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Meredith DiPietro , PhD U niversity of North Carolina at Charlotte

The Pedagogy & Practice of Virtual School Teaching: Meeting the Needs of Virtual School Teachers through Professional Development. Meredith DiPietro , PhD U niversity of North Carolina at Charlotte. Purpose & Goal. Purpose:

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Meredith DiPietro , PhD U niversity of North Carolina at Charlotte

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  1. The Pedagogy & Practice of Virtual School Teaching: Meeting the Needs of Virtual School Teachers through Professional Development Meredith DiPietro, PhD University of North Carolina at Charlotte

  2. Purpose & Goal • Purpose: • This presentation aims to expand the existing body of research for virtual schooling by focusing on an underexplored area: professional development • The goal of this presentation is to provide a model and framework to: • inform the development of new professional development programs and • evaluating existing professional development programs for VS teachers.

  3. Distinctions of K-12 Virtual School Professional Development • Understanding Virtual School Pedagogy: • Pedagogic practices: instructional strategies and techniques to support students’ achievement • Technology practices: the selection and integration of web-based or computer based resources to support students’ development of content knowledge • Professional Development: Identifying Needs • Differentiation and distinctions of pedagogic and technological strategies used by virtual school teachers to meet varying content and curricular goals

  4. Methods: Understanding Distinctions in Practice Utilizing a cross case analysis approach to reexamine existing data: • 2 sets of Interview Data: Conducted with in-service Virtual School Teachers representing four main content areas: math, science, English, and history/social studies from two virtual schools • 2 sets of Survey Data: Administration of the Virtual School Teacher Survey to two virtual schools

  5. Understanding Virtual School Professional development: Identifying Needs Outcomes of Cross Case Analysis: • Interview data: A framework to categorize virtual school teachers content specificuse of pedagogic and technology practices to facilitate: • students’ knowledge construction, support student learning, engage students with the content, and make the content accessible(DiPietro, 2008, DiPietro, 2010, DiPietro, Submitted) • Survey Data: Virtual school teachers identified 3 main areas as a professional development need: • Technology based skills • Content based technology integration • Finding and evaluating quality resources for my online classes

  6. Common themes • Unifying themes: Use of practices to facilitate students interaction with and understanding of the content in a meaningful way. • Common to All VS Teachers: • Strategies for delivering content & Interact with students (both 1 on 1 and in group setting): • Wimba, Instant Messaging, Texting • Utilize the tools of the LMS: Built in assessments, Use strategies to organize content effectively • Facilitate student understanding of the content using technology tools: • Wikis, WebQuests, Animoto

  7. Differentiating themes • Unique: English • Blogs, Discussions, collaborative writing tools, practices that facilitate students writing skills • Unique: Math/Science • Tools to support students understanding of complex concepts – teacher created simulations (Scratch), access to environments that could allow students to have concrete experiences with content (Second life example) • Social Studies/History, Geography • Visual representations of history (time line creators) and interactive maps (Google earth), wikis

  8. Future Work:What Content Specific Skills Are Required?

  9. Fulfilling Content Needs • Articulated needs: • Opportunities to observe other VS courses; • Opportunities to share experiences implementing new strategies • How to utilize discussion boards to foster meaningful dialogue about the content building community • Aside from Content Area….Factors for consideration • The LMS system • The amount of control/autonomy VS teacher has • Student’s access to technology (firewalls, equity, etc)

  10. Support From Existing Literature Core Characteristics: Drawing from Existing Research • General foci: content specific knowledge, opportunities for active learning, and the development of coherence • Collective participation: Grouping participants that share a common context, supporting the exchange of ideas, development of materials, and formation of understanding(Birman, Desimone, Porter & Garet, 2000; Garet, et al., 2001)

  11. Conclusion: Interpreting the Value • Benefits of implementing the framework: • Evidenced by research literature and outcomes from the field of virtual schooling and professional development • Optimize the online instructional context and overall quality of educational experience offered to students • The dimensions and distinctions of virtual school teaching presented in the framework can: • Inform developing and existing state-level certification requirements • Inform developing virtual school policy

  12. Contact Information: Meredith DiPietro University of North Carolina Charlotte Email: mdipietr@uncc.edu

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