Report Produced by the NACOL Research Committee
RESEARCH COMMITTEE ISSUES BRIEF:
Professional Development for Virtual Schooling and Online Learning
Written by:
Niki Davis, Iowa State University, Center for Technology in Learning and Teaching and Ray Rose, Rose Smith Associates with NACOL Research Committee Working Group
Online learning is an important trend in the systemic reform and improvement of our nation’s schools. I fully support the recommendation in this report that all universities, colleges and preservice professional development include virtual schooling and online learning into their programs.
In countries, such as Singapore, every teacher is prepared to teach online. In order to meet the demands for qualified teachers to teach students in every subject, virtual schooling is an option that
will help ease the inequity in distribution of teachers to students in all areas and bring innovation to all school models.
This report examines the types of professional development necessary to implement successful online learning initiatives. The potential for schools utilizing online learning is tremendous: schools can develop new distribution methods to enable equity and access for all students, they can provide high quality content for all students and they can begin to shift management structures to support performance-based approaches through data-driven decision-making.
Virtual schooling is providing a bridge between the traditional classroom and 21st century education by linking high quality teaching and high quality courses with the collaborative, networked, information-rich environments that are a hallmark of the information age. States, districts, universities and schools need to be providing professional development in the operations, budgeting, curricular and instructional leadership for leaders, future teachers and school administrators to understand and support virtual learning.
Virtual schools are connecting quality teachers to students in rigorous, interactive and information rich courses across the K-12 spectrum. New professional opportunities are open to teachers to teach full-time and part-time—even telecommuting.
This report examines new models of professional development that will expand your mind to a new vision of the future of education. Online professional development for administrators, teachers and
school leaders will help build new models of schools—both online and blended—and better serve today’s students during an information revolution in a global society.
More information at: http://www.nacol.org/docs/NACOL_PDforVSandOlnLrng.pdf
