TCEA TECH TAKE Many paths to online education: Keep an eye out for critical elements by Patricia Ábrego
The reality is students today learn very differently and we need to continue to adapt practices to meet their needs.
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chool administrators are constantly looking for innovative solutions to educational challenges. One of these challenges is access to educational opportunities for their students. Advancement in online education technologies, enriched digital curriculum content and access to mobile devices are providing viable solutions to school administrators. However, with so many options on the market, school administrators may not be sure of how to evaluate the best content for their students. This article provides practical guidelines for the evaluation of online and blended content for grades 6-12.
Definitions Perhaps the most comprehensive definition of blended learning was the one provided by the Clayton Christensen Institute in their “Is K-12 Blended Learning Disruptive?” paper. They define it as a “formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through online learning, with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace; at least in part in a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home…and the modalities along each student’s learning path within a course or subject are connected to provide an integrated learning experience”(Christensen, Horn, & Staker, 2013). According to iNACOL (2011), full-time virtual school is “a formally constituted organization (public, private, state or, charter) that offers full-time education delivered primarily over the internet.” Online learning is also known as cyber learning, virtual learning and e-learning. Typically, high schools enroll their students in supplemental online courses for dual credit and credit recovery from institutions of higher education and third-party providers.
Online and blended education in Texas In Texas, school administrators have access to online and blended options for students through the Texas Virtual School Network (TXVSN), institutions of higher education and third-party providers. TXVSN manages the majority of the state’s online activity through two programs: a supplemental statewide course catalog of high school courses and Online Schools (OLS) for grades 3-12. During the 2016-17 academic year, TXVSN served 19,842 students through their supplemental and full-time course enrollments. This is modest enrollment considering that Texas has 5.3 million K-12 students enrolled in 993 school districts. Moreover, 49 percent of the state’s public school students are educated in a mix of suburban and rural areas with 459 districts classified as rural. Rurality was the driving force behind the creation of a task force by Commissioner Mike Morath in 2016 as rural school districts face many educational challenges unique to their size and region. A report published a year later by the Texas Rural Schools Task Force recognized the need to “increase the quality and accessibility of online learning, including the TXVSN, by addressing misconceptions, facilitating aggressive marketing and outreach, removing financial disincentives, supporting greater bandwidth, implementing a longer grant cycle, and improving 22
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