Starting an online program as a part of a school or as a separate school is a many-faceted challenge, even for seasoned educators. This session will give you the opportunity to work with practitioners from around the country. Topics will include program design, professional development, student recruitment, curriculum decisions, policy development, and more. This session is designed for educators who are new to virtual schooling or in their first two years of their program.

This session is intended to increase awareness about the value and benefits of program evaluation and to strengthen its use in K-12 online learning programs. Program administrators and evaluators will share internal and external evaluation practices found to be effective in a variety of unique online learning environments, both in terms of helping improve quality and effectiveness and in meeting accountability needs. We will also hear from efforts underway by the NACOL Research Committee and the federal Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII) to raise awareness and disseminate effective practices. Participants will be asked to contribute their ideas on successful practices and lessons learned, and ways to strengthen evaluation practice.

After an overview and brief presentations on individual evaluation projects and on the multi-evaluation synthesis for a new guidebook developed by WestEd for OII, session participants will join presenters for round table discussion of successful practices and lessons learned. After a break, representatives of the NACOL Research Committee will present about their efforts to develop an Issue Brief that addresses one key issue, quality and effectiveness in K-12 Online Learning. Presenters and participants will then engage in round table discussion about next steps in strengthening evaluation practice, both at the program and policymaker levels.

1. Overview
2. Individual evaluations presentations, OII Innovations in Education guidebook
3. Discussion: Successful practices and lessons learned
4. NACOL research committee Issue Brief: quality/effectiveness in K-12 online teaching
5. Discussion: Next steps for strengthening evaluation practices

Participants should take away from this session a better understanding of the value and benefits of evaluation, and how it might apply to their unique circumstances. Program administrators and staff will have renewed knowledge of proven methods and potential issues to keep in mind when undertaking an evaluation, while policymakers and funders will gain knowledge useful in framing evaluations that support improvement and reform efforts.

In this workshop we will engage our community of practice in an in-depth exploration of NACOL's new "Goals, Guidelines, and Standards for Student Scientific Investigations" publication. Participants can present an element of their online science course and discuss how it embodies the new guidelines. Participants looking for assistance can present their current course and get redesign advice from workshop leaders and participants. Results from the workshop will be included in a subsequent version of the NACOL publication.

The purposes of this session on virtual school leadership are to increase foundational knowledge in this relatively young field, to explore the uniqueness within virtual schools in an attempt to produce best practices within the field, and to provide context for policymakers. This pre-conference session brings leaders of new and established virtual schools together for a conversation about school management with attention to factors internal and external to the school. Each leader will summarize his or her school’s:

1. History and Overview
2. Administration and Policy
3. Outcomes and Lessons Learned
4. Best Practices
5. Future Plans

The value of his session for participants is that it will provide a historical perspective on the development of state-led virtual schools that will frame the relevant issues for leaders attempting to move towards virtual schooling, and it will begin a conversation among states on best practices to improve the field of virtual schooling.

After brief presentations by the leaders, presenters and session participants will join together in facilitated roundtable sessions to share and problem-solve about school management issues they feel should be addressed to further the effectiveness of virtual schools.
Curt Fuchs (MoVIP), Jodi Holzman (COL), Chris Rapp (COL), Julie Young (FLVS) and Liz Pape (VHS); facilitated by Cathy Cavanaugh (UF) and Rick Ferdig (UF)

With the advent of Web 2.0 we have seen a proliferation of tools that enable information sharing, collaboration and co-creation of content. With a seemingly endless list of powerful new tools and possibilities, how do virtual school educators identify and make use of the right tool for the right purpose? This hands-on session will provide an overview to Web 2.0 tools and possibilities as well as engage participants in conversation around key virtual school instructional needs. Participants who bring laptop computers will have an opportunity to try out a collection of Web 2.0 tools and think together about strategies for selecting and incorporating the ones that most meet their identified virtual school needs.

What do online teachers need to know and do? How can we balance effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of professional development? How can we effectively evaluate teachers’ progress against online teaching standards and competencies? How can we measure the effectiveness of our professional development programs? Participants will join a panel of experts in professional development for online teachers to investigate best practices in answer to these questions. Participants are encouraged to bring examples of what has worked -- and what hasn’t -- in their programs. Topics for discussion will include:

• NACOL, SREB, and NETS-T standards
• Synchronous v. asynchronous delivery mechanisms and tools
• Budgeting for professional development
• Calculating ROI
• Getting teacher and administrator buy-in
• Implementing a robust evaluation program

In addition to the concrete strategies they will glean through collaboration and discussion at this session, participants will leave with sample professional development syllabi and implementation ideas, templates for teacher evaluation rubrics and personal professional development plans, and a customizable ROI calculator.

Online learning started as a way to expand access to courses and teachers that were otherwise not available at schools. In the future, the issues will be centered on how to use the innovation of online learning to solve the bigger problems in K-12 education – how to offer a world-class education for every student, how to improve teaching and course quality, how to move to performance- and competency-based models of learning, how to ensure every student is college-ready and how to scale the delivery model for all students.

In this opening, Susan Patrick will speak about innovation and online learning as a disruptive innovation providing opportunities and options where they do not exist for students.

Special Recognition:
  

The Utah Electronic High School is a state-funded online high school that has served more than 80,000 students since 1994. This session looks at the challenges and best practices of providing credit-recovery and supplemental courses for approximately 12,000 students at any given time. Specifically, we’ll examine strategic partnerships that enabled the Electronic High School to realize significant operational efficiencies. The Electronic High School uses an open-entry/open-exit model; EHS is funded by an annual legislative appropriation.

This model provides professional development to meet the needs of administrators, counselors, building contacts, traditional and resource classroom teachers, curriculum coordinators, technology staff, and online teachers, based on what they need and when they need it. It provides flexibility to offer cohort groups, face-to-face and hybrid workshops and lightly facilitated independent study opportunities with interactivity and accountability. Whether teaching K-12 online students or other professional adults, participant options can be tailored to meet their needs.

HCVS and the Education, Arts and Culture division of the Chattanooga Mayor’s Office have joined forces to pilot Connecting the Dots Virtual School for at-risk students in two high poverty areas Summer 2008. Grant funds from the state bring together community, school and government stakeholders to provide, a facilitated lab at a local recreation center, free transportation, lunches, mentors from area churches, and online courseware. Students receive $50 and one full credit for successful completion.

Teachers are notorious for using "borrowed" materials. If educators are not sure what can and cannot be used, how can we expect our students to know the difference? Once we determine that the content can be used in our courses, how do we ensure that it is accessible to all learners? Come join us as we discuss copyright, plagiarism and accessibility and the impact that each of these has on the delivery of online instruction.

Get the latest scoop on the online learning landscape across all 50 states – plus emerging trends and important policy moves that could affect your state, school or district. The author and guiding sponsors of Keeping Pace, representing state-led supplemental programs, full-time programs, and state education agencies, will lead an interactive discussion of the leading and emerging policy and practice issues

Iowa Learning Online offers a virtual GenBio course for special needs and at-risk high school students. The goal of GenBio is to help students become proficient in science and its mantra is “It’s about learning, not just about getting it done.” Inquiry is the foundation of the course which contains many onsite labs. Come find out what the course entails and hear from an instructor about student successes.

Gone through an accreditation process recently? If so, you know that proctored end-of-course exams for distance learning courses are no longer optional. This requirement creates quite the operational challenge for online schools that offer courses for students outside the traditional school environment. In this presentation, we’ll discuss the results of an online proctoring pilot program at The American Academy, an online school that serves students worldwide. The presentation will include a live demonstration of the identity verification and online proctoring processes.

If we were referring to body parts, a leg is something you stand on; it gives you support. In the virtual world of Wisconsin Virtual School, a Local Education Guide (LEG) is someone who gives support to at-risk students taking online courses. Specific case studies and experience indicate it is critical to the student’s success to have a LEG. Learn about online readiness strategies and best practices in motivating and supporting online students.

This new, small high school, VOISE Academy: Virtual Opportunities Inside a School Environment, is a hybrid model, integrating face-to-face teacher instruction and relevant projects with rigorous online curriculum taught in high-tech labs. VOISE’s educational plan includes quality standardized coursework that hones 21st century skills aimed at enhancing collaboration and communication while providing a caring, mentoring student-centered environment. Using data-based decision making, VOISE Academy will prove and improve itself and become a model for future schools.

This panel presentation has key representatives from several public school districts in California who will discuss their efforts to work together to offer online instruction. They will recount the history and present standing of legislation for online learning in California. The different forms of online instruction in public school districts will be discussed. The panel members will be available for Q&A after short presentations.

By necessity, virtual schools are changing the paradigm of teacher evaluation. Just what emerging best practices measure critical competencies of online teachers? Learn how teachers and administrators in online schools work together to set performance goals, and how principals visit online classrooms and view data to perform “virtual observations.” Hear how changing roles inform formative and summative teacher evaluation in this innovative model -- and how to adapt it for your school.

This study evaluated the cognitive tempo of high school students enrolled in online courses and found that students’ cognitive tempo influenced their interest and desire to control the pacing in online courses. The qualitative data showed that students were very interested in the pacing and timing of their learning. Enrolling online may create a new form of blended learning model for adolescents that they seem attracted to and may be positive for most students.

In March 2008, with the future of Wisconsin’s online schools in doubt, NACOL President Susan Patrick wrote these words to Gov. Jim Doyle: “The eyes of the world are on Wisconsin.” Three months earlier, a state appellate court had ruled online charter schools in Wisconsin were illegal. Wisconsin quickly became the center of a national debate over online learning. This session will explore the major policy and legal issues involved and how the Legislature eventually passed legislation that preserved Wisconsin’s online schools.

Mathematics courses present challenges for online delivery models. This session will cover best practices in the teaching and delivery of mathematics in online classrooms. Attendees will learn and discuss effective ways to build and design courses that utilize course tools and virtual classroom software. Teaching strategies will be demonstrated that include video, notes, virtual classroom software, and other tools that may be effectively leveraged to more fully engage students. Student perspectives will be included.

Data management complexity has increased steadily for years, but especially for online high schools often requiring static exports. Rarely do student management and learning management systems interface easily. What data is critical for online programs to collect? This presentation will look at these issues from the viewpoints of a technology director and a program evaluator. A frank discussion regarding the current challenges and possible solutions will take place between the presenters and audience

The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School will demonstrate how it utilizes Interwise in a synchronous learning environment to provide frequent, dynamic communication between students and teachers. Discussion will include: scheduling, hiring, training, and technology. As a part of the presentation, participants will experience a virtual class from the perspective of a PA cyber student. Come see why virtual classes have become the most popular curriculum option in one of the nation’s largest cyber charter schools.

Spanning cultures, time zones and national borders is becoming a reality for IB students. The Diploma Programme Online project aims to increase student access, extend subject choice, enhance intercultural understanding and help students develop the 21st century skills necessary for life after school. Selected course providers who adhere to the standards established by the IB to ensure the quality and “IBness” of the online experience will discuss the challenges and promises of this exciting initiative.

The North Carolina Virtual Public School is a new state virtual school program. Participants will learn how North Carolina overcame political and logistical hurdles to develop and begin implementing a 21st Century Skills-focused strategic plan. A first hand look at a new model that focuses on leading virtual learning at the local school level in conjunction with strategies for partnerships, student support and strong, results-based curriculum will help participants as they build their virtual best practices.

Full-time online teachers are a burgeoning group of dedicated educators facing many of the same challenges as classroom teachers. These educators are available for one-to-one attention throughout the day: grading assignments, tracking progress, and tutoring. Just like the classroom instructor, a day in the lives of online teachers includes serving up inspiration, encouragement, and quality education. But the tools are somewhat different, and used from a distance, compete for attention with games or social websites.

The role of the online facilitator is key to student success in online learning. In this presentation, we will describe (a) the infrastructure of a large-scale statewide online professional development project; (b) the investments we have made with the facilitator division in terms of recruitment, training, and ongoing sustainability of effective facilitators; and, (c) results from ongoing research on the role of facilitators in online learning. We will share lessons learned and future plans.

Learn about the rapidly evolving open educational resources (OER) movement and what it means for teachers and students worldwide. An overview of exemplary projects will be offered and the opportunities and challenges facing these efforts will be discussed by the attendees. In particular, the robust educational resources of HippoCampus.org will be explored and lessons learned from the project will be shared. Discover how you can be a part of it!

As the numbers of K-2 students enrolled in online public schools continues to grow, the expected questions emerge: Can online schools deliver appropriate education for early learners? Is computer use suitable for young children? What is the right balance of real time and off-line lessons – and what about socialization? Expect surprising answers from this panel of educators and parents as they discuss how to create a developmentally appropriate online learning environment for early childhood learners.

To create a successful Virtual Learning Environment the follow steps are necessary: 1. Develop Professional Learning Community 2. Create research, best-practice based pedagogy 3. Select responsive, reliable vendor: rubric 4. Ensure transparency in teaching and learning 5. Differentiate instruction 6. Establish effective communication networks 7. Engage students through interactive, collaborative partnerships

In public education we do not focus on “marketing” to gain more “clients.” However, with most online programs being supplemental or programs of choice there is a need to let constituents know and understand the options available through online learning. Join in this panel presentation and discussion of how to build and grow an online program. A variety of methods will be shared and discussed from seasoned practitioners.

Salem-Keizer Public Schools effectively pulls dropouts back in through systemic and aggressive methods. Multiple technologies follow recovery efforts by staff to keep students learning and graduating. Over 600 at-risk students are back in both online and hybrid environments. Session participants will access strategies and resources as well as recognize the moral and fiscal benefits to a school district doing the right thing, whatever it takes.

Why do some grant writers experience more success in receiving funding awards than others? What can school districts and consortium groups do to ensure awarded grants are implemented and evaluated effectively? During this session, participants will learn how to successfully attain and implement grants. The presenters will specifically highlight a competitive grant that was awarded to 142 New York State schools and over 60,000 students in grades K-12 to develop programs that effectively use online learning technologies to improve students' academic performance in English Language Arts and Mathematics.

The 80th Texas legislature established the state virtual school network, creating a unique model for state-led online learning that incorporates existing regional and district level K-12 online programs into a plan for statewide online learning. Information about this virtual school network model will be shared by Texas Education Agency staff and other key players.

Legislation enacted in 2007 set the direction for the work of the newly created Unit of Online Learning in the Colorado Department of Education (CDE). This session will describe the avenues provided for input into policy and outcomes of the process from the point of view of an Online Program Provider, CDE staff and a member of the Governor’s appointed Online Advisory Board. There will be a discussion of accountability, monitoring and reporting outcomes.

Providing quality rigorous education for special education students who are unable to attend regular classes is both difficult and expensive. These students are absent from school and in some cases move from an alternative setting to being home and hospital bound. Online courses provide these students with a consistent quality curriculum and a highly qualified online teacher. Web-learning provides flexible scheduling, diverse delivery, and self-pacing options that meet the unique needs of this student population

Virtual School instructors need ongoing professional development to refine online teaching skills, address online teaching standards and 21c skills, and incorporate new Web 2.0 tools. Learn how Virtual Virginia partnered with EDC’s EdTech Leaders Online to provide ongoing online professional development for their in-service online instructors to meet specific goals. Explore new Web 2.0 tools incorporated into this training and engage in interactive discussion and activities to identify ongoing PD needs of virtual school instructors.

What online approach supports students’ construction of knowledge through experiential, contextual, and social methods while facilitating the acquisition of 21st century skills? Project-based e-learning! Online environments incorporating Project-Based Learning (PBL) strategies take constructivist learning theories to a whole new level. In this innovative session, learn from a university level professional developer, a graduate student and a former virtual school principal how project-based e-learning as its platform has the power to transform learning!

This panel will focus on the implications of research for practitioners—instructional designers, teachers/facilitators, and administrators. The presentations will include findings from studies of student-to-student interaction in online courses and of the design components that foster community in these courses; an overview of a study of a hybrid learning environment; the lessons learned from using Second Life to teach environmental science; and a discussion of the dilemmas in conducting and disseminating research on online programs.

Rolling out a virtual school program to your district can be overwhelming. You must consider technology, student success, administration, and tracking. This “lessons learned” session will provide hands-on and real-world experience based on relationships with hundreds of secondary virtual school nation wide. In this session, we’ll share strategies for getting your own district’s virtual school off the ground and running quickly. With a ready-made solution and a willing administration team, your program is within reach.

The time is ripe for work on an evolutionary change to the very systems designed for causing learning. Under the auspices of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and NASA, the National Virtual Learning Magnet for Space Science and Mathematics includes non-Carnegie, performance-based credits,  formative and summative national assessments, a content repository model for curriculum development; increased student responsibility and incentives; ties to post-secondary institutions, and links to the business and professional community.

Lack of funding, and insufficient or counterproductive legislation—common reasons why online learning programs fail to thrive or even get off the ground. Online educators could make matters worse if they don’t proactively build bridges with policymakers. In this session, learn from legislators and online learning leaders the five most important things you can do to gain the trust and support of your state’s leadership.

The use of high quality open educational resources (OER) allows online programs to shift their focus away from basic content development and towards new and innovative ways of providing online learning opportunities for schools, teachers, and students. Three programs—Omaha Public Schools, Kentucky Virtual High School, and Michigan Virtual School—will discuss how they use OER to provide credit recovery, blended learning, and other new and innovative learning options.

How can a small school district develop and maintain a virtual school? Various reports have identified the cost factors for developing and sustaining online schools (Cavalluzo, 2001; Adsit, 2003; Anderson et al, 2006). This presentation will share doctoral research examining how a small school district with 2500 high school students in California may sustain an online program. In addition, financial lessons learned from a part time virtual school that was discontinued will be shared.

In 2006, British Columbia amended legislation to allow any Board of Education, through a special agreement with the Ministry, to operate a distributed learning school. The province also now allows secondary students to enroll in any online course without local school permission. The presentation will describe how BC promotes quality to improve achievement for 50,000 students in 60 distributed learning schools, through mechanisms such as Funding, Agreements, Standards, Audits, Quality Reviews, and Enrolment/Achievement data collections.

This session is intended to increase evaluation awareness, disseminate effective practices, and strengthen evaluation use through lessons from the field. Online learning administrators, evaluators, researchers and policymakers will present highlights from new publications on online learning evaluation by the NACOL Research Committee and Office of Innovation and Improvement, including specific examples where innovative evaluation practices helped improve teacher quality, close the achievement gap and promote school reform. An interactive discussion will round out the session.

Join a panel of innovative school administrators who are dedicated to bringing 21st century teaching skills to their classroom teachers. Through one-to-one initiatives, development of 21st century teaching skills, and sharing lessons learned from online teaching, these superintendents and school administrators are working to create web 2.0 classrooms and schools.

The nation’s virtual learning pioneers are now charting a new online frontier: the great divide between K-12 and post-secondary education. In this session you’ll hear from online high schools that integrate early college and dual enrollment courses; programs focusing on college prep for students who dropped out of high school or graduated under-prepared; and one state that is aiming for nothing less than an articulated system of K-20 online opportunity.

Learn how leaders and innovators in education are placing foreign language at the forefront of their initiatives to provide students the skills they need to succeed in this new era of globalization. Dr. Benjamin Blair, PhD (Power-Glide), Darby Carr (K12 Inc) and Joanne Barnett (PAVCS) will share research-based strategies that demonstrate why your students will excel in social, scholastic and professional settings when they learn a foreign language. They will discuss how online learning is uniquely suited to make language acquisition more engaging and effective than ever.

Orange USD is a leader in online secondary education in California, offering rich, interactive online courses. Today’s high school student participates daily in many online activities. OUSD has developed 21 online classes which served over 700 students in 2008-09. These courses use similar tools, such as blogs, wikis, podcasts, guided readings, electronic review games, synchronous meetings, voice boards, etc. Two online teachers will demonstrate learning units and activities they have created for their classes.

Supported by a federal grant, Rockman et al has studied the impacts of online SES tutoring in randomized clinical trials (RCTs) involving hundreds of middle school math and language arts students, with a significant sub-study of ELL students. Catapult Online provides individualized synchronous tutoring services, connecting certified teachers with failing students using computers and VoIP technology. The live tutoring combines whiteboard, text chat, and content sharing, creates individualized plans, and tracks and reports progress.

Few K-12 educational programs exist designed specifically for training, development, and continuous support for online instructors. If teachers are to be successful, they must constantly acquire new technical skills, develop pedagogical strategies, and build relationships within a community of virtual instructors. After completing required standards based professional development training, learn how Texas Virtual School’s teachers receive ongoing staff training and support (e.g. LMS like Bb) that is tied directly into a unique performance pay model.

Brown Bag? Coffee Pot? Focus Group? Retreat? What does all this have to do with online teaching? In this new initiative to promote teacher collaboration and socialization, a leading national provider of virtual public schools has designed opportunities that allow teachers to connect across the country. Learn how these innovative programs help teachers to network, socialize and collaborate in real time and how you can expand your school’s cache of professional development strategies.

It’s no surprise that virtual learning holds great promise for many students with exceptional learning needs. For the gifted, collaborative learning and share inquiry online provides the forum for practicing critical thinking and independent writing while developing skills in civil discourse. Learn best practices from the experts on the frontlines of virtual education how a unique instructional program integrating Great Books provides gifted students in grades 3-8 the opportunities and challenges they need to succeed.

Please join us for the annual NACOL Virtual School Symposium
Monday Night Networking Dinner!

This year’s event will be held at the University of Phoenix Stadium. The stadium is one of the most spectacular in the NFL, home to the Arizona Cardinals, and we’ll open the roof and roll out the turf in great weather. Join us in a fun, inspiring and casual setting for delicious food, drinks and great networking.

VSS Monday Networking Dinner
Monday, October 27 - 6:30 PM to 10:00 PM
University of Phoenix Stadium, 1 Cardinals Drive, Glendale, AZ 85305

Dress is casual: wear jeans and jerseys or your favorite team or school T-shirts!

RSVP: Don’t forget to make your reservation when you register for the conference. We’re looking forward to seeing you!

Transportation: The Stadium is within walking distance of the hotel; however, alternate transportation between the Renaissance and the Stadium will be provided from 6:30 PM – 10:00 PM during the event.

Special Recognition:
 

Michael B. Horn is the co-founder and Executive Director, Education of Innosight Institute, a non-profit think tank devoted to applying the theories of disruptive innovation to problems in the social sector. He is the coauthor of Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns (McGraw-Hill: June 2008).

The book uses the theories of disruptive innovation to identify the root causes of schools' struggles and suggests a path forward to customize an education for every child in the way he or she learns. In his keynote address, Horn will share the main ideas of this book to inspire change in today’s online learning field.

NACOL’s mission is to advocate for K-12 online with policymakers – and 2007-08 gave us lots of opportunity to fulfill that mission! From a court case in Wisconsin to an audit in Arizona to the continuing struggle over online science labs, there was never a dull moment for virtual advocacy. Come hear from members of the Advocacy and Issues Committee about hot spots, future targets, and what it all means for the long term.

Harvard Business School’s Clayton Christensen recently dubbed the Utah Electronic High School’s approach to online learning as “disruptive innovation” in the education space. In this presentation, we will look at one specific aspect of this “disruptive innovation”: the Electronic High School and The American Academy’s donation of course content to Curriki, an open source teaching community. The purpose of this presentation is three-fold: 1) We will examine the implications of open source content development for online learning programs; 2) we will explore as group the Curriki community tools; and 3) we will discuss “etiquette” for participating in open source communities.

How Can online learning design ensure all students improve writing skills? How can digital resources assist in differentiating instruction to bridge learning gaps? Experienced educators from two virtual programs will showcase strategies for teaching writing including digital resources and facilitate a discussion of best practices for improving writing of all students. Participants will receive effective writing instruction suggestions. a checklist for selecting digital resources. and an invitation to participate in a coggle community.

This session will focus on the multiple programs Cousino High School uses to intervene with students who are not learning. Through a collaborative approach, Cousino has implemented a successful program using Education 2020 to address students who are not learning along with other intervention and prevention programs. Using creative scheduling with an Academic Learning Center, Cousino has achieved a success rate of over 80% of students recovering one or more failed core credits while maintaining a high level of rigor. The session will also provide many opportunities for collaboration that participants can use.

This session will highlight the expansion of the Kentucky Virtual High School. The Kentucky Department of Education’s virtual learning initiative is now deemed Kentucky Virtual Schools and includes the Kentucky Virtual High School, eLearning KY which provides online professional development for educators as well as online communities of practice, online courses for Career and Technical Education courses, and hybrid and blended learning opportunities and resources for Kentucky schools and districts. Staff from KYVS will share how we are working to bring a “virtual learning package” to Kentucky schools and districts.

This hands-on workshop provides the virtual teacher with basic knowledge and a skill set to begin teaching in 3D virtual world environments, i.e., Second Life. We will explore content and educational areas, pedagogical and assessment techniques, and become familiar with educational social networking groups and tools in Second Life. Account creation prior to session recommended at http://www.secondlife.com.

The February 2008 release of the NACOL National Standards for Quality Online Teaching provided an excellent framework for a newly developed professional development program of initial training, ongoing support, and professional evaluation for one 6-12 online program provider. Learn how one company focused on standards as a way to ensure quality AND satisfaction among its teachers by featuring the standards in professional development planning.

This presentation will provide insights into online tutoring options and how online tutoring can serve as an extension of your effort to increase student achievement. We will explore best practices at the elementary, middle and high school level. A case study of how online tutoring has been effectively implemented for elementary aged students will also be presented.

Pressure to maximize seat-time use for graduation requirements is growing. Overcrowded classrooms, facility limitations, shrinking budgets, and increased graduation credits are limiting students’ in-schedule credit recovery options. Web-based learning provides extended campus, extended day, and extended year delivery options that address the predominate reasons students require credit recovery. Web-learning provides flexible scheduling, diverse delivery, and self-pacing options that meet the unique needs of a student population that traditional education models find it difficult to serve.

Four Georgia Virtual School support team members will share ways they support the various GAVS programs including high school, middle school, credit recovery, math remediation, and AP exam preparation. 500 participating Georgia schools receive general information about programs and assistance with registration and enrollment. An online Media Center and online Guidance Center also provide links to comprehensive information for all. A combination presentation/panel discussion will define and highlight the online support team

Variations in virtual school course enrollment trial periods and course completion policies impact the comparability of school attrition statistics. Researchers contacted 170 U.S. and 62 Canadian virtual schools. Three quarters of responders had trial periods, a practice more common in the U.S.. U.S. course completion definitions appeared more stringent. Policy differences by region and school type are discussed. Researchers recommend adopting multiple measures for calculating student attrition to enable meaningful comparisons among virtual and brick and mortar schools.

The Wyoming e-Academy of Virtual Education (WeAVE) is currently the only statewide online program in Wyoming. The school serves primarily Native American students in a hybrid model. With both a full-time and supplemental programs, WeAVE provides an alternative that caters to the needs of Native students. Students have found a place where they want to stay, succeed, and pursue college. Most students report that if it weren’t for WeAVE, they would have dropped out.

Is accessing data, planning tools, resources, content, assessments and professional development and aligning all of these processes cumbersome? This session will focus on how interoperability, with the Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF), between teaching and learning applications makes this possible, provides case studies and allows for an opportunity to provide input into interoperability needs and challenges

e4TN is a grant-funded initiative developing online curriculum for Tennessee students. e4TN assures the needs of all parties involved are being met by providing excellent support, customer service, and infrastructure. Learn how e4TN makes a conscientious effort to provide the training, support and follow up required of a successful online program as they share some of their organization’s best practices. Please come prepared to share your organization’s best practices, as well, during a collaborative sharing time. Door prizes!

The first phase of the Going Virtual! research series completed in 2007 provided a national overview of the status of professional development for K-12 online teachers. Phase II identifies the unique needs and challenges of K-12 online teachers at a national and international level, and how those needs vary according to the contextual factors associated with virtual education (i.e. type of school or program model, amount of prior teaching experience). This research is critical for informing standards and professional development opportunities for K12 virtual teachers.

Is providing affordable and engaging course materials a challenge? Shoestring budgets? Precious educator time? Multiple vendor relationships? Sourcing and shipping books and material? Cries for quality assurance? Rather than issues, these are opportunities for change! This session informs how to create purchasing power for curriculum materials and drive down administrative costs. What lessons learned from higher education institutions apply to K-12 schools? Interact with a panel of experts and administrators who will share experiences and best practices.

This presentation will showcase the IDEAL-NM program including its mission, vision, and scope. The challenges of developing a fully integrated online learning system reaching into all aspects of education in communities throughout the state will be addressed, along with the strategies and tactics found to be successful in moving multiple agencies toward the same vision.

The Consortium includes K-12, community colleges, and private university to offer opportunities in an open-entry, open-completion environment, thus creating seamless pathways of learning from middle school to college and beyond. LNO classes are characterized by open-entry, open completion whereby students request classes, are enrolled and begin learning 24/7/365. Guiding policies of the LNO consortium are (a) no student will be turned away; (b) students may study at their own pace within a reasonable preset time limits; and (c) every student will have every opportunity to be successful.

Virtual labs are a viable alternative which can be used to reinforce science content and process skills for diverse student groups. They are safe, inexpensive, and green to boot. e4TN offers chemistry and physical science courses that integrate instructionally effective virtual- and hands-on laboratory experiences into their content. Session participants will have time to explore several virtual labs developed by e4TN and to share how they incorporate laboratory experiences in the virtual learning environment.

Court-involved youth face many challenges, but a quality education does not have to be one of them. The versatile format of online learning opens doors and creates a learning environment where at-risk and credit-deficient youth can flourish. Individually designed educational plans and schedules provide a learning atmosphere tailored to the students’ cognitive and affective needs, resulting in increased student accountability, self-confidence, and academic success.

What are the best practices when it comes to operating a high quality online program? One way to answer that question is to look at online teaching and learning standards. Within the past year, the north American council for online learning (NACOL) has released national standards for online courses, online teaching, and quality programs. another way to answer the question is to understand what is required for your online program to receive accreditation. This session will provide an opportunity to examine the issue from both of these perspectives as representatives from the perspectives and expertise on the topic.

This session focuses on using the read/write/web and social networking tools to meet the needs of today's students.  We will address how emerging Web 2.0 technologies create learning opportunities for all students with an emphasis on meeting the unique demands of at-risk and special needs children.   These tools help students practice digital literacy, innovation, collaboration, and other 21st century skills. The underlying themes of connectivity, constructionism, and the democratization of learning highlight this student-centered discussion.

This session will examine the state of K-12 online learning in Canada. We will begin by describing of the nature of the education system in Canada to provide the necessary background. Then we will outline the provincial policies that govern virtual schooling and discuss the various models that have developed and are currently in use across the country. Finally, we will explore the literature in Canada and discuss differences between the Canadian and American experiences.

LOL is “laugh out loud” (not little old lady or lots of love), an activity that is especially important for those who work in the serious field of online learning and virtual schooling.

In this session, we have some help to offer —our wit and the power to evoke laughter.

Several leading figures in online technology and learning (well. . . perhaps not all leaders—but several have figures) will seek to enlighten and entertain by presenting information that might not be particularly welcome as testimony at state legislatures. Since the presenters’ efforts have not been vetted, they feel free to engage in ruthless examinations of the state of the field. While the participant list is still under consideration, let it be stated that familiar names with stellar reputations will be among the presenters—if blackmail works.

Some topics under consideration are: holding hands with handhelds for learning, virtual teachers versus virtual students in a robot competition; Where in the Virtual World is. . .?; World of Warcraft as a model for online teacher training, and a history of distance learning: from smoke signals to chip implants.

Success will be judged by laughter, embarrassed recognition, and an understanding that comedy is a lot harder than course design.

Philipsburg-Osceola Area School District wanted to create a “cyber academy” to expand its course offerings, but was limited by budget and bandwidth constraints. The district turned to its credit recovery content provider, PLATO Learning, and utilized the company’s course library as a turnkey cyber learning solution. In addition to online coursework, students participate in athletics, science labs and other school-based activities while embracing the opportunity to take Japanese and other previously unavailable classes online.

Are you aware that NACOL has set forth National Standards of Quality for Online Courses? These standards should be used as a quality guideline to measure online course content, instructional design, student assessment, technology use, course evaluation and management, as well as incorporating 21st Century Skills. Access the standards and learn about a partnership between NACOL and Region 4 as one way to conduct an unbiased evaluation of your online courses against these standards.

How can online teachers meet the diverse needs of students? Hear how a virtual teacher uses dynamic resources to improve student achievement in mathematics, allowing for practice, differentiation and self-pacing. Learn how teachers use SAS® Curriculum Pathways® to engage students through learner-centered tools, lessons, and resources with measurable outcomes that develop higher-order thinking skills. Session will focus on evaluating students’ needs, integrating appropriate resources, and strategies for implementation.

Nights, weekends, summers! In 2007, Michigan Virtual School™ pioneered innovative online enrichment opportunities to keep middle school students engaged in learning outside the traditional school day. The initial offering of the Middle School Mathematics and Science Summer Camps attracted nearly 800 online campers. This session will provide a glimpse into the camps and provide some preliminary data that suggest the significant potential these opportunities possess to strengthen study habits and deepen understanding of critical concepts.

In 1996, the ND Center for Distance Education offered its first online courses using the TopClass course management system. After piloting a few courses using Blackboard in 2006, NDCDE switched to Moodle. This decision was based on Moodle’s affordability and flexibility, including its ability to incorporate audio and video and its compatibility with programs such as Flash and Wimba. See why course administrators and creators, instructors, and students find Moodle to be user friendly.

Online teaching transcends the use of a singular tool and emerges as an ecosystem of multiple touch points for learning. A professional development ecosystem utilizes blogs, wikis, web-conferencing, and course management tools. Balanced ecosystems foster experiential learning for educators and model how educators can teach across networks and channels of communication. Find out about the architecture and assessment of this type of professional learning and engage in an interactive conversation about balancing your own learning ecosystem.

Cost has been determined to be the main barrier for providing online instruction. Michigan, through the collaboration of the State and its REMC Associations, is providing professional development, low or no cost curriculum and models of implementation so that all Michigan students will have the opportunity to learn online. The addition of seat time waivers has provided more opportunities than ever before for students to pursue a personal curriculum and their individual interests.

This session will provide the lessons that have been learned from this research, which teachers and administrators can use as they begin, growth, and expand these innovative K-12 school reform initiatives. While online learning programs have evolved and grown, the amount of research on virtual schooling is limited to practitioner reports and experimental and quasi-experimental studies. This paper reviews the online sources of literature and reports on a content analysis of documents. Themes include steady growth, a focus on the benefits and challenges, along with broad effectiveness.

Because of their power to individualize learning experiences through technology, virtual schools often attract students who have experienced or are at risk for academic failure.  However, just as in any school environment, at-risk students require special support in a virtual school setting. Many at-risk students have not been identified as special education students but still require support services. Authorizers and school leaders must have a clearly defined plan in place in order to ensure that these students reach their full potential, and that the school meets AYP requirements. In this session, participants will learn how to plan for and maximize the learning of at-risk students in an e-learning environment, as well as ensure that virtual charter schools meet state and federal accountability requirements. The leaders of this session collectively have experience in 17 states – serving many thousands of at-risk students – and will share proven, successful strategies.

Idaho Digital Learning Academy (IDLA) outlines the process involved in developing a student information system (SIS) designed specifically to support online learning. Some of the more unique features such as registration, monitoring, and learning system integration are discussed, with a direct focus on the development process and features of the SIS’s communication system. The communication system is the newest addition to the SIS and includes VOIP, e-mail tracking, and topic-based grouping of messages relating to individual students and issues.

This interactive session will focus on international efforts to develop and share online content. We will discuss quality measures, collaborative development models, and ways of adapting open content to meet program needs. Together we will explore new models of sharing as participants learn how they can participate in the open education resources (OER) movement to increase quality and access to knowledge worldwide.

CareerForward is an engaging and interactive course for students in grades 6-12. Michigan Virtual University, in partnership with Microsoft, the Michigan Department of Education, and Blackboard developed and delivered this course as one of the first solutions for schools to meet the Michigan Online Learning Requirement. Complete with video interviews, engaging interactive activities, and housed in Blackboard, this course is free to all Michigan school districts.

On-Line Guidance Counseling – what does it look like? What components work? What doesn’t? How does an on-line learning institution provide meaningful, helpful, effective guidance to its students? This session discusses strategies that will enable both synchronous and asynchronous methods of interaction in an on-line world. Case studies and examples ranging from at-risk to the academically gifted will be discussed, as well as strategies conducive to creating an atmosphere of community.

Participants will learn how to develop leadership oriented online environmental curricula for diverse student bodies base upon the kids4earth course design template. The first online environmental curriculum endorsed by the United Nations Environment Programme, Its presentation will: provide teachers with tools promoting standards-based environmental literacy, constructive leadership, and guided eco-activities, and empower educators to offer dynamic innovative eco-activities. Intended Outcome: Help student develop awareness of, and a sense of responsibility for, the global environment.

This presentation will provide a brief theoretical basis for differentiation, including Bloom’s revised instruction and the role of formative assessment in data-driven instruction. Participants will then be invited to consider ways to differentiate curriculum (content), instruction (process), and assessment (product) using technology and web-based tools in their own online courses. A particular emphasis will be placed on supporting the needs of learners with special needs.

This session explores the challenges and incentives of engaging online learners. Strategies that contribute to greater student engagement and success will be discussed in detail, including those relating to the role of teachers, the scope and structure of curriculum, and the active learning of students. A varied panel of students, teachers and school administrators will interact with attendees both in person and by means of virtual conferencing.

Colorado Online Learning (COL) and Idaho Digital Learning Academy (IDLA) will overview their Course Review and QA Programs, utilizing NACOL's National Standards of Quality for Online Courses. COL recently completed the review of over 20 courses with input from dozens of experts from across the country. IDLA has been evaluating and revising courses with a team of Curriculum & Instruction specialists. Learn about the review processes and tools, and the resulting content and instructional improvements.

This presentation will focus on the teacher less, any time, any pace credit recovery model developed by the Georgia Virtual School for use throughout the state. The forty nine courses in the Georgia Credit Recovery program are offered free to public high schools. Various methods of implementation and best practices will be discussed, along with updated statistical information about the success of the program.

This session describes how a program in Kentucky uses online courseware with face-to-face instruction to promote improvements in instructional practices, classroom quality, and student learning of Algebra I. We will describe the conceptual underpinnings of the approach, the main features of the classroom experience and the teacher supports that help ensure successful transition to hybrid instruction. A plan to measure the effectiveness of the hybrid classroom also will be briefly described.

The University of Florida is working with AT&T to engage in a large scale evaluation of state-led virtual schools. The unique partnership afforded by this project has produced outcomes in 3 relevant areas of virtual schooling the creations and implementation of a database clearinghouse for virtual school data pre-service and in-service teacher training and parental involvement in an overview of the project as well as the findings related to each of the three areas will be addressed in relation to the future evolution of virtual schooling.

Omaha Public Schools is continuing to evolve their online learning program into a blended learning environment. We will share how our online courses are used in a variety of district programs from: assisting first year teachers, giving AP teachers a supplemental resource to their classroom instruction, and offering a credit rescue plan for students at risk of failure. We will share how online courses are also used for the alternative programs in Omaha Public Schools.

Michigan Virtual School offers courses for reluctant learners, as well as traditional and exceptional learners, with interactive activities from SASinSchool. SASinSchool’s Curriculum Pathways program provides interactive activities in the core content areas that are aligned with state content expectations. Online instructors capture student interest and heighten learning with easy-to-use, high quality interactives and assessments. This seminar is designed to survey SASinSchool’s Curriculum Pathway activities that instructors can use in virtual and blended classroom settings.

The Virtual Learning Academy (VLA) is an online curriculum delivery system that is designed to teach required subjects for graduation to students in grades 2-12. VLA is not a school, so local dollars stay intact. Come and join the Jefferson County ESC to discover why over 25,000 students in all 50 states and 16 countries have adopted VLA as an alternative curriculum option.