Fall Research Collaborative meeting

Research Collaborative

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• About MVLRI

• About Collaborative meetings

• Business

• Collaboration opportunities

• Questions about current research

• Presentations

• Elena Geiser Hogan, Orange County Public Schools

• Beth Robelia, Walden University

• Wrap-up & preview of upcoming events

Agenda

• Research, Policy, Innovation & Networks

• expands Michigan’s capacity to

• support new learning models,

• engage in active research to inform new policies in online and blended learning, and

• strengthen the state’s infrastructures for sharing best practices.

• http://www.mvlri.org

About MVLRI

http://www.mvlri.org

Joe Freidhoff, Executive Director of MVLRI

Justin Bruno, Research Associate

Kristen DeBruler, Researcher

Kathryn Kennedy, Senior Researcher

Rebecca Stimson, Proposal & Content Writer

About MVLRI

• Held quarterly

• Fall – October

• Winter – January

• Spring – April

• Summer – July

• Conference get-togethers

About Collaborative Meetings

• Two parts

• Business meeting

• Collaboration opportunities

• Grants

• Research

• Publications & presentations

• Other opportunities

• Questions about current research

• 2 presentations

About Collaborative Meetings

• Anyone?

BusinessCollaboration opportunities

Grants

• IES feedback on two research centers’ work: National Center for Education Research (NCER) & National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER)

http://ies.ed.gov/pdf/2014-NCERfeedback.pdf

• Jason Siko – call for participants/sites

• Anyone else?


Research

http://ies.ed.gov/pdf/2014-NCERfeedback.pdf

• Anyone?

• Journal of Online Learning Research

• Handbook of Research in K-12 Online and Blended Learning

• eLearn Magazine

• MVLRI blog


Publications

• Published by AACE; peer-reviewed, quarterly publication; open access, International; theoretical, empirical, and pragmatic - www.aace.org/pubs/

• Understanding technology and their impact on primary and secondary pedagogy and policy in K-12 online and blended environments

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSERw8Gz_rM

Journal of Online Learning Research

http://www.aace.org/pubs/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSERw8Gz_rM

• 1-2 issues a year will be special issues

• Note: Guest editors can only be author or co-author on one of the articles in special issue

• Submit a proposal to us, and include:

• Topic and description of special issue and relevance of that topic to the field

• Timeline for special issue

• CVs of guest editor(s)

• Potential authors for special issue

Journal of Online Learning Research (Cont)

• Anticipated publication: Nov 2014

• Updated every year

• Open access

• Call for chapters for next year’s edition coming soon

• Email [email protected]

Handbook of Research in K-12 Online and Blended Learning

mailto:[email protected]

• Published by Association for Computing Machinery

• K-12 online and blended learning section

• Open access, International

• 2000-word max for articles, including references

• Foster communication between practitioners and researchers

• More information - http://bit.ly/1wuWIp8

eLearn Magazine

http://bit.ly/1wuWIp8

• Weekly posts

• If you have anything to share, please let us know!

• Guest bloggers!

MVLRI Blog

• Anyone?

• MVLRI webinar series

• MVLRI podcasts/vodcasts


Presentations

• Want to present? Let us know!

• Timing is flexible, all throughout the year

• Formal webinars on finished research

• Informal webinars on works in progress

• Take place in Adobe Connect

• Recorded and shared with research community

MVLRI Webinar Series

• 5-10 minute shorts

• Present your research

• Share your research questions/thoughts

• Interview other researcher(s)

• Other ideas

• Call for proposals will be sent soon!

MVLRI podcasts/vodcasts

• Anyone?

• MVLRI Call for Fellows

• Add to Research Clearinghouse


Other opportunities

• Augmenting capacity, bringing in experts

• One-year appointments

• $500 to $6000 honorarium depending on scope of project deliverables

• Request for Proposals (RFP) is on our website

• http://www.mvlri.org

• Under “About us” tab > “Fellows”

Call for Fellows

http://www.mvlri.org

• Partnership with iNACOL to build resource

• Current Project Contributors –COLSD, CANeLearn, Quality Matters, Evergreen, DEANZ

• Over 675 references!

• If you see anything missing, please let us know!

• http://k12onlineresearch.org

Add to Research Clearinghouse

http://k12onlineresearch.org

BusinessQuestions about research?

Elena Geiser Hogan

Orange County Public Schools

Beth Robelia

Walden University

Today’s Presenters

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Milestone Two |Secure Testing Measures in K-12 Virtual School

Welcome!

Rethinking Assessment in Full-time Online Schools: Best Practices in

Meeting State/District-wide Mandatory Formative Testing

Presented By: Elena Geiser Hogan, Ed.S.

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AbstractThe majority of students choose to learn in a virtual school either for flexibility or to avoid unfavorable influences experienced at their zone school. In the first 3 years of existence, Orange County Virtual School (OCVS) did not have a physical location for students to come complete state and district mandated testing, so they were sent back to their zone schools.

These were past problems of practice because 1) Zone schools miscoded student tests and data was often lost in the process; 2) Many student left their zone school to avoid situations that caused them anxiety, therefore having them go back to this location for testing could have a negative impact on their test results.

These problems were rectified by securing a campus for OCVS this 2013-2014 year. With a physical location to bring students to, OCVS was able to begin testing students without having to go their zone schools. The current problem of practice is that there are now a variety of reasons that students are unable to attend testing at our brick and mortar location.

Almost all tests are provided online, so why have students come in to a physical location just to be monitored. Therefore, research on secure testing options (where students test from home, while monitored via webcam) has begun. An implementation plan using secure testing measures in the K-12 OCVS virtual learning environment were created this summer and will be implemented during the 2014-2015 school year.

Abstract

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Problem of PracticeWhat is the plan?

February 2014:

Research to potential

solutions to the problem of practice

began

March 2014:

Contact with Software Secure revealed another district run public virtual school in Florida was using this option

April- May 2014:

Interviews & data

collection with other districts &

secure testing

companies

May 28, 2014:

Meeting with the district testing

coordinator

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Implementation TimelineWhat is the timeline? What are the key milestones and due dates for the project to be completed on time?

July 2014:Literature Review &

Implementation Planning

Process

June 2014:Milestone 2: Identify & Present Problem of Practice

Oct./Jan. 2014/2015:

Benchmark Testing Secure

Testing Implemented

Feb.- June 2015:Analyze results, conduct surveys,

complete dissertation, prepare for

defense

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Organizational Context

Organizational Context Suitable forms of coordinator and control ensure that diverse efforts

of individuals and units mesh

Structures must be designed to fit an organizations current circumstances (including its goals, technology, workforce, and environment).

Problems arise and performance suffers from structural deficiencies, which can be remedied through analysis and restructuring.”

As the first school of its kind in a large urban public school district, standard policies and procedures intended for traditional brick and mortar schools do not best fit the structure of this new learning environment.

According to Bolman and Deal (2008),“Three assumptions that undergird the structural frame help identify the problem of practice in OCVS:

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Literature Review

Literature Review

“Standards based reform has a more than 20 year history in the United States.” National Academy of Education (2009)

“Technology based assessments could ultimately be used to allow large-scale testing of important analytical and problem-solving skills.” National Academy of Education (2009)

“According to the UC Government Accountability Office, 32 states have reported ‘canceling, invalidating, or nullifying test scores from individual students, schools, or districts because of suspected or confirmed cheating by school officials [emphasis ours]’ for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 school years.” Waters, J. (2013)

“The developing technology for remote proctoring may end up being as good — or even better — than the live proctoring at bricks-and-mortar universities.” Douglas H. Fisher, Professor - Vanderbilt University, New York Times, 2013 (as seen in Whitepaper by

Software Secure)

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Causes

Causes

Parent Survey Question:Why did you enter virtual school?

Greater time flexibility 31%

Wanted to advance (quicker than other students in my class) 7%

Did not like influences at traditional school 27%

Illness/medical diagnosis 10%

Wanted to participate in athletics/ performance arts 3%

Wanted to participate in religious activities 3%

Other 19%

* Information gathered from 2014 OCVS Mid-Year Climate Survey for Parents

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Causes

Causes

Describe some of the likely/potential causes of the

problem you are exploring….

• Students are not in town during specifically designated testing windows

• Students do not have transportation available to be brought in to the physical testing location

• Parents can not transport (i.e. take off of work, afford gas/bus fare) their child as many times as needed to bring for face to face testing throughout the school year

• Benchmark-September, October, January, March

• FAIR- October, December, May

• *Other testing includes: PERT, OC Writes, PSAT, SAT, FCAT Writes, FCAT, EOC exams

*Testing required by the district/state is determined by both student grade and course enrollment

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Causes

Causes

What data will you need to collect to explore the problem further?

Data needed to explore the problem further includes…

• Student test results and participation numbers from the current school year 2013-2014

• Student and Parent surveys/interviews to gather qualitative data on how each stakeholder feels about various testing environments and procedures

• More data on how other district virtual (comparable) schools in Florida implement their state mandated required formative testing and their participation rates

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Questions?

For further information or to follow up on the progress of this study feel free to contact me at…

[email protected]

Promising Practices for Online Student Engagement: How do we

reconstruct school culture?

Beth Robelia, Ph.D.

Walden University

Definition of Engagement

“energy in action” (Skinner & Pitzer, 2012)

Working Definition of Engagement

• Behavioral

– Attendance

– Work completion

• Emotional

– School is a priority

– Supportive network

• Academic

– Quality work

– Timely completion

Research Questions

1. What demographic factors are correlated with engagement?

2. What do students identify as the most engaging aspects of being an online student?

a. What do teachers do?

b. How does culture play a role?

3. How do students support their learning in an online school?

Students surveyed about engagement

• 1100 full and part-time students invited to participate

• 45 questions

• $5 gift card incentive (Walden sponsored)

• 470 participants

• Important feedback for design of instruction

Teacher Interviews

• 23 teachers

• 45 minute interview

• Questions about what works to engage students:

– Communication

– Curriculum

– Differentiation

Interview Q1: How do you think our school culture affects engagement?

A. How would you describe our school culture?

B. What elements of culture have the most impact on student attitudes toward school involvement?

A few teachers describe school culture positively

• “In my view it can be very inviting and welcoming, if they are willing to put forth the work or at least the attempt. If they are not attempting, we have to keep calling and I could see where they think our culture is naggy.” (T19)

• “A positive exciting, feeling, a positive vibe that they get from their teachers.” (T12)

Other teachers describe school culture, negatively

• Toxic

• Vague Embarrassment

Teachers describe school culture

• Isolation

• Lax deadlines/Low expectations

B. What elements of culture have the most impact?

• No deadlines policy.

• Lack of parent involvement.

Toxicity: Politics gets in the way of serving students

• “Embattled . . . No one wants to reach a consensus; it is very divided.” (T10)

• “There are political things, behind the scenes, kids are picking up on. They have less faith in us as a school, and disengage. Attendance at class connects are down because of the behind the scenes things that kids are picking up on.” (T2)

• “The culture of staff negatively impacts students in ways that are hard to measure. Even if we put on a happy face, something in humanity allow us to know things are not as they seem.” (T3)

Toxicity: Politics gets in the way of serving students

• I may be off topic but our school culture is we want to help kids, we have a great teaching staff but we feel powerless as a staff. (T16)

• “I brought this up years ago; we should write it [the school mission statement] under our letterhead. Nobody listens to me.” (T11)

• A big piece that I struggle with, we get all of these mandates that are supposedly what is best for students and they take up my time. (T14)

Toxicity: student attitudes

• “Rather than keeping the more fun, engaged and happy kids.

We kept this group of kids that really does not want to go to school. They are angry with teachers, rather than feel like teacher are their tools to learning. It is not a positive feeling right now, negative emphasis when we contact students.” (T4)

Vague embarrassment

• “One of vague embarrassment, some students feel innovative, for others this is their last chance. They are embarrassed. It is same for staff. Looking at it, I think we could be proud; the fact that we are not is toxic at staff level.” (T3)

• When I have to talk about what I do, for people outside school, I get nauseous. (T11)

Isolation

• “Really, it is up to the student, for the most part, to reach out to the teacher to get the amount of contact/help that they are looking for.” (T18)

• “The isolationism of being separated from your peers is another barrier.” (T8)

• “Our students are so fragmented across the state, they do not interact enough to create a culture.” (T5)

• “To me the school culture is isolation; that is how I see it. We are all over the place along with the students, it is difficult to bring community into the culture of the school.” (T6)

Lax attendance policies

• “We have high fliers and low engagements with most not in the middle, like a two-humped camel. Kids come to hide out because, we don’t have the teacher standing in front of me, handing me to the paper and watched me do it - they can be non-engaged. On the flip side, for the high fliers, there is not a teacher in front of them to slow them down. A majority are high or low with little in the middle.” (T9)

• “I think the policy that we have of not requiring them to go [to Class Connects], means if they don’t have to go, then they don’t go if they don’t want to. That policy definitely affects the engagement.” (T15)

• “There is a disconnect in online in general, they don’t need to attend CCs. We leave it up to them.” (T20)

• “We kind of let them loose, we are just trusting intrinsic motivation to get them through. I don’t think they are engaged because of it.” (T17)

Low expectations

“School policy as far as work deadlines, there needs to be daily work requirement, daily engagement requirements, work being done, not just being engaged a few minutes per day, how attendance is taken or how being done work is measured.” (T12)

“We are constantly lowering the bar to get in kids who are not really doing anything, to try to cater to kids who are not going to do anything.” (T16)

“We have a culture of not having high expectations, if they creating short cuts, if they know that they don’t have to login every day, they know they can get away with . . . “ (T14)

No deadlines policy

• “I feel like that work can be done whenever students want, too far towards the end of the school year. They are not learning, because they are doing it too quickly.” (T5)

• “[The students think] I don’t have to work, I can do a ton of work at the end of the semester and still pass.” (T7)

• “I sometimes get concerned with the push for passing percents. We talk about academic integrity in this school, there is more with some teachers than others.” (T6)

• “One of the things that affects student engagement the most, is they know that if they get engaged at any point, they will get help to complete work. They know that can be unengaged until the end. There are repeat offenders, they have done it in past, will do it again.” (T1)

Parent Involvement

• “Parents do not feel they are heard, rather they feel they are patronized. They voice their concerns and feel as though they have been heard. But in the end, they do not see any results.” (T2)

• “The kids that don’t want to, don’t reach out for help. It is very hard to reach those kids, For myself and other teachers too, we call and call cannot reach the student or learning coach and when you have hit a dead end, there is nothing else you can do, that child has made a choice not to engage and their grades are affected by that.” (T7)

• “It is difficult to self motivate without parents. Children are given parents for a reason, otherwise they would be born in eggs and fly away.” (T6)

Teachers describe school culture

How do we turn the cultural crisis around?

Solutions?

• Broader teacher collaboration

• More teacher ownership

• Change attendance policies

• Higher academic expectations for students

• More required interaction for students

• Release teachers from clerical mandates

What suggestions can you make?

MVLRI Research Webinar SeriesUpcoming Webinar:

Date & Time: TBA

Topic: Virtual School Leadership Alliance Members

share their research needs

Presenters: North Carolina Virtual Public School,

Illinois Virtual School, Michigan Virtual School,

Wisconsin Virtual School, Montana Digital Learning

Academy

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: /mvlrinstitute

Twitter: @MVLRI_MVU

LinkedIn: michigan-virtual-learning-research-institute

Contact us!

mailto:[email protected]

https://www.linkedin.com/company/michigan-virtual-learning-research-institute