TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract: In 2006–2007, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation awarded a grant to the Sloan Consortium and Hunter College to conduct a survey of online learning in K–12 schools. For more than a decade, the Foundation had been most generous in awarding grants for online learning that focused on higher education, however, this was the first award directed specifically to the K–12 environment. The timing of this grant coincided with the growing perception of the importance and use of online learning in K–12 schools. During the past several years, the editors of JALN also noticed an increase in article submissions related to teacher education. As a result, a decision was made to publish a special edition of JALN focusing on online learning in K–12 schools and teacher education.
Abstract: Chris Dede is the Timothy E. Wirth Professor of Learning Technologies at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. His fields of scholarship include emerging technologies, policy, and leadership. His funded research includes a grant from the National Science Foundation to aid middle school students learning science via shared virtual environments and a Star Schools grant from the U.S. Department of Education to help high school students with math and literacy skills using wireless mobile devices to create augmented reality simulations. Chris has served as a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Foundations of Educational and Psychological Assessment, a member of the U.S. Department of Education’s Expert Panel on Technology, and International Steering Committee member for the Second International Technology in Education Study. He serves on Advisory Boards and Commissions for PBS TeacherLine, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center, and several federal research grants. In addition, Chris is a member of the Board of Directors of the Boston Tech Academy, an experimental small high school in the Boston Public School system, funded by the Gates Foundation. His co-edited book, Scaling Up Success: Lessons Learned from Technology-based Educational Improvement, was published by Jossey-Bass in 2005. A second volume he edited, Online Professional Development for Teachers: Emerging Models and Methods, was published by the Harvard Education Press in 2006. Links to his courses, projects, and writings are available on his webpage: http://www.gse.harvard.edu/~dedech/.
Anthony G. Picciano Hunter College and Graduate Center of the City University of New York Jeff Seaman, Ph.D. The Sloan Consortium Olin and Babson Colleges
Abstract: The research literature on online learning has grown significantly in the past decade. Many studies have been published that examine the extent, nature, policies, learning outcomes, and other issues associated with online instruction. While much of this literature focuses specifically on postsecondary education with approximately three million students presently enrolled in fully online courses [1], not as much has been published about students enrolled in fully online and blended courses in primary and secondary schools. This is one of the first studies to collect data on and to compare fully online and blended learning in K–12 schools. The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of online learning in K–12 schools and to establish base data for more extensive future studies. Issues related to planning, operational difficulties, and online learning providers were also examined. This study does not necessarily answer all of the issues raised but hopefully will promote further discussion and study of them.
Sarah Haavind Lesley University
Abstract: One of the more challenging aspects of teaching online is promoting content-focused, collaborative dialogue among students. How do we move discussants beyond initial brainstorming toward more focused, deepened dialogue that clearly supports a course’s instructional goals? Garrison and Anderson’s framework for communities of inquiry illuminates the critical interplay among social presence, cognitive presence and teaching presence for learning in asynchronous, online courses [2]. This paper describes aspects of teaching presence, specifically explicit teaching of how to engage in collaborative dialogue, collaborative activity designs and evaluation rubrics or feedback that, supported by attention to maintaining social presence, helped to promote substantive, collaborative dialogue, or cognitive presence, in Virtual High School™ classes [3].
Laura M. O’Dwyer Lynch School of Education, Boston College Rebecca Carey Glenn Kleiman Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC)
Abstract: Over the past decade online learning initiatives have shown tremendous potential for broadening educational opportunities and for addressing local and regional shortages of highly qualified K–12 teachers. The Louisiana Algebra I Online initiative represents one type of online model than can address both the need for improving course offerings and for addressing teacher shortages. The goal of the model is to improve educational opportunities for students by providing them with a high-quality, standards-based curriculum delivered online by a certified mathematics teacher and to support the professional development of teachers in hard-to-staff schools by partnering them with a highly qualified teacher-mentor who is available online. The innovation of this model for online learning is that it integrates classroom-based learning with virtual learning thereby providing students with the structure and opportunities afforded by regular class meetings and supports the professional development of uncertified teachers through ongoing and embedded professional development opportunities.
This research suggests that the Louisiana Algebra I Online model is a viable online model for providing teachers with an effective model for authentic and embedded professional development that is relevant to their classroom experiences.
Jodi Asbell-Clarke and Elizabeth Rowe TERC
Abstract: Online education is a rapidly growing phenomenon for science teachers. Using a sample of 40 online science courses for teachers offered during the 2004–2005 academic year, the Learning Science Online (LSO) study examines the nature and variety of instructional methods and activities as well as communication, and students’ perceptions of supports within the course. This research is unique in that it is the first aggregate study of online science courses offered by a wide variety of educational programs. Descriptive analyses suggest the instructional methods employed in online science courses for teachers include frequent use of online discussions and students participated in minds-on activities, including articulation and reflection on their scientific ideas, posing questions, analyzing data, and drawing conclusions from evidence. Hands-on instructional activities were rarely used, and pen-and-paper and collaborative instructional activities were occasionally used. Technology was used primarily for communications such as discussion boards, email, and chat, but there were very few other computer-based tools used within the courses. Students felt supported by instructors, other students, and the course design.
Carla Meskill, Gulnara Sadykova University at Albany, State University of New York
Abstract: This study examines the patterns and substance of student self introductions in nine fully online graduate courses in education. A composite of social identity frameworks with an emphasis on language as the tool for self-presentation is first developed to guide the analysis and interpretation of these data. In particular Sfard and Prusack’s operationalization of the telling of identity [1], along with Bruner’s construct of turning points in self-tellings [2] are discussed and employed as analytic lenses. The question of how, in a tightly defined social/academic context, adults use written language to present themselves to others is taken up through content analysis supported by linguistic concordancing. Two hundred twenty-three “Meet Your Classmates” entries are examined for their form and content. Entries composed by preservice teachers, inservice teachers, and doctoral students reveal differences regarding academic and professional identity-telling with the tenacity of institutionally situating and situated forces prevailing.
The Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks (JALN) is published by the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C™). Responsibility for the contents rests with the authors and not with Sloan-C™. Copyright © 2007 by Sloan-C™. All rights reserved.
