Creating a Virtual School

• Drawing board to Implementation

Creating a Virtual School

• Creating a philosophy – INACOL, IBM, Florida v Concord Consortium, District game players and naysayers

Creating a Virtual School

1. Consultants2. Leadership of District/University3. Technical Staff Leader4. Professional Development

Department Reps5. Curriculum Department Reps6. Teacher Leaders7. Counselors8. Community Leader9. Parent/Student

Leadership• Leadership needs to meet and discuss:

– What is your philosophy concerning online education and professional development?

– Is your district/university willing to commit to doing synchronous and asynchronous online education?

– Develop a needs assessment?– Create a strategic plan.

• Analyze resources available• Develop partnerships• Marketing strategies

What is your philosophy concerning online education?

• Learning

• Training

• Meetings

• Format

– Concurrent

– Full-time/degree granting

Confirm Your Philosophy

Your Vision

The best technology is integrated with the best instructional practices.

A dynamic environment is created to foster continuous social, emotional and intellectual growth.

Confirm Your Commitment

Is your district/university willing to commit to doing synchronous and asynchronous online education?

• Flexibility of scheduling• Technical assistance • Connectivity issues• Additional training• Quality vs. quantity

Identify Your Needs

• Geographic issues

• Classroom issues

• Technical staff

• Professional

Development needs

• Administrative

needs

Southern NevadaClark County School District Clark County School District

covers 7,910 sq. milescovers 7,910 sq. miles

Lincoln

Clark

1996 2005 Growth

Students 178,896 280,834 57%

Teachers 11,316 18,953 34%

Schools 194 301 55%

CCSD Statistics

New School Completion Schedule CCSD

8 8 87

10 10

6

3

2

5

23

3 3

2

2

0

2

0

2

32

3

3

0

1

0

0

1

1

0

0

123456789

1011121314151617

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Year of Completion

Nu

mb

er

of

Sch

oo

ls C

om

ple

ted

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Alternative High Schools

Identify Your UsersDistrict

Admin

Teachers

Students

Support Staff

ProfessionalTechnical

Identify Your Needs

Create a strategic plan.• Analyze resources available• Develop partnerships• Create a business plan• Set goals• Identify leadership structure

for program

• Growth

• Money issues

• Marketing

• State Requirements. . . Attendance

• The need to rewrite regulations and rules

Be prepared for :

Before Starting

• How do you get ready for everything that is going to happen?

– Organize training– Organize technical

infrastructure– Identify initial target groups

Key Elements Needed• Organize training: Create your own or outsource

– Process for Course Creation and Review– Pedagogy Training

• Design Team– Curriculum Specialists– Teacher– Instructional Designer– Administrator

– Tools/Technical Training for Teachers– Classroom Environment

Organize Technical Infrastructure

• Create a Technical staff– Networking Staff– Help Desk

1.Tech Staff Collaboration

2.Server Requirements

3.Tech Support Needed for Students and Staff

4.Tech Requirement for Student and Teacher Computers

5.Minimum Bandwidth vs Optimal Teaching Requirements

6.Develop a liability waiver for adding software to computer

7.Consider a time and place for participants to bring in their computers

Technical staff collaboration

Networking Staff

• Server, Firewalls, Connection Speed• Unforeseen tech issues• Administrating the Program• Domain management• Create relationship with Help Desk and your

tech people• Develop efficient way for users to

communicate issues to tech staff• Upgrades. . . Microsoft• School connectivity

Help Desk

• Create your own Help Desk• Home connectivity issues• Unforeseen tech issues• Initial installs• Upgrades. . . Microsoft• Browser Issues

1.Administrative Issues• Scheduling Time for Classes• Number of licenses

2.Organization• Domains for each subject area• Groups within the Domains• Create a Users group Support Area

3.Scheduling calendar4.Support documents5.Sharing Ideas

Administrative Issues

What happens if you don’t develop an efficient and functional Technical staff

• Lose school. . .

• Lose students

• Lose teacher

• Lose credibility

TeacherPhilosophy is criticalDeliveryCreation of content

Administrative and Departmental Needs ie. Meetings

DeliverAttend

System Management Training

Teacher Training and Professional Development

• Decision about training• Outsource or create your own• Need for flexibility

•How to use tools to deliver training• Definite plan for delivery if giving your own

Teacher Training and Professional Development

Time for implementation

• 6 months to a year to develop• Tap resources that are already there• Consider purchasing courses from other sources

• Train groups

Teacher Training and Professional Development

Needs. . .

1. Content needs to be set by a team, not an individual• Teachers need to be aware of team effort to

deliver • Standards-based content• Procedure in place for changes to content

Needs. . .

1.Teachers will like Synchronous contact because it is most like a classroom• Need to be trained on the proper use• Synchronous class needs to be interactive• Need to hire teachers and Administrators with

same philosophy2. Need for personal touch. . . 3. Teachers come in from

1.Access to content for synchronous and asynchronous learning materials

2.Active Discussions groups3.Model the shared environment4.Rubrics are essential 5.Share lessons- teacher notes, all files6.Create an interactive environment-If you want to

do a lecture, use the Playback in synchronous tool

7.Rely on an experienced staff to model best practices

Essential Elements of Training

The Emerging CyberSchool

– Need for interactivity– Teachers– Students– Online Professional

Development• Growth• Technical Infrastructure

Valuable lessons along the way