Cyber Schools

In this paper, the author situates school choice within the field of K-12 online learning, specifically the use of full-time K-12 online learning in the form of cyber charter schools. The author then examines the use of cyber charter schools as a mechanism for school choice in K-12 online learning, specifically the effectiveness of cyber charter schools. This examination focuses on not just the findings, but critically examines the sources (and potential motivations) for those findings. Given the growth of full-time K-12 online learning, and the continued pressure by proponents to create favorable regulatory climates for cyber charter schools, a critical – but honest – examination of student outcomes is long overdue.

Depending on the reference, the practice of K-12 online learning began sometime between 1991 and 1996. Yet almost three decades later, there is still little research to describe the K-12 online learning student experience, which has resulted in a lack of understanding of the actual instructional model, nature of the curriculum, and type and amount of support employed by K-12 online learning programs. Further, much of the available research is atheoretical, methodologically questionable, contextually limited, and overgeneralized. All these factors make the K-12 online learning research that does exist of little value in guiding practice. This manuscript examines the maturity of research in the field of K-12 online learning, with the goal of providing researchers with meaningful impact on future practice.

Dependiendo de la referencia, la práctica del aprendizaje en línea de K-12 comenzó en algún momento entre 1991 y 1996. Sin embargo, casi tres décadas después, todavía hay poca investigación para describir la experiencia de los estudiantes de aprendizaje en línea de K-12, que ha resultado en una falta de comprensión del modelo de instrucción real, la naturaleza del plan de estudios y el tipo y la cantidad de apoyo empleado por los programas de aprendizaje en línea K-12. Además, gran parte de la investigación disponible es teórica, metodológicamente cuestionable, contextualmente limitada y sobregeneralizada. Todos estos factores hacen que la investigación de aprendizaje en línea K-12 que existe sea de poco valor para guiar la práctica. Este manuscrito examina la madurez de la investigación en el campo del aprendizaje en línea en K-12, con el objetivo de proporcionar a los investigadores un impacto significativo en la práctica futura

There is a shift occurring in education systems around the world, which could change the face of education as we have known it through blended and online learning. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the current e-learning initiatives and projects for students in secondary schools in Singapore. An overview of the Singapore education system, along with a more in depth look at the current e-Learning initiatives and how they evolved are shared. Finally, a specific look at how e-learning has been implemented within Singapore’s secondary schools is described. The research in this chapter looked at both the policy and practices happening within Singapore’s education system.

Many involved with the practice or study of K-12 online and blended learning are familiar with the American context. It surrounds us in the media and published research. However, online and blended learning is occurring in meaningful ways to address specific K-12 student needs all around the globe. There are several areas where the international practice is consistent with what we know about the United States (e.g., similar evolutions, early initiatives were government-funded, many of the labels are similar). At the same time, there are some key differences internationally (e.g., the prevalence of legacy forms of distance education, a lack of online learning below the secondary level, and blended learning being seen as a form of technology integration). While far less is known about K-12 online and blended learning in international contexts, programs in these jurisdictions are just as keen to tell their own success stories and undertake cyclic research to improve the design, delivery and facilitation of their programs.

Over the last five years, the National Education Policy Center has published a Virtual Schools in the U.S.: Politics, Performance, Policy, and Research Evidence report. As an extension of the data collected for the Virtual Schools in the U.S. 2017 report (Molnar et al. 2017), the lead authors produced case studies for five states (i.e., Ohio, Wisconsin, Idaho, Washington, and Michigan). The goal of these case studies was to describe the enrollment, characteristics, and performance of virtual and blended schools in that state over the previous year; discuss the research related to the virtual and blended school characteristics and outcomes, as well as the legislative activities; and examine the legislation and policies that have been introduced (and enacted) over the past two years.

These five case studies reveal a great degree of consistency between the different states. For example, most of the full-time virtual schools in each of the five states were independent (i.e., not run by EMOs). However, the vast majority of students attend a virtual school that is operated by an EMO. Virtual schools also had far more students for each teacher compared to traditional public schools. Further, virtual school students underperformed compared to their traditional public school counterparts. In addition to the similarities across the cases, when it came to student enrollment, student characteristics, and student performance, with the exception of Michigan there was a general lack of empirical research related to full-time virtual schools (and almost no research related to blended schools). Finally, with the exception of Idaho, there was also a general lack of legislative activity over the two years reviewed for this report.

Given that each of these five case studies was generated using data from the latest Virtual Schools in the U.S.: Politics, Performance, Policy, and Research Evidence report, it is important to examine the recommendations made by Molnar et al. (2017) based on the national data. However, based on the data from these five individual states, we recommend the following.

- Policymakers need to slow or stop the growth in the number of virtual schools and the size of their enrollments until the reasons for their relatively poor performance have been identified and addressed. They should prioritize understanding why virtual schools perform poorly under a college- and career-ready accountability system and how their performance can be improved prior to expansion.

- Policymakers need to create long-term programs to support independent research on and evaluation of virtual and blended schooling.

- Policymakers need to develop new funding formulas based on the actual costs of operating virtual schools and new accountability structures for virtual schools, including guidelines and governance mechanisms to ensure that virtual schools do not prioritize profit over student performance. Further policymakers need to assess the contributions of various providers to student achievement, and close virtual schools and programs that do not contribute to student growth.

- Policymakers need to define certification training and relevant teacher licensure requirements specific to teaching responsibilities in virtual schools, require research-based professional development to promote effective online teaching models, and work with emerging research to develop valid and comprehensive teacher evaluation rubrics that are specific to online teaching.

While the use of distance and online learning at the K-12 level of growing exponentially, the availability of empirical evidence to help guide this growth is severely lacking. The author of this chapter provides an overview of the nature of K-12 distance and online learning today and a critical examination of the literature and – lack of research – supporting its use. The author further describes some of the methodological issues surround the limited among of existing research, and calls for researchers in this field to adopt practices that have been employed by their colleagues investigating adult populations over the past decades.

As proponents continue to make the case that virtual education can expand student choices and improve the efficiency of public education, full-time virtual schools have attracted a great deal of attention. Advocates contend that this potential for individualization allows virtual schools to promote greater student achievement than can be realized in traditional brick-and-mortar schools. NEPC researchers found, however, that the research evidence does not support this claim.

This three-part brief provides disinterested scholarly analyses of the characteristics and performance of full-time, publicly funded K-12 virtual schools; reviews the relevant available research related to virtual school practices; provides an overview of recent state legislative efforts to craft virtual schools policy; and offers policy recommendations based on the available evidence.

This chapter provides an overview of the state of K-12 online, blended and distance education, or e-learning, in Canada. A summary of the history of K-12 e-learning and research is provided along with enrolment, current policy and legislation. A description of programs is provided along with an overview of practitioner-based organizations and consortia that have evolved to support e-learning programs in the country. A discussion of issues in K-12 e-learning and research are included and the chapter’s conclusion calls for more research and sharing of innovative practices emerging in Canada.

Only weeks before the 2019 annual meeting of the American Education Research Association (AERA) was held in Toronto, Ontario, the provincial government announced a major reform of education for that province entitled Education that Works for You – Modernizing Classrooms. From an e-learning perspective the proposal called for a centralization of e-learning, a graduation requirement of four e-learning courses, and increase the class size limit for e-learning courses to 35 students. The AERA call for submissions for the 2020 meeting issued a challenge for scholars to ‘connect with organizational leaders to examine collaboratively continuing educational problems... [and] programmatically engaging with educational organizations.’  This article accepts that challenge and describes a collaboration between scholars and a pan-Canadian organization to examine the research behind each of these proposed e-learning changes.

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed virtual schooling to the forefront of the national educational landscape. Long-time proponents of this technology quickly positioned digital programs and platforms as the obvious solution for schools that had to close buildings to avoid transmitting the virus.

The pandemic exacerbated a trend that NEPC virtual schools’ reports have documented since 2013. While it is clear that virtual schools—particularly for-profit virtual schools—are expanding rapidly, there remains little research evidence to support or justify the expansion. Moreover, there is little policymaking at the state level adequate to the task of ensuring the quality of education that virtual school students receive.

Virtual Schools in the U.S. 2021 provides scholarly analyses of the characteristics and performance of full-time, publicly funded K-12 virtual schools; reviews the relevant available research related to virtual school practices; provides an overview of recent state legislative efforts to craft virtual school policy; and offers policy recommendations based on the available evidence.

Many involved with the practice or study of K-12 online and blended learning are familiar with the American context. It surrounds us in the media and published research. However, online and blended learning is occurring in meaningful ways to address specific K-12 student needs all around the globe. There are several areas where the international practice is consistent with what we know about the United States (e.g., similar evolutions, early initiatives were government-funded, many of the labels are similar). At the same time, there are some key differences internationally. While far less is known about K-12 online and blended learning in international contexts, programs in these jurisdictions are just as keen to tell their own success stories and undertake cyclic research to improve the design, delivery, and facilitation of their programs. As American-based researchers, it is incumbent upon us to ensure that these research-based lessons are known to our various stakeholders.

This issue of the State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada report marks its 10th year, and the fifth year of the Canadian eLearning Network’s (CANeLearn) support of this research. The report continues to be Canada’s own benchmark for the expanding use of technology-supported blended and online learning in Canada. The anniversary report continues the traditional incisive analysis of the state of K-12 e-learning in Canada as well as an expanded collection of research briefs and a description of several vignettes providing considerable insight about innovation and new approaches emerging in online and blended practices in K-12 programs across Canada. Full results of the research and work undertaken in this study, including all annual reports and associated papers, are published on the State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada project website (http://k12sotn.ca/). This document provides a synopsis and overview of the published work on the comprehensive website.

Canada provides an interesting exemplar for the rest of the world, given its widely varying population and geography fostering comparisons with other countries/regions of similar population. With two official languages and a growing immigrant population combined with a rich indigenous population, Canadian schools offer online and blended learning programs in English, French, and in some cases Aboriginal languages, leading to comparisons with other English and French-speaking countries and those with significant indigenous populations.

The ‘Brief Issue Papers’ and ‘Vignettes’ published on the website capture some of this diversity of program and populations served. They make for particularly topical reading about the challenges and innovations underway in many places across the country, featuring some of the personalities of the online educators who are blending practice, creating learning programs and environments with a varied mix of classroom and online learning methodologies that increase flexibility and access to learning for students.

The State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada report, and its accompanying publications on its project website, provides critical information and insight into how Canadian educational authorities and governments are integrating technology-supported approaches to prepare students for today’s economy and a future society in which the use of technology will be ubiquitous. This anniversary report and website provide a benchmark for educators and offers background, guidance, and ideas for the improvement of policy and practice in online and blended learning.

n the five years since the first NEPC Annual Report on Virtual Education was released in 2013, virtual education has continued to be a focal point for policymakers. Proponents argue that virtual education can expand student choices and improve the efficiency of public edu-cation. In particular, full-time virtual schools (also sometimes referred to as virtual charter schools,  virtual  academies,  online  schools  or  cyber  schools)  have  attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention. Many believe that online curriculum can be tailored to individual students more effectively  than  curriculum  in  traditional  classrooms,  giving  it  the  potential  to  promote  greater student achievement than can be realized in traditional brick-and-mortar schools. Further,  the  promise  of  lower  costs—primarily  for  instructional  personnel  and  facilities—makes virtual schools financially appealing to both policymakers and for-profit providers.

The assumption that virtual schools are cost effective and educationally sound, coupled with policies  expanding  school  choice  and  providing  market  incentives  attractive  to  for-profit  companies, continue to help fuel virtual school growth in the U.S. There is, however, little high-quality systematic evidence that the rapid expansion of the past several years is wise. Indeed,  evidence  presented  in  the  NEPC  annual  reports  argues  for  caution.  Nevertheless,  the  movement  toward  virtual  schools  continues  to  gather  steam,  often  supported  by  weak  or even dishonest data. For example, as a part of the confirmation hearings for the current Secretary of Education, National Public Radio reported that Secretary Betsy DeVos respond-ed  to  a  written  question  from  Senator  Patty  Murray  using  performance  data  provided  by  a  for-profit  corporation  that  inflated  the  four-year  graduation  rates  of  virtual  schools—in  some cases by as much as 300%.1

The 2017 NEPC Annual Report contributes to the existing evidence related to virtual edu-cation, and so to debates surrounding it. It provides objective analysis of the characteristics and  performance  of  full-time,  publicly  funded  K-12  virtual  schools;  available  research  on  virtual school practices and policy; and an overview of recent state efforts to craft new policy.

In Section I—Full-Time Virtual and Blended Schools: Enrollment, Student Characteristics, and Performance, Gary Miron, Charisse Gulosino, Christopher Shank, and Caryn Davidson focus  on  two  specific  types  of  K-12  online  and  blended  learning:  full-time  virtual  schools  and  blended  schools.  The  authors  assigned  schools  in  their  study  a  unique  identification  code that allowed them to gather complete data about each school from a variety of sources (the National Center for Educational Statistics, individual Departments of Education, and so on). The authors use the terms “full-time virtual school” and “full-term blended school” because they want to link these school types to data sets on school characteristics, student demographics, and school outcomes.

In Section II—Still No Evidence, Increased Call for Regulation: Research to Guide Virtual School Policy, Michael Barbour focuses on all forms of K-12 virtual and blended learning. Barbour  distinguishes  among  the  different  forms  of  virtual  schooling—both  supplemental  and full-time—and describes the limited reliable research on blended learning programs and blended learning schools.

In Section III—Key Policy Issues in Virtual Schools: Finance and Governance, Instruction-al Quality, and Teacher Quality, Luis Huerta, Sheryl Rankin Shafer, Jennifer King Rice, and David Nitkin use the general term “virtual school” as an umbrella term including all forms of K-12 online learning. When the National Education Policy Center first began this annual ex-amination in 2013, the distinctions among K-12 online learning, virtual schooling and cyber schooling were not as prominent within the academic literature. Additionally, many of the K-12 online learning programs sponsored or supported by State Departments of Education were  referred  to  as  virtual  schools.  Similarly,  much  of  the  legislation  and  policy  language  used  the  term  virtual  (for  example,  virtual  charter  school).  For  these  reasons,  this  annual  report was and will continue to use the term Virtual Schools in its title. Therefore, unless they are quoting specific language from a given piece of legislation or policy, the authors of this third section will continue to use the term “virtual schools.

“Teacher unions in Canada have had concerns about developments in online learning, but have generally been supportive if they have felt conditions were appropriate,” according to the Director of Research and Technology at the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF). This sentiment has been echoed by the researchers involved in the annual State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada. These researchers have also underscored the fact that teacher unions have also been active in conducting research to investigate how teaching in the distance education and online learning environment is different than teaching in the classroom, and what impact that has on the nature of work and quality of work life for its members. The present study is an example of this exploration.

This report describes a study conducted to explore written provisions for the working conditions of K-12 distributed learning teachers in Canada (i.e., distance education and online learning are generally referred to as distributed learning throughout the report). At present, there is one provincial jurisdiction that includes language in their collective agreement with teachers related to distributed learning. There are also two provinces where there is language in one or more local contracts focused on distributed learning. Finally, there was one province where the provincial teacher union had a significant policy related to distributed learning.

Within these documents, there were consistent themes around 1) defining distributed learning; 2) clauses focused on teacher working conditions in the distributed learning environment; 3) responsibilities for the schools and/or school boards that choose to operate distributed learning programs; and 4) mechanisms to allow for consultations between those operating the distributed learning program and the union. In all of these themes, there are actually few regulations that go beyond what would be expected for traditional brick-and-mortar education. The main areas where distributed learning teachers were treated differently than face-to-face teachers were for legal reasons, as well as the provision for consultations between distributed learning operators and their respective unions. These unique aspects are reflective of stakeholders’ efforts to examine what constitutes the equivalent experiences for teaching in the distributed learning environment relative to traditional classroom teaching.

One of the best ways for practitioners and scholars to understand what is already known in a field is to undertake a review of the existing literature. The existing literature related to K-12 distance, online and blended learning is still developing. What has been published is heavy on the practitioner experience – either the direct telling of the experience by the practitioner or through the use of researcher surveys designed to capture the perceptions of the practitioners’ experience. Further, the available research rarely makes use of validated instruments or established theoretical and conceptual frameworks to guide their studies. However, research into distance, online, and blended learning with adult populations has a much richer and longstanding history. This report seeks to describe a series of studies that have been conducted with adult populations that may be of particular interest to researchers and practitioners in the K-12 distance, online, and blended environments.

A new report compares the performance of Florida Virtual School (FLVS) students with students in traditional brick-and-mortar schools and  concludes the FLVS students perform about the same or somewhat better on state tests and at a lower cost. The report claims to be the first empirical study of K-12 student performance in virtual education. This is not correct, and the report in fact confirms the findings and repeats the methodological flaws and limitations of previous research. The report’s findings fail to account for the potential bias of student selectivity in the FLVS sample, the potential impact of regression effects, differential mortality in the two groups, and the fact that the virtual environment is simply a delivery medium. Given the limitations of research such as this new study, researchers have moved beyond simply investigating whether one medium is better than the other and begun—and need to continue—investigating under what conditions K-12 online and blended learning can be effectively designed, delivered, and supported.

The State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada report continues to be Canada’s unique benchmark
for the expanding use of technology-supported blended and online learning in Canada. This ninth
edition of the annual report continues the strong tradition of incisive analysis of the state of K–12
online education in Canada. This year also sees a return of brief issue papers, vignettes, and individual
program survey. This expanded information provides considerable insight about innovation and new
approaches emerging in online and blended practices in K-12 programs across Canada. All annual
reports and associated papers have been published on a new project website (http://k12sotn.ca/), a
shift from publication on the Canadian eLearning Network’s website (http://CANeLearn.net) due to the
extensive volume of the collection.
Canada continues to have one of the highest per capita student enrollment in online courses and
programs of any jurisdiction in the world and was one of the first countries to use the Internet to
deliver distance learning courses to students. In many ways Canada provides an interesting exemplar
for the rest of the world, due in part to its division into 13 provinces and territories of widely varying
population and geography, leading to a wealth of relevant comparisons with other countries/regions
of similar population. Canada is also a part of the Commonwealth of Nations, leading naturally
to comparisons with other English-speaking countries, but also with Quebec being linked to la
Francophonie, leading to relevant role models for two major linguistic regions. And finally, Canada,
through its offerings to indigenous communities, provides a role model for other countries for the
provision of education to indigenes and minority populations.
The "issues" papers published on the website make particularly topical reading about the challenges
and innovations underway in many places across the country. Another feature that serves to “ground”
the report in the realities of blended and online learnings are the “vignettes” which feature some of
the personalities of the online educators who are blending practice, creating learning programs and
environments with a varied mix of classroom and online methodologies where students have some
control over their own learning, increasing flexibility and access to learning for students.
The State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada report, and its publication on the new project
website, provides critical information and insight into how Canadian educational authorities and
governments are integrating technology-supported approaches to prepare students for today’s
economy and a future society in which the use of technology will be ubiquitous. This report provides
a benchmark for educators as it offers background, guidance and ideas for the improvement of policy
and practice in online and blended learning. The Canadian eLearning Network is a proud supporter
and partner of this research, its publication and dissemination.

While K-12 online learning in the United States has increased exponentially, the ability of teacher education programs to adequately prepare teachers to design, deliver, and support has been deficient. A small number of universities have begun to address this deficit through the introduction of graduate certificates in online teaching. This article examines curricular changes focused on introducing in-service teachers to K-12 online learning. This design-based research study examined changes in teacher perceptions after having completed a systematic curriculum focused on K-12 online learning, as well as track revisions to that curriculum based on the data collected. The results indicate that even in a jurisdiction where online learning has become a graduation requirement, teachers often have many misconceptions about K-12 online learning. Further, planned exposure to K-12 online learning content can have significant impact on student understanding of and interest in the design, delivery, and support of K-12 online learning.

This issue of the State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada report marks its 11th year, and the sixth year of the Canadian eLearning Network’s (CANeLearn) support of this research. This report follows the relatively extensive tenth anniversary edition and the annual report has undergone significant changes. This 11th issue describes changes that have occurred in relation to the governance and e-learning activity over the past year in the provinces and territories. The full jurisdictional profiles can be found on the report website at https://k12sotn.ca/data/. Additionally, any brief issue papers and vignettes received are simply introduced or referred to in this report, but are presented in full on the
website. The online version of the State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada will continue to be a more comprehensive resource for e-learning in each jurisdiction.

While there have been no major changes in the nature of regulation governing K-12 distance and online learning activity in distance or online learning remains relatively stable. The 263,686 students or 5.1% proportion of students engaged in K-12 distance and online learning across the country was a slight decrease in the overall participation level from the previous two school years yet represents only approximately a half a percent proportion difference and, from a proportional standpoint, the number of K-12 students engaged in distance and online learning has remained relatively steady over the past six years. Yet at the same time estimates of blended learning activity have shown a sharp increase. However, estimates of blended learning continue to be a best effort attempt at trying to quantify this type of e-learning activity.

The State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada report, and its accompanying publications on its project website, provides critical information and insight into how Canadian educational authorities and governments are integrating technology-supported approaches to prepare students for today’s economy and a future society in which the use of technology will be ubiquitous. This report and website provide a benchmark for educators and offers background, guidance, and ideas for the improvement of policy and practice in online and blended learning. The Canadian eLearning Network is a proud supporter and partner of this research, its publication, and the dissemination of its findings and supporting research publications.

Within the K-12 online learning environment there are a variety of standards that designers can utilize when creating online courses. To date, the only research-based standards available are proprietary in manner. As such, many jurisdictions have begun adopting online course design standards from the leading advocacy organization, which that have yet to be validated from a research perspective. This article reports on the second phase of a three-stage study designed to examine the validity and reliability of the iNACOL National Standards for Quality Online Courses. Phase two utilizes two groups of expert reviewers to examine and provide feedback with goal of further refining these standards (after the standards had been scrutinized through the lens of the available K-12 online learning literature).

While massive open online courses (MOOCs) garnered plenty of attention at the beginning of the decade, initial findings about their value have been disappointing. In particular, only a narrow range of participants appear to be successful in completing and passing these unmonitored courses: white, educated, affluent males. One prominent Catholic scholar, Jonathan Malesic, went as far as saying that the very nature of MOOCs does not align with Catholic teachings of learning through social interaction, adapting to the needs of the learner, and teaching (i.e., successfully) the masses. Further, by extension, he applied these criticisms to online learning in general. This article examines these criticisms, describes how these problems are present in K-12 online learning, and gives examples of how these issues are mitigated. The article concludes with ideas for using the online learning medium to promote Catholic and Christian values.

The research presented created a revised K-12 online course design rubric based off the iNACOL National Standards for Quality Online Courses. The redesign was completed in three distinct phases, beginning with a literature review of the iNACOL standards that compared current K-12, higher education, and other related literature to each element found in the standards to test for content validity. Results of phase one showed that the iNACOL standards did match up to current literature. Phase two consisted of an expert panel review of the standards, along with phase one suggestions, over three rounds. Viewing the standards through the specific lens of K-12 online course design, the experts combined, revised, deleted, or kept individual elements. The end result was a revised rubric based off the original iNACOL standards. This revised rubric was field tested against current K-12 online courses in phase three. Four groups of two reviewers used the revised rubric to test the inter-rater reliability. While the overall results of the revised rubric did not meet the reliability threshold for percentages, specific elements did. Future research should consider why certain elements were successful (i.e. phrasing, type of question asked) while others were not. This study could also be replicated with other widely accepted standards to help strengthen or revise expert results.

In R. E. Ferdig, E. Baumgartner, R. Hartshorne, R. Kaplan-Rakowski, & C. Mouza (Eds.). Teaching, Technology, and Teacher Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Stories from the Field (pp. 511-513). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education.

Abstract: At present, most teacher preparation programs do not have adequate coverage of how teachers can utilize online content and tools to deliver instruction at a distance. This deficit has been partially caused by the reality that faculty in teacher preparation programs have historically not viewed online teaching as real teaching. It has also been caused by a lack of experts in the field of K-12 distance, online, and blended learning; and even fewer resources for teacher preparation programs to rely upon. This inadequacy was highlighted as teachers in jurisdictions all around the world were forced to transition to emergency remote instruction. This chapter describes a project to create a series of short videos interviews with experts in the field to provide in-service teachers with advice and guidance on how to navigate this sudden transition.

Online at https://learntechlib.org/p/216903/

He has been involved with K-12 distance, online, and blended learning for over two decades as a researcher, evaluator, teacher, course designer, and administrator. Michael's research has focused on the effective design, delivery, and support of K-12 distance, online, and blended learning, including how regulation, governance, and policy can impact effective environments. His background and expertise has resulted in invitations to testify before House and Senate committees in several states, as well as consulting for Ministries of Education across Canada, New Zealand, and worldwide.

Designers have a limited selection of K-12 online course creation standards to choose from that are not blocked behind proprietary or pay walls. For numerous institutions and states, the use of the iNACOL National Standards for Quality Online Courses is becoming a widely used resource. This article presents the final phase in a three-part study to test the validity and reliability of the iNACOL standards specifically to online course design. Phase three was a field test of the revised rubric based on the iNACOL standards against current K-12 online courses. While the results show a strong exact match percentage, there is more work to be done with the revised rubric. Résumé : Les concepteurs ont une sélection limitée des normes K-12 de création de cours en ligne à choisir qui ne sont pas bloqués derrière des propriétés exclusives ou des péages informatiques. Pour de nombreuses institutions et états, l'utilisation des Normes nationales pour les cours en ligne de qualité iNACOL devient une ressource largement utilisée. Cet article présente la phase finale d'une étude en trois parties pour tester la validité et la fiabilité des normes iNACOL spécifiquement liées à la conception de cours en ligne. La phase trois était une mise à l'essai sur le terrain de la rubrique révisée établie en fonction des normes iNACOL par rapport aux cours en ligne K-12 actuels. Bien que les résultats montrent un fort pourcentage de correspondance exacte, il y a plus de travail à faire avec la rubrique révisée.

The 13th issue of the annual State of the Nation: K-12 e-Learning in Canada study describes the changes that have occurred in relation to e-learning governance and activity over the past year. Jurisdictional profiles describe activity and nature of governance for each province and territory, as well as for Indigenous programs under federal jurisdiction. This issue describes only changes that have occurred in relation to the governance and e-learning activity with full jurisdictional profiles available on the project research website. It also provides context for the emergency remote teaching that began in March 2020 during the pandemic drawn from the Canadian eLearning Network’s “Remote Learning Research Project,” which was designed to delineate how each jurisdiction managed their emergency remote teaching.

Distance or online learning enrolment remains relatively stable across the country, with a slight continuous increase in the number of students enrolled in programs. While there have been no
major changes in the nature of regulation governing K-12 distance and online learning activity in the provinces and territories, consultation between the federal government’s Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) and the Assembly of First Nations provided significant changes. The New Paths for Education Program was discontinued and revisions to the Elementary and Secondary Education Program were undertaken to make e-learning more comprehensive in nature and to focus on partnerships directly with various First Nations.

Additionally, some clarity was made for several proposed changes to e-learning that had been announced during the 2018-19 school year. For example, the Ontario Minister of Education announced that students would be required to take two, not the previously announced four, online credits to graduate from secondary school beginning with students graduating in 2023-24, and that courses could count toward this requirement beginning in September 2020. The Ontario Educational Communications Authority Act and the Ontario French-language Educational Communications Authority Act, 2008 were also amended following the 2019-20 school year to broaden the mandates of both Television Ontario (TVO) and Télévision française de l’Ontario (TFO) to position them to provide centralized e-learning opportunities.

Another example of regulatory clarity that came about during the 2019-20 school year was in British Columbia, where the government modified the funding regime for distributed learning in independent schools and the development of policy and program delivery models for distributed learning to reflect per-student-based funding continues. Other examples included several provinces that established or clarified definitions of blended learning to provide consistency and alignment with the current e-learning vernacular.

The State of the Nation: K-12 e-Learning in Canada report, and its accompanying publications on its project website, provides critical information and insight into how Canadian educational authorities and governments are integrating technology-supported approaches to prepare students for today’s economy and a future society in which the use of technology will be ubiquitous. The report and website provide a benchmark for educators and offers background, guidance, and ideas for the improvement of policy and practice in online and blended learning.

In Fall 2017, the Government of British Columbia (2017) began a review of the model that it uses to fund K-12 education.  In the press release announcing the members of the review panel, the Government (2018a) described the goal of the review was “to find a better way to provide equitable and predictable funding to boards of education” (¶ 5). As a part of this review, the government panel released a discussion paper that stated, among other things, that there was “an artificial division in the current model between ‘bricks-and-mortar’ and distributed learning, which should not exist” (Government of British Columbia, 2018d, p. 3).

The purpose of this brief is to examine the nature of distributed learning funding in British Columbia and how that compares to other jurisdictions in Canada and the United States.  This brief begins with an overview of the existing funding model in British Columbia with respect to distributed learning.  This is followed by a description of how distributed learning is funded and resourced in other Canadian jurisdictions.  The brief concludes with an exploration of the research literature related to funding distributed learning, most of which focuses on contexts in the United States.

This brief outlines how distributed learning funding models across Canada generally fall into one of three models.  First, the government directly funds and/or resources distributed learning opportunities.  Second, individual distributed learning programs charge a fee for students who enroll on a per course basis (often paid for by the school or school district).  Third, the government provides direct funding for the distributed learning program through FTEs/CEUs.  Interestingly, those Canadian jurisdictions that did fund distributed learning through FTEs/CEUs provided less funding for distributed learning enrollments compared to traditional brick-and-mortar enrollments.

The larger body of literature indicates that the American context generally follows the second for supplemental program and the third model for full-time programs.  However, it is important to understand the role of private enterprise in public education with respect to distributed learning in the United States, and the impact this has on the funding of full-time distributed learning programs.  There is also the issue of whether the government has the obligation to provide the same funding for public education regardless of the modality that education is delivered.  As Ministries of Education across Canada review and revise funding models in their jurisdictions, issues of equity and access to effective learning options must be considered.  Funding is a critical driver for educational practice.  The research community would serve students and schools well to keep funding models for K-12 education in the forefront of their work.

The field of K–12 online and blended learning is varied and growing. Regardless of whether a student is enrolled in a brick-and-mortar school and taking one or two courses online, or if they are completing all of their education from a cyber school, more and more students are enrolled in online and blended learning opportunities each school year. Over the past decade, there have been successive legislative and regulatory changes in jurisdiction after jurisdiction designed to encourage this growth in K–12 online and blended learning. Many of these changes have been spurred by proponent claims that K–12 online and blended learning will revolutionize education by allowing students to personalize or customize their education, which they also believe provides a more meaningful, higher quality learning experience. However, expansion of K–12 online and blended learning options continues to outpace the availability of useful research on the efficacy of this method. This chapter examines the current state of research into K–12 online and blended learning, and how much of this enthusiasm from proponents and their legislative allies often runs contrary to what is actually known from the existing but limited research base.

Current research in K-12 online learning in Canada has focused on defining distance learning and its current strengths and weaknesses. Yet, the proliferation of technologies and digital learning spaces has led to the emergence of new instructional strategies and digital learning practices for teachers in many K-12 classrooms, both online and onsite. Traditional school-based classrooms are incorporating technology-supported open learning options, creating “blended learning” opportunities where at least part of instruction occurs in a classroom, part online at a distance to the teacher, both combined with some element of choice in learning for students. For these emerging practices little is known empirically, only anecdotally, as research into these practices has been limited or nonexistent, particularly in Canada.

As you will find in this publication, many provinces and territories in Canada have some reference to distance education in their Education Act or Schools Act, the reference is typically used to describe distance education or to enable the Ministry of Education to create, approve or regulate K-12 distance education. However, few provinces and territories have any regulations describing online or blended learning. Two exceptions may be Nova Scotia and British Columbia. In Nova Scotia distance education is described in the collective agreement signed between the Government of Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Teachers Union. British Columbia has the highest level of regulation for K–12 online learning, featuring a structured system that allows students to freely choose any online course or program, and a funding model where dollars follow student choice. BC also has dened and published standards and a focus on quality for their online learning programs. As digital learning practices expand, there is a clear need for further research and study in the emerging eld of K-12 online and blended learning. Canada, as the second largest country in the world, has a rich history of technology-supported distance learning strategies to bridge the country’s geographic expanse. Yet, for the past decade Canadian educators actively embracing new learning models and technologies have worked in relative isolation, sharing only locally at best. Given our rich experience in online and distance learning, an investment in Canadian-based research would be wise, and a national research model founded on the State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada report could foster, support, communicate and share research in a manner that reaches local practitioners, not just academic journals.

This eighth edition of the State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada report, combined with the consolidation of Canadian research posted on the Canadian eLearning Network’s (CANeLearn) website (see http://canelearn.net/state-of-the-nation-k-12-online-learning-in-canada/), lays the foundation for an expansion of critical research for Canadian K-12 practitioners of K-12 online and blended learning practice and innovation. The 2015 report is a call for an expansion of research from Canada, including written publications covering topics specific to blended and online learning, vignettes, features and expanded information and stories about innovation and new approaches across Canada. CANeLearn looks forward to continuing to take a lead role in supporting and partnering in this research, posting this information on its website, and sharing it with members and educators across Canada and beyond.

Historically, primary and secondary distance education in New Zealand was focused on providing opportunities for rural students. With the advent of Tomorrow’s Schools, the need for rural schools to compete with urban schools in terms of their curricular offerings were one of the reasons for the creation of e-learning clusters that would eventually become the Virtual Learning Network (VLN). After 25 years of practice, there is a growing body of research into these rural e-learning clusters. However, in 2011 the HarbourNet cluster bucked that trend, and became the first active urban-based VLN program. This study begins to address this research gap by exploring the challenges HarbourNet was able to overcome in order to become a successful member of the VLN.

Like many K-12 online learning programs, the Illinois Virtual High School (IVHS) began by utilizing vendor content to populate its online courses. In its fourth year, the IVHS began a concerted effort to design more of its own online course content internally. The aim of this chapter was to examine the support needed and application of tools used by IVHS course developers. The data consisted of a two-part, web-based survey and telephone interviews that were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inductive analysis. The results showed these developers had a strong desire to use interactive elements in their course as well as working in cooperative teams. Further, developers were opposed to using a forced template, but indicated a need for general structural guidance and additional professional development. Finally, developers recommended that subject matter teacher-developers and multimedia specialists be split into two separate roles, and these individuals work together as a part of a team. Further research should be conducted on the intended use of technology tools requested.

The 12th issue of the State of the Nation: K-12 e-Learning in Canada report is also the seventh year of the Canadian eLearning Network’s (CANeLearn) support of this research. This report and its accompanying research briefs and vignettes grow in importance given the increasing interest and attention e-learning is taking in K-12 education. New policy changes in several provinces have sparked public debate about the effectiveness and application of e-learning. Now, more than ever, research specific to e-learning in K-12 education in Canada is necessary to inform policy changes and the conversations generated.

This report provides a foundation for expanding research that reflects the diversity of needs and solutions that digital technologies and e-learning are addressing in our educational practices. This issue, unlike those in the past, describes only changes that have occurred in relation to the governance and e-learning activity with full jurisdictional profiles available on the project research website at https://k12sotn.ca/data/. Additionally, any brief issue papers and vignettes received are simply introduced or referred to in this report, but are presented in full on the website.

While there have been no major changes in the nature of regulation governing K-12 distance and online learning activity and distance or online learning enrolment remains relatively stable, there were several initiatives launched or concluding in the 2018-19 school year likely to impact activity in two provinces as well as in First Nations programs nationally. Ontario announced that starting in the 2020-21 school year e-learning would be centralized and two e-learning course credits would be required of the 30 credits to achieve an Ontario Secondary School Diploma. In British Columbia a review of funding for K-12 in the province will result in a change in policy as well as funding for the province’s distributed learning (e-learning) programs.

The State of the Nation: K-12 e-Learning in Canada report, and its accompanying publications on its project website, provides critical information and insight into how Canadian educational authorities and governments are integrating technology-supported approaches to prepare students for today’s economy and a future society in which the use of technology will be ubiquitous. The report and website provide a benchmark for educators and offers background, guidance, and ideas for the improvement of policy and practice in online and blended learning. The online version of the State of the Nation: K-12 e-Learning in Canada will continue to be the comprehensive resource for e-learning in each jurisdiction, and additional research is noted on the site.

Ahead of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) March 11, 2020 declaration that COVID-19 was indeed a pandemic, and as Canada began diagnosing its first cases of the coronavirus, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, urged Canadian communities to “prepare for stronger public health measures to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, including closures of schools” (CMAJ News, 2020). Two days later, New Brunswick was the first of the 13 provinces and territories to close their schools across the province. However, within 10 days all K-12 schools across Canada were closed.

Through the Canadian eLearning Network (CANeLearn), a leading voice in Canada for learner success in K-12 online and blended learning, this report highlights the moves each Canadian jurisdiction made to continue to promote learning throughout the pandemic. Information was gathered for each province and territory, through government websites, educational organizations, and current news releases regarding each jurisdictions strategies to provide supports, resources, and technologies appropriate for the continuation of emergency remote teaching and learning. This report is designed to delineate how each jurisdiction managed their emergency remote teaching during the spring of 2020. The goal is to report on what occurred, and it is not intended to assess the quality of what occurred. This shift was dependent on the supports and resources provided by each jurisdiction across Canada. By April 21, 2020 all of Canada had moved forward with emergency remote teaching for their K-12 learners.

In providing emergency remote teaching, the three territories took much longer to release their plans then their provincial counterparts. If the territories were excluded, the average length of time it took the 10 provinces to release their emergency remote teaching plans was 14 calendar days. The supports and resources provided by each of the jurisdictions manifested in various ways, such as access to mail delivery of educational learning packages, radio and television broadcasting, centralized learning management systems and access to a variety of digital tools. Some provinces such as Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and British Columbia provided technology to students. All jurisdictions – except for Alberta, Ontario, and New Brunswick – provided resources that did not require internet access. Further, some jurisdictions, such as British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut made specific considerations for Indigenous students who may be on-the-land and offered a land-based curriculum for learners who did not have access to both the internet or to educational packages.

While access to resources and supports for emergency remote learning is key for the success of any program, so too is the level of preparedness and professional learning of teachers. The vast majority of teachers across Canada had no training or professional experience with online pedagogies related to using digital tools in their teaching or even how to develop online content that was instructionally sound. Yukon, Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia were the only provinces that announced some form of professional learning for teachers. These professional learning opportunities were evidenced in the form of online professional development days, access to webinars, educational toolkits, access to paid digital tools, virtual learning environment instruction, and University courses. Other jurisdictions referred teachers to other ongoing professional learning options already in existence.

Tolosa, C., East, M., & Barbour, M. K. (2021). Online language learning in New Zealand’s primary schools: Exploring the impact of one initiative. In U. Lanvers, A. S. Thompson, & M. East (Eds.), Language Learning in Anglophone Countries: Challenges, Practices, Ways Forward (pp. 311-329). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Abstract: In the context of New Zealand, a dedicated curriculum area for learning international languages is relatively new and has offered both opportunities and challenges. On the one hand, and contrary to the secondary sector where language learning uptake has declined, schools at the primary level have seen increases in numbers of students taking a language. On the other hand, the primary sector lacks specialist languages teachers and several schools are geographically isolated. One factor contributing to growth has been an initiative of the New Zealand government called Asian Language Learning in Schools (ALLiS) that provided funding to help schools establish or strengthen Asian language learning programmes. This chapter presents one initiative that received funding—the Virtual Learning Network Primary (VLNP). VLNP is a collaboration of schools established to support students through online learning opportunities, with a view to meeting the challenges of non-specialist staff and geographical isolation. We report findings from Stage Two of a two-year project funded by ALLiS. We draw on data from online surveys, student focus groups, and interviews with teachers, to explore the impact of the initiative. Overall, it was found that students enjoyed the online experience, describing it as fun, interesting and motivating in comparison with face-to-face learning. Teachers were also positive about the initiative, particularly gains in self-directed student learning. However, both teachers and students expressed frustrations around limited time for language learning online as well as technological challenges. We offer some pedagogical suggestions and see promise in further investment in e-learning initiatives.