know that kids have phones in school and are using them,” school board member Monika Johnson-Hostler said in an interview. “We need to be clear and cautious about what we say about using personal devices.”

School administrators repeatedly told board members that they will speak with the board attorney who drafted the wording to see if more changes were needed.
Administrators said district policy should be updated to reflect the way technology is used today, compared to practices when the wording was last revised in 2010. This includes acknowledging that North Carolina’s largest district is piloting a bring-your-own-device program that would allow students at 13 schools to use their smartphones, tablets and laptops in class.
Teachers must approve
One of the changes, which would affect all 171 schools, is the requirement that teachers give permission for pictures and videos. It’s part of a section against inappropriate use of technology, which warns against things such as producing, posting and sending inappropriate or offensive material.
School board member Jim Martin, chairman of the policy committee, said it makes sense that Wake could require students to get a teacher’s permission before using a district-owned device to take photographs and video. But he questioned how it could be applied to a student’s personal device.
“I don’t think we can say you can’t take pictures with your personal phone,” Martin said. “Kids are taking selfies in the lunchroom all the time.”
David Neter, Wake’s chief business officer, said he thinks the intent was to restrict unauthorized photos and videos in classrooms as opposed to lunchrooms. But board members said the policy makes no distinction between the two situations.
School board member Bill Fletcher said it can be helpful when students take pictures of fights that can be used by the district to find out what happened.
But Cathy Moore, deputy superintendent for school performance, said it can be unhelpful when students post videos of fights online.
School board member Kevin Hill questioned the enforceability of the photography rule, considering how the technology policy says students must comply with it when using any district technology or personal devices on school grounds and at school-sponsored activities.
“Yeah, I’m going to be walking through the stands of a football game to see who is taking selfies,” Hill said.
Hill suggested changing the rule to apply during the school day or during instructional use.
“School-sponsored activities to me are just wide open,” said Hill, a former principal. “I don’t know how to solve it, but if I were a principal I’d be looking like, ‘Oh, my goodness.’ ”

Neter said administrators will talk with Deborah Stagner, a board attorney who drafted the language.
An ‘equity issue’
Board members had less concern about another change proposed by Stagner of how consent is handled for using school technology.
Wake assumes students have consent unless their parents say they want to opt out. But Neter said Wake plans to switch to an opt-in model where parents need to give permission before their children can use school technology.
Neter said the reason for the change is that Wake plans to use Google Apps, a suite of software tools that allow students to share content. Neter said most districts that use Google Apps use an opt-in model.
This means parents of all of Wake’s 155,000 students would likely be asked to give consent next year. Neter said it would be a one-time process for each student, with permission assumed to continue annually.
Martin, the board member, said Wake needs to check with parents who don’t give consent. He called it an “equity issue” to make sure that students aren’t denied technology access because their parents forgot to fill out the paperwork.
Martin said some parents may feel strongly about their children not having access to a device, which could be used to reach inappropriate material. The downside to requiring parents to opt in, however, could arise if some parents simply fail to take steps that would allow their children increased opportunities for learning, he said.

Read More

Social media access challenges parents, educators

Adults tackle question of how much social media is enough, but not too much

Twin Design / Shutterstock.com

With smartphones and tablet and laptop computers now as common as pencils and notebooks in many classrooms, schools and parents alike are having to figure out how to guide students’ use of technology.
Access to the internet for students can mean access to a world of information, but it can just as easily get them to social media sites and apps. That can enhance their learning experience, educators say, but it does come with risks.
Piedmont’s schools are in the fifth year of a program that issues laptop computers to all students in grades four through 12. Students in kindergarten to third grade also use mobile devices in the classroom.
“We allow the use of social media, especially at the high school” said Piedmont Schools Superintendent Matt Akin.

The school system’s position on social media and internet usage has changed over time, Akin said. Instead of blocking most sites, Piedmont’s policies shifted toward a middle ground.
“YouTube was one of the first things we unblocked, because we saw all of the educational videos our teachers could be using,” he said.
As Jacksonville City Schools Superintendent Jon Campbell pointed out, students’ use of social media is here to stay.
“Social media is something that’s going to be there, whether we advocate for or against it,” he said. “We have to deal with it.”
Jacksonville schools began distributing tablets to students in grades four through 12 in 2013. Campbell said that popular social media apps, like Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat, are blocked and cannot be installed on the devices.
But there’s no way for school administrators keep students from using the apps on smartphones, he said. Such devices are linked to the internet through connections independent of the school.
As Roy Bennett put it, “the genie is out of the bottle.” Bennett is student services coordinator for Oxford schools, and he said administrators feel they’re playing catch-up with a generation that grew up online.
“It’s a challenge to stay a step ahead,” he said. Oxford students in middle and high school are given Apple laptops that they can take home. During the school day, social media sites are blocked on those computers. Bennett acknowledged that there’s nothing to stop students from accessing the sites on their own devices.
Internet etiquette
Instead of giving devices to its students, the Calhoun County school system encourages them to bring their own. That approach allows students to bring personal laptops, tablets and smartphones into schools for use on collaborative assignments.
Jenel Travis, technology director for Calhoun County Schools, said students use a specially set-aside network that provides them with Internet filtered according to federal standards, but does not block social media sites.
Smartphones and some tablets may have access to a cellular service provider’s unfiltered wireless network. Use of that network is against Calhoun County Schools’ rules, and students can be punished for it–if they’re caught.
“If they want to do something that isn’t great and they get off our network, they can do that,” Travis said. “That’s the network parents provide, and it’s out of my control.”
Travis said schools’ technology initiatives could be hamstrung if internet access on their networks was locked down completely.
However, school administrators and educators can try to teach students how to use social networks responsibly.
“We have a responsibility to teach our students good digital citizenship,” Campbell said.
That phrase refers to acceptable online behavior, such as being aware of privacy protections or reporting cyberbullying, and it’s one school administrators are using more often.
Campbell said Jacksonville teachers teach digital citizenship through an internet course, where they emphasize that anything students put online could follow them around forever.
“We call it a ‘digital tattoo’–once it goes out there, it’s always there. You can’t just wash it off,” he said.
Piedmont Superintendent Akin agrees that educators have a responsibility to teach students what they should and shouldn’t post online.
“We’ve dealt with a few issues where kids say things online they shouldn’t say. We had that 10 years ago,” before social media became popular, he said. “We try to hold our students accountable.”
‘Lock it down’
School administrators say parents share some of that responsibility, and each of the schools with technology initiatives has hosted training sessions to familiarize parents with their children’s devices.
Jeremy Jones’ three kids attend Piedmont Elementary, where they use iPads, iPods and MacBook laptops in the classroom.
Jones, who works in information technology for a local institution, said he wants Piedmont’s initiative to work, but worries that administrators did not give enough thought to blocking sites students shouldn’t use.
Jones said that at home, he controls what sites his children can visit and when they can visit them. His son can spend unlimited time on school-related websites; only an hour on others, he said.
Jones acknowledged that lots of websites have legitimate educational uses, but said “it’s a fine line” between the useful and harmful. Schools will always be behind in getting technology to control students’ Internet use, he said.
“You’re either going to have to lock it down, or deal with the consequences,” Jones said. “One consequence is, I don’t like it.”
He’s not ready, he said, to let his kids roam the digital world on their own.
“My son’s already asking me about having a Facebook,” he said. “Absolutely not.”

Read More

LinkedIn spends $1 billion on education company to improve skill training

LinkedIn to acquire lynda.com to better connect the global workforce, says company.

LinkedIn is acquiring lynda.com, an online learning company that offers courses on business, technology, and creative skills with the aim of helping people achieve their professional goals–a move that could have big impacts on the way students and others find jobs and leverage skill sets.
Through a subscription to lynda.com’s service, individual members and organizations have access to a collection of courses taught by what the company says are industry experts, offered in various languages. In addition to individual subscribers, lynda.com serves corporate, government and educational organizations.
Through the acquisition, LinkedIn has revealed some formidable ambitions. Eventually it hopes to “map the global workforce” by creating profiles for each company, and job within that company, as well as the skill sets required to obtain those jobs. LinkedIn then hopes to connect workers to educational institutions and platforms like lynda.com where they can master those skills. (More information about this approach is in the video below).

Read More

To curb cyberbullies, this district will monitor students’ social media

Student messages on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook are now being monitored by the Orange County (Fla.) school district as part of a new program to curb cyberbullying, crime on campus and suicide.
Central Florida’s largest school district announced that it had acquired new software that would allow it to grab and then analyze social media messages posted from its campuses, whether from students or staff.
The software also would allow the district to search the thousands of messages posted on various sites for key words that might indicate trouble
The new program is one of several aimed at “prevention and early intervention” put in place by the district since the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., in 2012, said Michael Eugene, the district’s chief operations officer.
Orange officials acknowledged the online snooping might raise questions.
But Orange County School Board member Linda Kobert said that, although she worried about student privacy, as a parent of high school students she had also heard about “terrible” cases of cyberbullying.
“I think this is another way to prevent that or prevent harm,” she said, adding the district was taking advantage of “new tools to protect our children.
The messages — whether from Twitter, Instagram, YouTube or other sites — are “open-source information” publicly available to anyone with the right tools, said Doug Tripp, senior director of safety and security.
The district’s security staff will be looking for messages that relate to bullying, suicide and criminal activities, Tripp added.
Worrisome posts would be referred to school administrators or police, as appropriate, officials said.
Neither Lake nor Seminole county school district uses similar technology. But Seminole administrators have had discussions with Snaptrends, the Texas company Orange licensed the software from, and likely will talk more with the company during the summer, said Michael Lawrence, the district’s spokesman.
Before signing on, the district likely would try to gauge whether parents thought the “positives” from such a program outweigh what some might view as “Big Brother watching you,” he said.
“Would we step over boundaries? That would be an issue that would have to be navigated,” he added.
The Orange district began using the Snaptrends software several weeks ago and already found a student threatening “self-harm,” Eugene said. District staff contacted police, who helped the family get needed services, he added.
Snaptrends bills itself as “a pioneer in location-based social-media discovery,” with software that helps schools and colleges “gain insights into potential problems.”
The company declined to say how many school systems now use its program. But Eugene said other districts employ the system, as do Central Florida law-enforcement agencies.
Orange administrators announced the effort in an email to parents and staff sent late Wednesday and then in a news release early Thursday. They hoped the announcement would help head off end-of-the-year pranks and spark discussion during the summer between parents and students about appropriate social-media use, Eugene said.
The software, which costs about $14,000 a year, is in a “rollout phase” now and will be fully running at the start of the 2015-16 school year, Tripp added.
In an era of heightened concern about campus safety, Snaptrends’ tool allows the district to look at public information and “recognize content that appears to pose a concern to the safety and well being of students, teachers and staff,” said Jeff Croson, Snaptrends senior vice president, in a statement.
“Snaptrends is simply one more tool in the array of safety measures districts are taking to safeguard schools,” he added.

Read More

New law helps fight tech-based bullying

As cyberbullying increases, new laws and measures are helping combat tech-based bullying

The face of a bully and the definition of bullying have changed over the years.
Technology has come to replace the glaring student who pushes others down on the playground or the mean girl who uses word-of-mouth to spread her gossip.
Smartphones and social media have opened an entirely new door for classroom bullies, who are no longer limited to the classroom.
“A lot of these social media issues are occurring when students are not at school,” said Southeastern School District (Pa.) Superintendent Rona Kaufmann. “And often times what happens through social media comes into the school in one way, shape or form, just because of the sheer amount of people who have access to it.”
Taking action: Pennsylvania’s Northern York School District recently implemented rules for online behavior–for students, athletes and staff–to combat cyberbullying.
Superintendent Eric Eshbach echoed Kaufmann’s concerns about cyberbullying.
“It is a daily effort because a large majority of it doesn’t go on in the school building; it goes on after school hours,” he said. “We are definitely having conversations and encouraging students to report on any issues.”
Those reports could end up being a criminal matter under a new state law, Act 26, which Gov. Tom Wolf signed on July 10 and which takes effect in September.
Cyber-harassment, as defined by Act 26, is making malicious statements about a child’s physical characteristics, sexuality, sexual activity or mental or physical health. Cyber-harassment could be made electronically, either directly to the child or through a social media site.
The law makes cyber-harassment of a child a third-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to $2,500 in fines and possible jail time.
Prevention: More than half of the country’s young people have reported that they have been cyberbullied, and among those who reported incidents, one-third said their bullies issued online threats, according to 2014 bullying statistics published by the anti-bullying website nobullying.com.
“It’s a real problem that presents a real challenge,” Kaufmann said of cyberbullying. “I think the real key to prevention is early education.”
Kaufmann said Southeastern heavily focuses on lower-level students with its anti-bullying initiative.
“They have cell phones in elementary school now, and the earlier we can reach them, the better,” she said.
School officials have incorporated anti-bullying lessons into curriculum, including in high school communications and computer classes and some English classes in the lower grades.
There’s particular focus on intermediate students, because they all have laptops, “and we want them to be able to handle them responsibly,” she said.
The district has an incentive program that rewards moral behavior, “basically this fake money that they can use at the school store to get themselves prizes and things.”
Parents: School leaders in Northern enforce anti-bullying rules on a case-by-case basis, Eshbach said.
“The word ‘bullying’ is way too general for me,” he said. “I hear people claim their children are being bullied, so I ask them to tell me the specifics. What kind of harassment are you feeling? Is there a need to involve law enforcement? Should there be harsh penalties or is this something we can handle with classroom consequences?”
He said it’s best to be specific about what type of bullying is occurring and “then take each of those incidents and give it the appropriate amount of credibility and treat it appropriately.”
Eshbach said parents are key in preventing bullying.
Kaufmann agreed.
“Especially with anything online, parents need to keep an eye out,” she said. “It’s difficult to be constantly policing, but so many times parents are completely unaware of what their children are doing on the computer.”
It’s all about teamwork, Eshbach said.
“We need to come together and really keep an eye on what students are doing online,” he said.

Read More

Survey reveals why teachers aren’t embracing social media

Survey reveals that the majority of classroom educators shy away from social media integration

A new survey finds that just 13 percent of participating educators have used social media as part of their classroom learning.
The University of Phoenix College of Education survey of 1,002 U.S. K-12 teachers found that 87 percent of those surveyed said they have not embraced social media platforms. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed said they are reluctant to use social media in the classroom, compared to 55 percent of participating educators in a 2013 survey.
Fewer than half of teachers surveyed (44 percent) said they believe social media can enhance a student’s educational experiences.
“We are living in a rapidly evolving world of digital and social media, and many students are totally immersed and well-versed in these platforms,” said Kathy Cook, dean of educational technology for University of Phoenix College of Education and former K-12 educator. “For teachers to stay current, keep students engaged and promote learning, it is important for teachers to acknowledge the influence of social media and understand how to use it to the benefit of their students.”
Lack of training could be to blame. Although 95 percent of surveyed educators said they have had training related to classroom technology integration, 62 percent said they had either minimal or no training around how to interact with students and parents through social media.
Forty-eight perent of those surveyed said they would like to learn more about classroom technology integration.
K-12 teachers raise many concerns, with 82 percent of those surveyed reporting that they worry about conflicts that can occur from using social media with their students and/or parents.
More than half (59 percent) said the use of personal tech devices outside the classroom makes it more difficult for students to pay attention in a group setting in the classroom.
Twenty percent have also felt intimidated by students’ knowledge/use of technology devices.
“Social media is here to stay, so it is critical to invest in our educators through expanded training,” said Cook.
Training extends beyond providing educators tools to integrate social media into the classroom, she added. In addition to being prepared to use social media as a learning tool, teachers also need to be able to teach students to be responsible with their online behavior.
“Despite challenges, tremendous opportunities exist for teachers to play a leadership role in students’ digital lives, helping them learn how to use social media and understand its impact both in and outside the classroom,” Cook said. “It is essential to train teachers in digital citizenship so that they can educate students about preserving their online integrity.”
Cook offered tips to help K-12 teachers integrate social media into their classrooms:

• Create student social media guidelines. If your school or district has guidelines for social media use, make sure you and your students understand them completely and are following the guidelines. If your school or district does not currently have guidelines for social media use, consider developing some.
• Try “closed” social media sites. Edmodo, TodaysMeet and other sites allow safe and secure social media experiences in a smaller school environment. You can also create private blogs or use sites such as Kidblogs or Edublogs, which limit access and comment abilities.
• Connect with other classrooms around the world. Projects such as Global Read Aloud and Skype in the Classroom allow you to connect students in your classroom with other students worldwide.
• Connect with experts worldwide. Social media tools can help you bring a variety of experts into your classroom so students can learn directly from people in the field they are studying. You can search and connect with experts on Twitter, Skype and other social media networks. Many authors and content experts may be willing to conduct a live tweet session with your students during which they can ask questions and get immediate responses.
• Involve your class in a social service project. Explore projects online that your students can get involved in to help make the world a better place. Choose2Matter is one global movement that may spark imagination about how social media can be used to help others.
• Learn more about social media use in the classroom. Join Twitter or use other social media tools to connect with other teachers and learn about their creative uses of social media. You can also take a class to hone your own social media skills.

The survey was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of University of Phoenix College of Education between April 14 and April 27, 2015, among 1,002 U.S. teachers aged 18 and older who work full time in education teaching grades K-12.

Read More

In Wisconsin, poorly performing virtual charters won’t affect their districts

Provision would exclude virtual schools’ scores in certain cases

A little-known provision slipped into the Wisconsin budget signed by Gov. Scott Walker would keep low-performing virtual charter schools from dragging down the report cards of districts that host them.
The new law excludes the achievement scores of virtual charter schools from districts’ annual state report cards if more than half the students enrolled in the virtual school reside outside the district.
The provision was sought by the leaders of the only two virtual schools in the state to receive failing grades on their most recent school report cards: eAchieve Academy, hosted by the Waukesha School District, and iForward Academy, hosted by the Grantsburg School District. Both districts still met or exceeded the state’s expectations on their annual report cards.

But State Superintendent Tony Evers is critical of the change, saying it’s inconsistent with the idea of bringing all publicly funded schools into the same school accountability system. He sought unsuccessfully for Walker to veto the item.
Proponents say virtual charters should be treated differently because they’re serving many children not living in the district, who often have not been successful in other school settings and are coming to a virtual charter as a last resort — often bringing low achievement scores with them.
Rick Nettesheim, principal of Waukesha’s eAchieve Academy, said district report cards are meant to track the progress of students from elementary school through high school, and virtual school students often come from outside their resident district, which wouldn’t accurately reflect the achievement of the district.
“The truth is that virtual schools draw in by their very nature a fairly diverse population of students,” Nettesheim said. “Some of that diversity is a large group who are not successful in their resident school, and they look to virtual school as a last hope.”
Because they are online programs that allow teachers and students to work from home, virtual schools can enroll children all over the state through the state’s open enrollment program.
The Department of Public Instruction lists 32 virtual charter schools for the 2014-’15 school year, with three more proposed for the upcoming school year.
In 2013-’14, the most recent year report cards were issued, 27 of the 31 virtual schools that received state report cards “met expectations.” Two “exceeded expectations,” and two “failed to meet expectations.”
No schools or districts will receive report cards for the 2014-’15 school year. Separate legislation signed by Walker in May paused the system for a year while a new state test was implemented.
Report cards assess performance
In recent years, Wisconsin created a new system to judge public school and district performance. Annual report cards distributed to the public now rank schools and districts in one of five categories, from “significantly exceeds expectations” to “fails to meet expectations.”
The new state budget calls for those descriptions to be replaced with a five-star rating system.
The report card scores are based on measures such as achievement on the state test and academic growth over time, as well as school attendance and achievement gaps. Schools started receiving report cards in 2011-’12; districts started receiving them a year later.
The whole system went into place as part of a federally approved waiver from increasingly strict mandates of the No Child Left Behind law. Congress is in the process of rewriting that law.
Nettesheim said the report cards treat students as if they have been enrolled in the school year after year, which is often not the case for virtual schools, where kids from around the state may enroll and drop out more frequently.
He added that virtual schools are still being held accountable because each virtual charter school still will receive an individual school report card. Their scores would simply be excluded from the districtwide report card.
But many brick-and-mortar schools also see high student turnover, and their school scores still contribute to the districtwide report card.
For example, many Milwaukee city schools that serve vulnerable populations see up to a third of students turn over during the school year. Yet their scores still contribute to the Milwaukee Public Schools districtwide report card.
Request drove change
State Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Ripon) added the provision to the budget at the behest of Nettesheim and Joni Burgin, superintendent of the Grantsburg school district. Olsen said the provision will help encourage school districts to continue supporting virtual programs.
“The district is doing mission work (taking on virtual schools),” Olsen said. “I don’t think the system is reflected badly on the district; we don’t want these districts to not do this anymore because it’s bringing down the grade for the district.”
Olsen said the provision encourages more districts to host virtual schools because of the reduced risk.
Evers, the state superintendent, disagrees.
In a veto letter to Walker, Evers said the accountability data for all students attending a virtual school — not just the students who attended via open enrollment — would not be reflected on any district report card.
Still, Blake Peuse, superintendent of the Northern Ozaukee School District, said virtual school performance doesn’t accurately reflect the performance of the district.
“Virtual schools, for the most part, are a completely different entity,” Peuse said. “Having it directly equated to the sponsoring district does not always tell the whole story.”
Northern Ozaukee’s virtual school, Wisconsin Virtual Learning, received a “meets expectations” on the latest round of school report cards.
The district received the same marks.

Read More

Can online tutors make anytime, anywhere learning a reality?

Supporting off hours learning is a problem you might not even know you have

Recently, I began dubbing the current generation of students the “Netflix Generation.” They learn when they want, and expect learning resources to be available when and where they need them.
This is similar to the way they consume media through streaming services such as Netflix (for movies and television series) and Spotify (for music); they binge watch TV series multiple episodes in a row, and they expect a wide range of music to be available when and where they want. If they listen to a song in the car, they expect to be able to pick it back up in the house or while waking down the street. Increasingly, they expect learning resources to be available in the same fashion.
Smart educational organizations have built rich online courses filled with learning resources to support this type of learning. The old paradigm where learning occurs only in a classroom or lecture hall during school hours is gone. But in off hours, when teachers are at home, what will take their place?
After a few years of building online courses with rich learning resources, my school now sees significant student use outside the traditional school hours.

Graph 1 (click for full size) – This graph shows the percentage of the Year 7 to 12 population that accessed the online learning environment. The graph showing the school day is an average figure derived from two weeks of data. The Sunday and outside school hours data is derived from recent individual days.
Anytime, anywhere teaching
However, this now produces other pressures. Learning outside of traditional school hours does not remove the need for teachers. If all that students needed in order to learn was information, schools would have closed once Google and high-speed broadband arrived on the scene. Students continue to need support, a human explanation, encouragement to work through a problem, and insight to take them through a mental barrier to get to the next stage of problem solving.
Yet if significant learning is happening outside traditional school hours, who is available to support it? Do we expect our teachers to be online and available at all hours of the day or night? Or do we expect our students to continue independently, even when they encounter difficulties? The ad hoc network of peers that some students have may not be able to provide the rapid, deep, expert insights that are needed.

Graph 2 (click for full size) – Student logons to the OLE after school. (Classes finish at 3.15pm). This is a snapshot of the number of students logging in to the system at a particular time. It is not the total number of students using the OLE at that time.

My organization has provided a solution to this problem. We have provided access to online tutors — accessible via a link in every course in our OLE (online learning environment).
This is an external service where students can get the support that they need; our teachers do not need to be available all night. There is no need to navigate to a separate web site, or to remember yet another user name and password. The external service has the student’s name, year level and the course they navigated from passed to them as part of the single sign on process (via LTI integration). It couldn’t be easier. (My school, which is in Australia, uses yourtutor, a local company that works with both secondary and higher education institutions. There are similar services for schools stateside, such as Tutor.com, although I personally cannot vouch for them).

The front page of the external support service showing the hours when it is available. This screen shot was taken on a Saturday afternoon; the service is open during the hours when many students study, rather than being available 24/7.
Usage of the system is consistent, has been growing in the past year, and has received good feedback from students.
Some comments from students include:

• “[xxxxx] was a great tutor and was very helpful. Described what he meant and made sure I understood.”
• “My tutor was very helpful and wasn’t hesitant to give examples.”
• “Patient with me and helped me find some information on what I was stuck with.”

The online tutors do not simply answer a question; they instead act as teachers to guide students to an answer. Students can now gain the help they need, when they need it, teachers can have the out-of-hours break that they need, and the school can be confident that they are supporting both their students and their staff.
Peter West is Director of eLearning at Saint Stephen’s College in Australia. He has over 15 years’ experience leading K12 schools in technology enhanced education, particularly blended learning using online learning environments. He can be contacted at

Read More

Rural district turns to online speech therapy

Economically disadvantaged district, facing recruiting difficulties, found online therapy resources

Although districts are required to provide students in need with special education and related services such as speech therapy, many face obstacles in doing so.
One such school district, Lone Pine Unified (LPUSD), an economically disadvantaged district near the California-Nevada border, found it hard to recruit and retain speech-language pathologists (SLPs) because of its location.
To overcome this challenge, LPUSD chose to use online speech therapy through PresenceLearning and is seeing great success.

“Research shows that socioeconomic status is the number one statistic in predicting overall student and school district underachievement, and approximately 70 percent of our students are socioeconomically disadvantaged,” said Dr. Sean A. Cianfarano, Superintendent of LPUSD. “However, with PresenceLearning and our pre-academic early intervention efforts spearheaded by our excellent educators and support staff, we are now beating the odds at LPUSD.”
After the 2013-2014 school year, LPUSD was one of 10 districts to receive PresenceLearning’s Award of Excellence. Of the nearly 1,000 schools PresenceLearning served that school year, the award was given to those districts with the highest percentage of students who improved one level or more in spoken language production and spoken language comprehension on the Functional Communication Measures (FCMs) scales during the school year.
Although he was skeptical of its effectiveness when he first moved to the school district in fall 2014, Superintendent Cianfarano was personally won over as he saw how PresenceLearning positively impacted his son Rocco.
While enrolled in Pre-K at his previous district, Rocco’s teacher told his family that he was leaving off the first letter and sound of his words, thus indicating that he may need speech therapy. Once enrolled in kindergarten at LPUSD, Rocco started with PresenceLearning and his family found he flourished both in therapy and in the classroom.
“I would not choose a service option for our school district that we, as a family, would not choose for our own child,” said Dr. Cianfarano. “Early literacy is so important for young learners, but if the student cannot speak, it is really hard for them to be literate because it is all tied together. PresenceLearning empowers students to speak, but it’s more than that. It empowers students to be successful.”
Material from a press release was used in this report.

Read More

Some high school students access college courses for free

Students attending an online private school are eligible for college credit

The for-profit DeVry University has partnered with Connections Education to offer college courses at no cost to high school students attending International Connections Academy (iNaCA), an accredited, online private school serving students in grades K-12 worldwide.
Through DeVry University’s Passport2College program, juniors and seniors attending iNaCA can earn college credit while still attending high school. Students can enroll in such courses as Computer Applications for Business with Lab, Introduction to Business and Psychology.
“Passport2College is a wonderful opportunity for high school students to learn first-hand the college learning experience,” said Donna Loraine, chief academic officer and provost of DeVry University. “iNaCA students will be able to participate in the same academic learning environment that all DeVry University undergraduates encounter and obtain knowledge of how they can transition from high school to the collegiate level.”
Hannah Rinehart, director of school for iNaCA, commented, “More and more students are interested in taking college courses in high school.” In fact, the numbers topped 1.3 million students in the 2010-11 school year according to the most recent survey on the subject by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). “We are excited to bring opportunities like this to our students.”
Passport2College will launch for iNaCA students in the 2015-2016 school year.

Read More

How online learning is changing credit recovery

As learning becomes more accessible, credit recovery programs are evolving

Online learning is playing an increasingly important part in credit recovery for students with a variety of academic needs, according to a new report from the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL).
Credit recovery solutions often lower the bar for student performance as a result of pressure on school administrators and policymakers to “fix” graduation rates, authors Allison Powell, Verena Roberts, and Susan Patrick note.
Many online credit recovery solutions tout low costs but require only low levels of teacher involvement and often don’t use much rigor when asking students to demonstrate proficiency, according to the report.
Here’s where competency-based education comes in. Strong CBE programs will help students focus on their skill gaps, catch up, and stay on track for graduation. This intervention occurs before a student has failed an entire course.
New Hampshire has what the authors call one of the boldest CBE efforts. The Virtual Learning Academy Charter School is a charter school that also serves as the state’s virtual school. Its supplemental online classes include 62 “competency recovery” courses let students take an entire course or allow them to focus just on the competencies they did not pass. Students work with their parents and teacher to determine their individual learning pace.
“Competency-based learning gives students the opportunity to complete lessons that demonstrate their mastery of content as well as the support they need if they are having difficulty with specific content,” the authors wrote. “A true competency-based approach requires the students to advance upon demonstrated mastery—often through a ‘performance’ of demonstrating
the competencies and creating evidence of the deeper knowledge, skills and dispositions acquired.”
“Research shows that more than 75 percent of school districts use blended and online learning for expanded course offerings and credit recovery,” said Allison Powell, iNACOL Vice President for New Learning Models. “The case studies in this paper provide guidance to educators in helping over-age, under-credited students to catch up and get back on track to graduate.”
Susan Patrick, President and CEO of iNACOL, said, “Millions of students are still not completing high school, causing them to face increasing challenges throughout life. When students have struggled, online learning is a tool that can open up new pathways to success—students can find alternative ways to learn and to graduate, while also developing new skills for success in life.”
To read the report in its entirety and for more details about the state of online learning for credit recovery, click here.

Read More

Full-time online school launches in Georgia using FuelEd (Aventa)

FuelEd, Vidalia City Board of Education open full-time online school for Georgia students

The Vidalia City Board of Education (Ga.) has partnered with personalized learning provider Fuel Education (formerly Aventa Learning) to launch a new full-time online learning program for K-12.
The public, full-time online school, Vidalia Academy, offers students across the state of Georgia the opportunity to learn in a flexible educational model that is tailored to each student’s needs.
Accepting enrollments for the 2015-2016 school year through the end of this month, Vidalia Academy will be able to provide thousands of students with personalized learning through an extensive catalog of standards-based online curriculum, instructional services from highly qualified, state-certified online teachers, powerful course customization and other technology tools, and a host of support resources, all provided by FuelEd.
“Vidalia City Schools selected Fuel Education because of their proven ability to partner with schools to help them effectively launch, grow, manage, teach, and support successful online learning programs,” said Randy Rodgers, Director of Virtual Education for Vidalia Academy. “As a public school leveraging an innovative model, we believe that together with FuelEd the Vidalia Academy can offer more students across Georgia with the best education possible.”
For middle school and high school, Vidalia Academy will use FuelEd’s PEAK personalized learning platform, an open technology platform that provides a single, unified view of online and blended learning activities across multiple solutions for administrators, teachers, and students.
PEAK provides intelligent reporting and analytics to help districts reduce system complexity and simplify administration as they adopt more digital and online learning solutions. To differentiate instruction, teachers can use the PEAK Library to customize courses using FuelEd content, teacher-created content, open education resources, or other third-party content.
Fuel Ed’s full-time school solution also includes benchmark and formative assessments; an anti-plagiarism tool; a web-based counseling system; and a variety of live and online student and parent resources available through the Strong Start program. To learn more, watch this video or read this case study about FuelEd’s partnership with Miami-Dade Public Schools.
Gregg Levin, Fuel Education’s General Manager, said, “We are very excited to partner with the Vidalia City Board of Education as they make a new, innovative education option available to students across Georgia. With the experienced staff at Vidalia Academy, and Fuel Education’s experience providing online learning solutions to thousands of school districts, we look forward to helping Vidalia Academy personalize learning and improve outcomes for more students.”
Parents and students who live in Georgia and are interested in the new school can visit the Vidalia Academy website for more information. The school will be accepting enrollment applications through September 28, 2015.
In addition to full-time schools, FuelEd supports districts with a variety of online and blended programs, ranging from catalog expansion for low-enrollment or hard-to-staff courses, to hospital/homebound education, full-time school programs, language exposure and learning, alternative education, remediation and kindergarten readiness, among others.

Read More

Research examines blended learning, student achievement

New white paper explores effective instructional models and course customization benefits

A new research report from Arizona State University (ASU) focuses on various evidence-based instructional models and strategies integrated within courses from an online curriculum provider in order to determine if they lead to increased student achievement and engagement.
Research conducted by ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and Technology Based Learning and Research division examines whether the instructional strategies put into practice within Odysseyware courses consistently demonstrate the largest effect of success as a supplemental instructional strategy, especially when implemented within a blended learning model.
Odysseyware aims to provide a learning solution for schools seeking the flexibility and customization of online courses, as well as for those looking to offer students a virtual learning environment. On average, students taking partial or entire courses online outperform students taking the same course solely through face-to-face instruction.
Titled, “A Research Report: Odysseyware Instructional Design & Strategies,” this research report provides an overview of research conducted in these areas:
• Transforming the learning landscape with pedagogical flexible models
• Standards-based, personalized learning using customization
• Systems of assessment, instruction, intervention, and monitoring tools
• Use of frequent, meaningful interactions and embedded feedback
• Interactive content including visualizations, virtual labs, and simulations
“By 2016 a projected 5 million students will be enrolled in online courses. Many schools have a difficult time finding a standards-based, effective online solution that is easily customizable and adaptable to learning models such as blended learning,” said Odysseyware President Beth Te Grotenhuis. “We are extremely proud of the content we create and take great care in doing so. This research shows that with careful implementation planning, professional development, and adequate resource planning, student engagement and success with increase.”
Material from a press release was used in this report.

Read More

10 districts that have seen big blended learning success

Edgenuity highlights schools, districts implementing blended learning

As schools and districts try to better meet the needs of students with different learning styles, blended learning programs are becoming increasingly popular.
Because blended learning combines face-to-face instruction with personalized online learning, students have some degree of control over their learning pace and how their content is delivered and consumed.
Online and blended learning provider Edgenuity works with more than 16,000 schools, and from that base, the company identified 10 schools and districts that are taking blended learning to the next level through student-centered, personalized instructional models that create new ways to address instructional goals and deliver better student outcomes.
“There is no doubt that blended learning is a proven solution for transforming the educational experience for students,” said Sari Factor, CEO of Edgenuity. “What is less understood is the level of thought, planning, and change management required by schools to implement these new models. We’re glad to recognize these schools and districts for effectively executing on a vision of using technology to empower students and teachers, and we look forward to sharing what these schools have learned to help more and more students across the country.”
“Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools has a commitment to ensuring success for every student. One of the ways we do this is by providing a personalized learning environment that caters to individual student needs. Technology allows us to accomplish this goal. Edgenuity has been an important partner, enabling us to provide rigorous, aligned content in online and blended formats. It is exciting that Edgenuity recognized CMS as a top district for innovative approaches and commitment to students,” said Hope Kohl, Director of Virtual Learning and Media Services at CMS.
The schools and district’s on Edgenuity’s list are:
Carpe Diem Schools
• Tuition-free virtual school with campuses across the US serving grades 6-12 that provides students the freedom to complete coursework when and where they like.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, N.C.
• The 2nd largest school district in North Carolina, the district is comprised of 168 schools and serves more than 147,000 students in grades K-12.
Clark County School District, Nev.
• Serves over 316,000 students across 377 schools with a student teacher ratio of approximately 22-to-1.
Derby Public Schools, Conn.
• Serves approximately 1,600 students in grades K-12 across 4 schools.
Henry County Schools, Ga.
• The 7th largest district in Georgia, serves 40,000 students in grades K-12 across 14 schools.
Jefferson Chamber Foundation Academy, La.
• Students are provided with the opportunity to work at their own pace to earn their diploma.
Rio Rancho Public Schools, N.M.
• In 2005 the district founded Rio Rancho Cyber Academy, the accredited, diploma-granting school for nearly 170 students in grades 6-12.
East Pennsboro Area School District, Pa.
• A growing, progressive school district with a total population of approximately 2,700 students in grades K-12.
Tift County Schools, Ga.
• Serves approximately 7,650 students in grades K-12 across 12 schools, including one alternative school.
Village Green Virtual Charter School, R.I.
• Opened in 2013 for students grades 9-12, the school has a state-wide enrollment policy and any student entering the 9th or 10th grade and who lives in the state is eligible to attend.
“As technology has grown to become more mainstream in education, we’ve seen too many schools focus on the hardware itself rather than on the proper implementation of that technology,” said Stacy Hawthorne, Blended Learning Strategist at Edgenuity. “It is critical that schools first take a hard look at what they want to accomplish with a blended learning program, which students they are hoping to serve, and how the program will fit into the district’s broader goals before moving forward. This requires strong leadership, which the schools named today should be applauded for.”

Read More

10 things all great online educators do

Best practices for any educator organizing online courses

It’s no secret that virtual education has become more and more widespread, with new online schools popping up regularly and brick-and-mortar institutions adding a blended component. With that in mind, certain strategies, tips, and guidelines have been proven to help instructors begin what can seem like an overwhelming task—teaching a course without ever even needing to physically see her students. Throughout my years of experience, I’ve compiled a list of ten best practices and tips that I believe can help save instructors a lot of time when teaching or developing online courses.
Develop a strong classroom presence. Whether it’s multiple times a week or every day, using communication tools such as discussion boards or announcements will help keep students from feeling isolated. Taking part in class discussions by consistently asking leading questions, extending student thinking, and contributing relevant, instructive subject matter expertise will build a strong foundation for collaboration and engagement. Discussion boards encourage critical and creative thinking and supports students in their own reflections and inquiries. Boards also allow students to get to know each other personally and intellectually.
Encourage substantive feedback from students, to students. Don’t let students get used to the notion of “one post” as an acceptable standard. If they don’t receive feedback from the teacher saying otherwise, or if they receive one short “good job” post to a comment, they tend to start thinking of their contributions as individual notes to the teacher, instead of as contributions to a whole-classroom discussion. Equally important is to encourage students to respond to each other’s comments or to ask questions about what they have posted.
Check for questions frequently and provide timely feedback on progress. Teachers should access their courses and monitor discussions daily and respond as quickly as possible to students’ questions, requests for review, submitted work, and other posts, even if it’s to just acknowledge receiving it, with an answer coming later.
Be mindful of tone, modeling respectful behavior for students. Teachers should phrase comments and responses carefully and be noticeably helpful and supportive; comments can be misinterpreted when students can’t see facial expressions. Teachers should address students by name and sign all posts. This models what we’d like students to do.
Help students develop time management and organizational skills. Virtual students often choose to take an online course because they assume it will provide more flexibility for their busy schedules. They will need to know what is expected of them so that they can organize their time to meet course requirements. This increased time management responsibility for the learner also means that there is an increased organization responsibility on the teacher. Prepare syllabus and assignment due dates carefully and well in advance so that students know what to expect and when. In my district, all of our online courses follow a consistent format, with weekly checklists and rubrics that the teachers monitor.
Don’t overload your students with material. Many online courses aren’t broken down into manageable pieces. If you deliver too much content in one sitting you have to work very hard to get the learner to be willing to accept your attempts to reinforce the material. By breaking up your course into smaller, separate modules you make it easier for students to retain knowledge and pay better attention to your lesson.
Establish good course practices. A good course might have a “capstone project” that all the course activities build toward. Instead of just reading and writing weekly assignments from a book, students read and write in service of completing a larger project. A good course teacher provides annotations to all the websites she or he asks the student to visit. This provides an advanced organizer to students — a preview of what’s to come — so they know why they’ve been sent to each site, and what some of the pitfalls might be when they get there. Make sure students can move easily between navigation and instruction. Clear, precise distinctions should be made in all instructions. Before students leave a document, they need know where to go next after completing the work you have just assigned.
Present material in different ways. Understand how to engage learners of different styles, presenting material in multiple ways. Considering using both synchronous and asynchronous activities, which helps provide a good balance of activities. Engage learners in more collaborative and reflective activities; those that include real-time interactive brainstorming and sharing are often just as effective as those that require students to think, plan, write, and summarize.
While the day-to-day instruction is just one facet of online learning programs, administrators should consider these points when offering virtual programs:
Online programs should be multifaceted for greater student voice and choice. Insist that your online program offer many unique elective offerings and a vast array of AP courses (and don’t overlook credit recovery options, either!) This gives a student a way to “personalize” their education and allows them to discover and choose what most interests them.
Make sure teachers have the best training available. In our case, we collaborate with The Virtual High School, who we consider an online learning pioneer. VHS requires each teacher to graduate from a six-week, rigorous graduate level training program. During this program our teachers were immersed in the online world and learn as their future online students will learn. This philosophy and approach is the heart and soul of our program and the teachers often tell us what they’ve learned in their online teaching and training helps inform their own local, face-to-face instruction.

Read More

Do online charter schools measure up?

A three-part research study indicates that online charter school performance may be underwhelming

New research offers evidence that online charter schools post weaker academic performance and struggle more to maintain student engagement than their conventional brick-and-mortar peers.
The National Study of Online Charter Schools, released Oct. 27, analyzed online charter school operations, policy environments, and their impacts on student achievements.
The three-volume study, conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington, and the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University, describes the achievement effects of online charter schools.
Volume 1 analyzed the 200 online charter schools in operation in the U.S. and the 200,000 K-12 students in attendance. It examines the instructional programs of online charter schools; methods used to engage students and parents, along with expectations of parental involvement; the teachers and principals of online charter schools; and the schools’ management and governance.
That analysis found:
• Student–driven, independent study is the dominant mode of learning in online charter schools, with 33 percent of online charter schools offering only self-paced instruction
• Online charter schools typically provide students with less live teacher contact time in a week than students in conventional schools have in a day
•Maintaining student engagement in this environment of limited student-teacher interaction is considered the greatest challenge by far, identified by online charter school principals nearly three times as often as any other challenge
• Online charter schools place significant expectations on parents, perhaps to compensate for
limited student-teacher interaction, with 43, 56, and 78 percent of online charters at the high school, middle, and elementary grade levels, respectively, expecting parents to actively participate in student instruction
“Challenges in maintaining student engagement are inherent in online instruction, and they are exacerbated by high student-teacher ratios and minimal student-teacher contact time, which the data reveal are typical of online charter schools nationwide. These findings suggest reason for concern about whether the sector is likely to be effective in promoting student achievement,” said Brian Gill, a Mathematica senior fellow and lead author of the report.
In Volume II, the Center on Reinventing Public Education examined how state policy impacts the online charter school landscape. Researchers found that online charter schools exist in a number of different policy environments due to variation in state charter law and administrative regulation.
Most of the existing regulation is reactive to controversy (restrictions on growth and autonomy), rather than proactive policies to guide the unique opportunities and challenges of online charters.
The authors found several drawbacks to forcing online schools into the charter context, including:
• Open admission requirements that prevent schools from screening for students who are most
likely to be successful in an online school.
• Authorizing and accountability provisions that are not well suited to the unique challenges of
regulating online schools.
• Funding mechanisms that preclude outcomes-based funding
CRPE director Robin Lake, who co-authored the study, said, “We need policies that address legitimate
concerns without needlessly restricting growth.” The report recommends that policymakers consider
moving online schools out of the charter context, or craft unique provisions specific to online charters.”
Volume III, from the CREDO at Stanford University, examines impacts of online charter enrollment on the academic progress of students.
While findings vary for each student, the results in CREDO’s report show that the majority of online charter students had far weaker academic growth in both math and reading compared to their traditional public school peers.
To conceptualize this shortfall, it would equate to a student losing 72 days of learning in reading and 180 days of learning in math, based on a 180-day school year. This pattern of weaker growth remained consistent across racial-ethnic subpopulations and students in poverty.
“While the overall findings of our analysis are somber, we do believe the information will serve as the foundation for constructive discussions on the role of online schools in the K-12 sector. We see an
opportunity for the providers to do a better job of documenting the benefits they provide to their
students and to connect with and learn from operators who are doing well,” said Dr. James Woodworth, Senior Quantitative Research Analyst for CREDO at Stanford University.
This mixed-method analysis included data from 158 online schools across 17 states and the District of
Columbia. The data set for online school students is restricted to those students attending public, full-time online charter schools.
Material from a press release was used in this report.

Read More