Online days instead of snow days?

Never too early in Iowa to start thinking about snow days, of course. 

Boone Grove High School in Valparaiso, IN is one school that last year dealt with snow days by creating "online days".  The premise was that students could still meaningfully interact with the curriculum working online through Moodle, and it would cause less disruption to the continuity of the learning process.

I ran across this reflection from a high school student, Jacob Knecht, who was writing for the school's newspaper.  While there isn't much there in terms of the structure or logistics of the day, it is clear that the "online day" was well received by students, faculty, and especially parents.  The concern of access at the home was not identified as an issue for BGHS.

One school's success does not dictate it is right for schools in Iowa, but it is good to see that while many Iowa administrators have hypothesized about an "online day" every time they have to call off school, there are schools that have put that into action.

Getting Your School Started with Online Learning

(Below is my presentation for Tuesday, 11:00 at ITEC).

Is Your School Ready for Online Learning

View more presentations from Evan Abbey.

Key Concepts
• How online learning can be used in your school. (Blog - 4/26)

• Most common roadblocks facing Iowa's schools
- Fear for teachers of being replaced
- Primitive view of what online learning is
- Tradition of what "school" is to look like
- Money

• Action Steps
1) Become an advocate
2) Share and refine a vision of online learning in your school (Have conversations with your influential people)
3) Sell your idea to your publics
4) Lay the foundation--plan your course server, your student access, your policies, your professional development. Examine the processing questions
5) Learn what resources/opportunities exist (network)
6) Target specific areas & early adopters to work with
7) Commit. If you wait for the perfect course to be developed, you will never offer one. You learn by trying.

• Current Efforts in Iowa
- Iowa Learning Online (contact Arlan Thorson).
ILO offers free courses in several areas for Iowa students. They also offer free content for schools to use, and have brokered courses for schools, helping with marketing & registration.

- ARRA Grant.
The state AEAs, in partnership with Cedar Rapids CSD, Davenport CSD, Sioux City CSD, Waterloo CSD, Iowa City CSD, Council Bluffs CSD, and Dubuque CSD have received a $2.7 million grant to develop capacity to deliver online learning in Iowa.

Goals of the grant =
1) Provide online content for Iowa schools in math, science, and literacy.
2) Help connect teachers with free online content.
3) Build a repository to host the online content.
4) Provide systemic professional development in online pedagogy for K-12 schools.
5) Connect schools with Iowa Learning Online to use their services to enhance online offerings.
6) Help schools find new models for providing credit recovery and alternative programming.

- OLLIE (Online Learing for Iowa Educators).
To help build internal capacity for online learning, we are developing a sequence of professional development courses, to be facilitated by AEA consultants or locally at an LEA.

The modules include
1) Introduction to the Online Learner (1 credit)
2) Technology for Online Instruction (2 credits)
3) Online Instructional Design (2 credits)
4) Facilitation (2 credits)
5) Assessment, Feedback, and Evaluation (2 credits)

So, what is the ARRA grant?

The ARRA Ed Tech Grant uses federal stimulus dollars for the purposes of enhancing education through technology in the classroom, using a similar structure to the E2T2 system.  In applying for the roughly $3 million, Iowa is prioritizing capacity-building for its schools to deliver K-12 online learning.

The needs for this are self-evident: Iowa has limited statewide options for online learning that pale in comparison to other states.  This has come as the result of its fine educational system (and the pride that the state takes in it), as educators and community members alike have been slow to demand fixes when what we are used to "wasn't broken."  But, times have changed, and the most vocal group for needing the benefits of online learning have been administrators.

To address this need, all 9 AEAs and 7 of the 8 largest districts in Iowa banded together to create a common proposal.  They were awarded $2.7 million, to be used to address the needs of online learning for rural access, high teacher shortage areas, credit recovery, and disaster/pandemic preparation.

The specific action steps have quickly materialized:

• Develop/purchase online content for schools to freely use
• Link to and vet free online resources that exist on the web
• Deliver professional development to train K-12 teachers in online pedagogy
• Create a common repository for schools to access the content and deliver online learning
• Partner with Iowa Learning Online, which brokers courses that districts can open up to other district students

One distinct thing about this is the speed at which things are moving.  This isn't a 6-year development process before schools can peak behind the curtain (okay... maybe that was too blunt of an allusion).  These things are coming quickly.  We had a 100-teacher cohort complete summer training in online pedagogy from 19 different Iowa school districts, and we are currently in the middle of a train-the-trainer sequence for AEAs to deliver their own training.  We also will have purchased some content from Florida Virtual Schools this fall, and will have the repository up and running by next summer.

I've had the pleasure to work closely with Nancy Movall, who was named the grant specialist, and has been overseeing the governance of the grant.  Nancy has been vigilant about 3 things--sustainability, efficiency, and results.  The grant's funds are limited to one year, so purchasing seats in a program like Plato or Apex won't have any sustaining effects.  Neither would they be transformative, as it would emphasize the same detached form of online learning that schools had been engaged in, one where the student works through endless modules in isolation.

She has stressed that we need to own content, that we need to make one-time purchases and have the content indefinitely.  This will include some local development, geared around specific aspects of the essential skills and concepts.  But given that we have limited resources in the area of instructional design, we have to be systemic about what we choose to develop ourselves.

Most importantly to Nancy, we need to avoid situations where teachers are developing content on their own.  It is a model that is highly inefficient, and past track records have shown a tendency to take traditional face-to-face lessons and move them online, not taking advantage of the features about online learning to make it unique.  Instead, teachers will be trained on how to take existing content, be they units, lessons, activities, or resources, and weaving them together for a powerful learning experience.

So, what do schools need to know?  First and foremost, that help is coming.  Schools interested in systemic professional development in online pedagogy now have an option, the OLLIE sequence.  This professional development can be delivered in different formats to fit a school's needs.  In addition, schools will have a solid base of content to choose from within a year's time, eliminating the need to purchase high quantities of seats in packaged programs.  Plus, the process for schools to become participants in the arena of online learning will be made much easier with the resources that Iowa Learning Online offers.

Interested?  Contact us:
• Evan Abbey - eabbey@aea11.k12.ia.us
• Nancy Movall - nmovall@gwaea.org
• Arlan Thorson - athorson@iowalearningonline.org

TICL

My time to blog has pretty much evaporated over the past month, as we are busy working on the Online Learning for Iowa Educator consortium this summer, as well as putting in motion several items to develop the statewide system for online professional development. Here's a quick update:

Northwest AEA and Prairie Lakes AEA are holding their 3-day TICL (Technology Integration and Instruction for the 21st Century Learner) conference starting today. I present today at 1:00 at Buena Vista University on the professional development opportunities available online for educators. I've included my presentation below.

In addition to me, there are several presentations on online learning, Moodle, and online courses for K-12 students. Many schools in these AEAs have already considered implementing K-12 online courses (and a few are on their way to putting those in place in 2010-11). This promises to be a good chance to see what others are doing and considering.

Online Professional Development for Iowa

View more presentations from Evan Abbey.

Why Online Learning for Your High School

This is the question that I've recently discussed with superintendents and principals across Iowa, at least those who are seriously considering the benefits of online learning and the future reality of it as well. Here's a synopsis of what they have said:

SCENARIO 1: CREDIT RECOVERY
Our number of dropouts is way too high. We've got students who fail a semester of algebra 1, which means they cannot enroll in second semester or geometry the following year until they pass. This puts them a year behind. Fail again, they are now 2 years behind with almost no way of graduating on time, just because of math courses alone (or substitute in the science course sequence).

If we could have our present curriculum placed in an online format, a student can work through the portions of the course they failed with the assistance of an at-risk teacher; do so at their own time, pace, and place; and be back on track for graduation. We could purchase packaged programs like E2020 or Apex, but that yearly cost is expensive, and if we had our own online curriculum, it saves money for more at-risk teaching staff.

SCENARIO 2: CONSORTIUMS FOR TEACHER-SHORTAGE AREAS
It is difficult to find a Spanish teacher in many rural school districts, let alone a language like Chinese or Arabic. Plus, the vocational areas of Family Consumer Science and Industrial Technology are hard to staff as well. On top of that, in many schools, those teachers have class sizes of 5-10 students, making it hard to justify the costs.

Sharing staff between two districts has worked somewhat well, but consider the time spent for the teacher to drive between one district or the next. Instead, what if we had the teacher teach online, putting students from 3 different schools in the same course and raising numbers to a more sustainable amount. That teacher could drive to a different school each day (as opposed to several within a day) and still keep the course going.

SCENARIO 3: FLEXIBLE SCHEDULES
If you like impossible puzzles, you should try developing our master schedule for next year. There is no way to get courses placed so that students can be out for Band, Choir, and Computers, which not only upsets the students, it also upsets the teachers of those respected programs.

But if we offered that Computers course online, then the student could take it during their free hour, whenever that would be. Or if they have a full schedule, they could still take the course and work as time permits. That flexibility sure makes scheduling an easier proposition.

SCENARIO 4: ADVANCED COURSES
The hardest students from scenario 3 are students who are the most academically-inclined. Not only because they are more likely to fill up their schedule rather than take a study hall, but also because their courses tend to be ones that there are only 1-2 sections of it (and in many cases, courses whose numbers don't allow a separate section, like scenario 2).

The result is if we have a student enrolled in Advanced Algebra 2, AP Biology, Honors Humanities, Advanced Chemistry, Band, Choir, Journalism (because they are the school newspaper editor), and Honors US History, as well as PE somewhere, they are over capacity, despite often having the ability and desire to take all of those courses. But, by putting Honors US History, Honors Humanities, Advanced Chemistry or Advanced Algebra 2 online, we have some flexibility we didn't have before.

SCENARIO 5: FLEXIBILITY, PART 2
I have a student who was recently suspended, and because of tensions with fellow students, I don't want him back in his course. Or, I have a student who is pregnant and finds it difficult to be in a class with other students. Or, I have a student who consistently butts heads with our one and only government teacher, and government is a required course. I wish I had another option.

SCENARIO 6: FUNDING OPPORTUNITY
In addition to the other scenarios, we have enthusiastic staff and belief that this is the future of education. If by putting our courses online we can offer them to other schools, we could stand to get weighted funding from those students. In essence, online learning makes increased enrollment a possibility.

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ACCESS & LEARNING
Here's the upshot, of course. All of those have to do with the access of the curriculum to the student, which is a primary reason for online learning, and realistically, this is where Iowa's administrators should be initially thinking. But at some time, we also need to get to the point where we see students learn more from an online or blended learning opportunity. That, even if the above were not true, there would still be benefits to putting a course online in that it:

• Is a media-rich environment
• Allows both synchronous and asynchronous communication
• Uses ongoing group collaboration
• Connects students with outside resources and people
• Creates a digital portfolio of student work
• Puts the student in a position where she can share her work with the larger world easier

I don't know when the conversation in Iowa will turn from "Online learning brings us better access" to "Online learning brings us better learning"; what I see is that until the first one is fully understood by a majority of Iowa educators, the second one cannot happen. But ultimately, we need to get to that second conversation.

Summer AEA Online Courses

Here's a quick list of some of the summer AEA online courses available with links for more info and registration. Note that in some cases, 2 sections of the course are offered... I have linked to each section by their dates.

I'm teaching the courses with an asterisk by their titles.

DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION

• The Different Learner - Examining The Myth of Laziness (3 cr, 05/24-07/24)
• The Different Learner: Exploring How the Special Need Brain Learns (3 cr, 05/24-07/24)
• The Different Learner: How to Differentiate Instruction in a Mixed Ability Classroom 2nd Edition (3 cr, 05/24-07/24)
• The Different Learner: Exploring Overcoming Dyslexia (3 cr, 05/24-07/24)

ONLINE INSTRUCTION

• *Technology for Online Instruction: Moodle (2 cr, 05/03-06/06)
• *Technology for Online Instruction: Adobe Connect Pro (2 cr, 06/21-07/25)
• *Online Learning Instructional Design (2 cr, 07/05-08/08)

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT & SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

• *Developing Personal Learning Networks (1 cr, 06/21-07/03)
• Becoming a More Effective Teacher (2 cr, 08/02-11/12 & 09/06-11/12)

COUNSELING/AT-RISK

• The Emotional Life of the Child: Bullying From Both Sides (3 cr, 05/24-07/24)
• The Emotional Life of the Child: Helping Students Overcome Anxiety and Depression (3 cr, 05/24-07/24)
• The Emotional Life of the Child: Managing Non Compliance in the Classroom (3 cr, 05/15-07/24)

MUSIC

• Using Technology to Teach Comprehensive Musicianship (2 cr, 06/28-07/23)

TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION

• *Presentation Zen: Improving Your Approach to Presentations (1 cr, 05/10-05/23 & 07/26-08/08)
• Web 2.0 Tools for the 21st Century Classroom (2 cr, 06/28-08/09)
• Wikis, Websites and Web 2.0 (2 cr, 06/15-08/10)
• Collaborative Online Presentation Tools in Math (2 cr, 07/05-08/02)
• Collaborative Online Presentation Tools in Science (2 cr, 08/02-08/30)
• Collaborative Online Writing in Science (3 cr, 05/10-06/21)
• iLife (2 cr, 06/14-07/16 & 07/19-08/20)
• iPods & iTunes (2 cr, 06/28-07/30 & 07/26-08/27)
• Building WebQuests for Better Learning (2 cr, 06/16-08/04 & 09/29-11/10)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE & CULTURE

• Learning Central Asia: Beyond the Headlines (1 cr, 06/22-08/03)
• Spanish for Educators Online (3 cr, 05/04-06/29 & 06/23-08/18)
• The Chinese American Experience (1 cr, 06/29-08/10)

Learning Online in a K-12 Setting

My presentation from the Iowa 1:1 Institute

Learning Online in K-12 Schools

View more presentations from Evan Abbey.

Learning Online in a K-12 Setting
Iowa 1:1 Institute - 4/07/10
Evan Abbey - AEA Project Manager for Online Learning

This presentation is aimed to build advocacy in school leaders for online learning, giving leaders discussion points and resources to have conversations in their home district.

Urgency: In his book Disrupting Class, Clayton Christensen boldly predicts that 50% of 9-12 courses will be online by 2019. And colleges are seeing unprecedented growth in online course enrollments. Never before have students had the economic market-based power over their education that they do now. They are not limited by geography or time restraints. And, the monopoly educators had over determining the format for learning in the school is coming to an end.

In the past, the "online learning" discussion in schools has revolved around whether online learning is as effective as face-to-face learning. Despite research affirming the effectiveness of online learning, the debate has slowed action to a standstill, both at the local and at the statewide level. The time for debate has passed. Students are taking online courses regardless of a person's viewpoint of their effectiveness. We must now look instead at the most effective way to teach online, and rapidly prepare our schools for this change.

Roadblocks:
1. Cost - Both in teacher time and in compensation
2. Misunderstanding of what online learning can be - Thinking online learning is like an NWEA test where you read a passage and take a multiple choice quiz repeatedly. Online learning is so much more, including forums, online collaboration, social networking, online portfolios, synchronous virtual classrooms, simulations, and even interactive gaming.
3. Iowa's Tradition - Iowa has a deep history of educational excellence. That is a good thing. But it also makes embracing change, especially in non-traditional formats, very difficult. Iowa's tradition has slowed down efforts and killed urgency more than anything else.
4. Resolve - To be fully honest, online learning can happen, regardless of the perceived roadblocks. This is the one that can kill it, however. If there isn't the resolve from a group of school leaders who are dedicated to seeing it happen, it will always be passed by more "pressing" issues of the day.

What You Need to Know:
1. There are several districts in Iowa that are currently developing online courses or are in plans to develop courses. Your efforts would not be alone in the state.
2. To help prepare the districts for teaching online, the AEAs have developed a module on Online Instructional Design. This module is designed to be a 45-hour (3-credit) course, facilitated locally in a district, where teachers collaborate face-to-face in learning teams, online in online communities, and individually as they build an online course. The topics in the module include
• Guiding Principles to Online Education
• Online Course Orientation, Policies, and Structure
• Objectives
• Assessment
• Instructional Strategies
• Resources, Teachnologies, and Copyright
• Online Facilitation
• Putting it all Together
3. The AEAs and several Urban school districts have teamed together to write an ARRA grant for online learning. This grant will provide funds for online content, courses, and professional development, all of which will build the capacity in the state to teach online. The efforts of the grant will work to build a statewide system of courses, shared between districts, available for 9-12 students.
4. There are other professional development offerings available right now. Here are 3 online license renewal/graduate credit courses in online pedagogy:
• Technology for Online Instruction: Moodle (2 credits - May 3-June 6)
• Technology for Online Instruction: Adobe Connect Pro (2 credits - June 21-July 26)
• Online Learning Instructional Design (2 credits - July 5-Aug 8)

Where to Start:
1. Become an Advocate. If you the school leader do not vouch for the importance of online learning, it will not happen
2. Have Conversations. Just like with starting a 1:1 initiative, moving a school to teach online takes many informal conversations before you can have formal ones. Visit with your most influential teachers, your technology personnel, your curriculum director.
3. Get connected. See Arlan & Evan's contact info below.
4. Get your early adopters going. The schools that are the most successful identify those 1-2 teachers who are willing to learn on their own and try something brand new. Get those teachers inspired and then get everything else out of the way. Piloting a successful course not only gives other teachers an example of how it can be done, it allows you to look for the logistical issues to offering online courses and it begins your marketing of your courses before you have large numbers.
5. Get informed. Many resources to read about effectiveness in online learning. It is not the same as face-to-face learning. Below are resources to get started.
6. Plug in. Have teachers take a course online to get a feel for how it works and see the benefits of learning in that manner. Connect with other schools and school leaders looking to use online learning. And start selling your vision to your local community, touting the benefits it will bring your community.
7. And now... Plan. Now its time to start looking at technical hardware and the logistics of setting up courses.

Resources and Information:
• Evan Abbey - AEA Project Manager for Online Learning - eabbey@aea11.k12.ia.us
• Arlan Thorson - School Liaison for Iowa Learning Online - athorson@iowalearningonline.org
• Power Point presentation
• Sloan Consortium 2008 Report on K-12 Online Learning
• Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies by U.S. Department of Education (2009)
• National Primer on K-12 Online Learning by North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL) (2007)
• Keeping Pace - an annual review of state-level policy and practice (2008)
• Changing Face of Education in Iowa - Evan's blog

Online Learning at the Iowa 1:1 Conference

This Wednesday, I will be presenting at the Iowa 1:1 conference from 1:30-2:30 on online learning. Here's the info:

Title: Teaching Online in a K-12 Setting
Description: For districts looking to incorporate online learning in their curriculum. Will overview current online learning initiatives in the state and information on planning, professional development, and technology support.

The session is geared for both administrators and would-be online instructors. We will discuss the Iowa ARRA grant which will provide resources and training for schools on online learning--something every administrator should know about. We will also look at how schools are using online learning in Iowa currently and at a plan to get your district started.

I will see you there!

Statewide Project Manager

A quick tidbit: last Friday I accepted a position as the AEA Project Manager for Online Learning. I will be working with all the AEAs in the state to develop online learning and professional development opportunities. This is a great opportunity for me and my family.

The subject matter of this blog won't change much. It will still focus on the same blend of topics: leadership and school change for the 21st century, online learning, 1:1 initiatives, 21st century skills, and of course, the Iowa Core Curriculum. If anything, I should have more access to highlight great things that are happening in Iowa schools right now.

In the meantime, if you have a chance, you can complete the survey below. The information gathered from the survey, though informal, will help serve as a datapoint for my future work.

Learning = Fishing

At Heartland, we are putting into effect learning teams, which are similar in principle to professional learning communities (PLCs). The teams afford our consultants the opportunity to learn from other consultants in areas that they prioritize, making them better at their profession.

As any administrator that has tried to institute PLCs can attest (or, anything new, for that matter), change isn't embraced by everyone, even when it directly benefits their autonomy. For many, it is an opportunity, but for others, it is a mandate that they don't have time for...

Wait a second. Learning is a mandate. And some educators have a problem with that?

Well, that's not quite fair. In visiting with some of those who had some concerns, it isn't that they have a problem with learning, per se. They just feel they learn quite well with their current routine.

Unfortunately, that's not what the research in adult learning says. And the difference is perhaps best illustrated with a metaphor. Learning is like fishing.

1. You can't learn much if you don't get off the shore. Learning is an active process, requiring effort and initiative. If you wait for the fish to come to you, you might get lucky and have something wash up next to your feet. But it isn't the effective way to do it; get in a boat and go navigate the big lake. If I told you to go learn as much as you could in one day, you wouldn't do what you normally do in a day. You would change your routine.

2. Learning isn't just quantity, but also diversity. Some beginning fishers like to go to the same hole and pull out perch after perch just to say they caught 50 in one day. There is nothing wrong with catching a large haul every once in a while, but you can't do that all the time. As fishers become more sophisticated, they realize that a diversity is important--bass, crappie, and then walleye, and even muskie.

3. Learning is organic, not systematic. I went through all the checklists of "how to fish" with my kids, be it how to bait, how to cast, how to hold the line, etc. It didn't necessarily lead to catching fish, and that is frustrating to seven-year-olds. Many learners go through the same frustrations. I did the steps someone told me to learn algebra, or to grow tomatoes! What they don't realize is learning must be done multiple times in a variety of ways to be internalized, and there is no systematic schedule to it.

4. Diversity of learning requires different locations. Move that boat around. Put the line deeper. Or in other words, check out different sources of information. Use different tools to acquire information. Including ones you haven't tried before.

5. Diversity of learning requires different times. Saying to educators, "the time you will learn is during this once-a-month, two-hour professional development session" is like saying to the fish, "the time I'm catching you will be at 2:00 in the afternoon". That isn't necessarily when you are ready to fish, or when fish are ready to be caught. Adults must have access to learning at all times in an ongoing basis to truly be most effective.

6. Diversity of learning requires casting your widest net. Some during our sessions were slightly upset that they couldn't choose to work with those that they were most comfortable working with for their learning teams. But, the reality is people don't learn as much from those who they are closest to, much like you don't always want the fish that are right next to the boat. People learn more from those farther away.

As an analogy, fishing illustrates what George Siemens describes as connectivist learning, how adults learn best in today's age. We don't learn by prescribed times, locations, sources, people, and methods. We learn instead by a diversity of practices and by creating a wider network with more nodes. Wider networks mean learning can come at any time and not always when one is expecting it.

But to create wider networks, we need to seek out new sources, tools and people. And, that includes people we don't know. Developing our own personal learning networks to fully utilize the tools of today. And embracing online communities to interact any time, pace, and place.

Conversations with Vic Jaras

Vic has been busy recently, working on E2T2, ARRA, as well as creating partnerships with Google. He had a chance to share information with the Heartland area tech coordinators this past Thursday. Here are some of the things he shared.

• He will be conducting a statewide webinar on October 7 for E2T2 (and will have a follow up session in Cedar Rapids and Council Bluffs). The RFP's deadline is Nov. 24. He also has put together a set of FAQ's on the DE website to help answer questions about the submission process.

• While E2T2 and ARRA use the same guidance structure, they are two separate funding opportunities with their own set of rules. Vic mentioned that ARRA will have more transparency requirements and faster reimbursement cycles than E2T2. Also, the state's media service directors met in September and are looking to invest a bulk of their ARRA dollars into online learning. This could help pave the way for some statewide funding of instructional design positions, some additional purchased content, or some opportunities for local districts to reimburse teachers who create online content.

• Speaking of which, the DE continues to emphasize the need to create online content that would be available for emergency situations. Vic is looking into agreements for temporary telecom assistance should a disaster befall a district, and having a repository of online content could assure that instruction continues, come tornado, flooding, or flu. Both Vic and I will be presenting on online education at Monday's Risky Business conference.

• Finally, Vic has worked with Google to develop a partnership. For Iowa schools, they will have free access to enhanced accounts of Google Earth, as well as Google Sketchup, a 3-D development tool allowing students to create in Google Earth as a virtual development. Google has set up a train-the-trainer day Heartland will be hosting (on October 1). Vic mentioned representatives from each AEA will be there, as well as some LEA representatives. After that date, registration codes would be available for schools.

Fall Online Courses in Leadership, Technology

A quick look at the courses I'm offering online this fall & winter:

Leadership, Technology & 21st Century Schools (3 cr. - Nov 9-Jan 29)

Course Description: Scott McLeod argues: "Without leadership, the great and wide-spread change our schools need cannot take place. Unfortunately, the people in charge of leading school organizations into the 21st century often are the least knowledgeable about the 21st century."

In this course, participants will examine and discuss the changes necessary for schools. They will develop their own personal technology skills and analyze frameworks for implementing a digital curriculum in their buildings. They will examine the role leadership plays in this process. And, they will then improve their professional practice by developing their own action plan.

The work in this class builds on the McREL traits of leadership, but participation in previous Leadership Academies is not a pre-requisite.


Developing Personal Learning Networks (1 cr. - Nov. 9-22)

Course Description: Professional development in the 21st century is changing towards Professional Learning Communities and Personal Learning Networks (PLNs). In this online course, we will look at George Siemens' connectivism learning theory and the implications for the way educators learn. We will examine how to structure systemic change to move your individual (or district) practice towards a PLN, utilizing social media tools such as Delicious, RSS, Twitter, and Nings to improve practice


Presentation Zen: Improving Your Approach to Presentations (1 cr. - Oct 12-25)

Course Description: We've all been there: a presentation that isn't working. The message gets lost, the audience becomes distracted, or altogether disinterested. Otherwise known as death by power point.

We use presentations to communicate, share ideas, teach, and persuade. Unfortunately, many of the practices we are taught for presentations actually hurt our objectives. Bulleted lists, sound effects, and small graphics take our audience's attention off our intended meaning and put it on the presentation itself.

This course helps participants understand and practice the principles of "Presentation Zen" outlined in Garr Reynolds' book. It allows participants the chance to reflect on their own professional practice and communication skills, and improve their own presentations for better meaning. And it puts the focus back on presentation as a process of teaching and learning.


Technology for Online Instruction: Moodle and Adobe Connect Pro (2 cr. - Jan 11th-Feb 14th)

Course Description: With the demand for online instruction rising, both in K-12 and for professional development, instructors need support in understanding the available tools and their appropriate pedagogical use.

This course will help teachers feel comfortable using Moodle and Adobe Connect Pro, equipping them with tools and skills to create and deliver online instruction. Participants will develop content in the Moodle platform, including activities, forums, lessons, and assessments. Participants will also create and facilitate webinars in Adobe Connect Pro, using desktop sharing and interactive features. Skills and concepts will be analyzed in context of the Iowa Online Teaching Standards and Course Standards.

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All the courses will take place online. Graduate credit will be made available through Drake University. Interested participants can register at the Heartland Professional Development Catalog.

Also, to see other online AEA Professional Development offerings for teachers, including from different AEAs in Iowa, check out the Iowa Learns website.

Heartland Curriculum Network 4/3 - Norwalk's Moodle

We experimented with a new format at yesterday's curriculum network meeting for our area's schools, allowing more breakout sessions. I facilitated the session that featured Norwalk Community School District highlighting their innovative use of Moodle.

Mark Crady (8-9 principal and curriculum director) led the discussion, and was joined by the district technology director Tim Geyer, as well as Jodi Irlmeier and Greg Gardner, two lead teachers for their initiative. Norwalk is in their first year of full implementation at the 6th thru 9th grade level, and next year the high school will be implementing as well. Each teacher uses the Moodle platform to, at a minimum, post course syllabi, worksheets, and other handouts, and maintain a calendar of events that students and parents can check. However, both Greg and Jodi showed several other applications of Moodle into the classroom, including a demonstration of the online quiz module Moodle offers.

Some of the highlights from their presenation:

• It was mentioned several times they have already seen student achievement gains. Some of that is better grades, which can result from better organization for students via Moodle. However, the sense from the Norwalk team was that their standardized test data are beginning to reflect the benefits Moodle brings to their curriculum.
• Mark became an advocate when he "first saw the power to change instruction." Moodle was optimal for them because it promotes a constructivist pedagogy. They liked the flexibility it offers students; students were able to log-in and work with groups during separate study hall times and at home without losing productivity time.
• The plan for year one of implementation was to have teachers use Moodle as a repository. Year two's plan is to use Moodle to deliver content, using the lesson and workshop modules.
• Norwalk has been very deliberate about the roll-out process. They initially supported teachers with a tech cadre to get the early adopters started on it the previous year, and then have continued the support with "Moodle Mondays", where those lead teachers serve as support for other teachers in Moodle development. Each member of the team mentioned "Moodle Mondays" was critical to their success.
• They further supported teachers with purchasing the book Using Moodle by Jason Cole. (Tim seemed a bit distressed when I mentioned that the book was now available as a free download... I too am out the money).
• They have tied the Moodle directory into their Active Directory and Open Directory (their authentication systems to get onto their computer network), allowing for a simple system.
• They would like to tie their Infinite Campus directory into Moodle so that a parent's login information can be used in Moodle as well, but this is not as easy. For the meantime, parents can login and check assignments and handouts in the Moodle course, but will log in separately to check grade in Infinite Campus.
• On that note, the gradebooks are not tied together either. Most teachers do not use the Moodle gradebook since parents cannot check it, but rather take the scores gathered from assignments and manually enter them into Infinite Campus.
• Mark mentioned they have had great parental buy-in. Parents love the communication and the online access to retrieve files, as well as the ability to assure that students are working on and turning in homework (they can watch over the student's shoulder if need be).
• One key factor for Norwalk, they found that 92% of their families had internet use at home. While they have made access available at school and the public library for those who don't, that small percentage of students without access has definitely helped deployment.
• Just like all technology, there are pros and cons they have found. They are very excited about the free plug-in Hot Potatoes, which offers a more robust quiz program. Greg gave us a demonstration of a quiz that he gives, arguing that it allows student the ability to check their work, re-take any number of times that he sets, and get immediate feedback. Students don't "throw their quiz away immediately like a paper quiz."
• They did not like the gradebook or the survey tool ("absolute garbage" Tim mentioned). And, they immediately turned off the chatting feature. Dialogue is better served in the courses' forums.

Norwalk has been helped immensely by Pella Community School District (which has been implementing Moodle as a supplement for their curriculum for several years) and their technology advisor Eric Pingel. In addition to Pella and Norwalk, several other districts locally are either using Moodle (West Des Moines, Ankeny) or actively looking into it (Waukee, Johnston, Gilbert).

One suggestion made by Tim that has gained some inital interest is to develop a local Moodle users group, one that could share ideas, resources, even possible curriculum that would involve local schools that are interested. Contact me if you are interested in taking part in a potential users group.

IAAE - Day 2

Day 2 of the conference was slimmed down for me. I missed Dr. Richard Kay's presentation having some other meetings to attend. And, the second day of the conference ended at noon.

SIOUX CITY CSD
I did, however, get to meet and listen to Layne Henn, technology director for Sioux City Community School District. Sioux City is experiencing what Des Moines Public is experiencing: higher number of dropouts and public pressure to do something about it (this pretty well describes all the Urban 8).

Layne has spearheaded the district's movement to develop online content. Much like other large districts, they have several layers of alternative settings, be it alternative schools or summer schools or such. Layne mentioned that the biggest weakness he sees in their traditional system is every time a student changes placement, they in essence have to start over.

Sioux City has looked at having other vendors (in fact, they use PLATO software for credit recovery). But Layne mentioned there was a very big drawback to using PLATO, or other vendor products. None of them came with the teacher component so badly needed in alternative education. As Layne said, they are basically electronic packets that alternative schools have traditionally used. And in his words, nothing tells the student "We really don't care about you" more than "Here's another packet".

Well said. Online education offers some great opportunities to students at-risk, but one of the main reasons they are at-risk to begin with is the perception that their school does not care about them.

Sioux City is closely adopting Iowa Learning Online's model, which incorporates that teacher component. However, unlike ILO, they are trying to do so not in a "course" model, but rather a "credit recovery" model, which is more difficult to do.

HEARTLAND'S SHELTER CARE
At Heartland, we have a similar desire to make online content, but for a different reason. Our Shelter Care alternative placement program serves students on a transitional basis (usually moving from or to another temporary placement, such as another shelter or a juvenile detention placement). With having students on a limited basis, Shelter Care teachers have the dilemma: How do you provide quality education that won't be lost once students transfer to a different place?

Shelter Care, under the direction of Steve Iverson, like Sioux City, is looking at online content in a component recovery model, but something that would be teacherless. And a lot less expensive than the annual fees of PLATO.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Susan Walkup, At-Risk Educational Consultant for the DE, is coordinating a statewide effort to develop online content, which was announced at the conference. Using grant money, the DE is gathering teachers from different districts to develop content in four areas: 9th grade English, American History, Algebra 1, and a science course to be named. Also, students in placements across the state would use a common student information system to track registration information.

Some of the details, including how the courses will be coordinated and structured, are yet to be determined. Also, it is interesting to see how other district efforts, such as Sioux City and Heartland's Shelter Care can fit in with this system.

And, this is where we need to go. Much like the Virtual High School, we need to look at a consortium of offerings, where we can have multiple partners developing content, all that is aligned to the Department of Education's efforts, which would be at the center of the consortium. And, the offerings could be in a variety of formats, all along the spectrum of online offerings.

There already are many partners involved in addition to the three above. The Iowa Association of Alternative Education, Iowa Learning Online, Kirkwood High-School Distance Learning, and DMACC all are eager to provide more offerings. And there certainly is plenty of room at the table for other districts. But the first step is to decide what the goals and parameters of the consortium would be. And, those discussions need to happen soon as different organizations are looking to create content.

Still, an exciting time to be in online learning for alternative education.

Game-based online courses

Just a couple thoughts from day 1 of the Iowa Association of Alternative Education conference

• Attendance at the conference is definitely down from previous years, no doubt due to budget crunches and moratoriums on travel. I would say offering a virtual conference through the state's new 500-seat virtual Adobe Connect Pro meeting room is something to be looked into.

• While the numbers aren't big (I only had 19 in my breakout session), there was quite a bit of passion about the possibility of online. We hope to build on that during today's 11:00 conversation about sharing resources.

• Scuttlebut seems to be that the legislative study bill for statewide online education for students at-risk isn't going anywhere. Representative Roger Wendt, chair of the education committee, made no mention of the bill during his update, and there appears the possibility that the lobbyists for the outside vendors stopped pushing once they saw ILO already exists.

• Most interesting to me was seeing a preview of Florida Virtual School's new game-based online course. They are partnering with a group called 360Ed, who features some past software engineers and designers from EA Sports.

The preview was of a course called "Conspiracy Code", which is a game built on the following premise: Some would-be felons are trying to re-write America's history and have managed to infiltrate the country's institutions in many different ways. As the chief detectives (and of course, you have special powers to maneuver past the bad guys, so there is some gaming in the game), it is your job to find the inaccuracies, research the truth, and then restore the truth in the game. The makers advertise that it is project-based work that takes the American History course and uses student curiosity to drive the curriculum.

My first impression of the game was that it looked a little young for high school students and that its story line might be a bit contrived. It is tough to tell from what is basically a movie trailer. But, that might be expected for the first foray into game-based education.

This leads me to two conclusions. There will be more, not less of this in the not-so-distant-future (and given that Iowa is still in the past when it comes to online education, this means we have further to go). And second, the chief conversation will be around how the theme for the game can be comprehensive enough to be the full curriculum for a course (not just a supplement or enrichment). I loved playing Carmen Sandiego when I was a kid, and playing it definitely didn't hurt my understanding of American geography, pop culture, and history. However, it definitely isn't comprehensive... it doesn't cover everything you need to know. I see this as a tough challenge. We'll see with more courses how tough this really is.

Iowa Association of Alternative Education State Conference

The Iowa Association of Alternative Education holds their state conference today and tomorrow at the Des Moines Airport Holiday Inn. Keynote speakers include Harvey Alston, Dr. Richard Kay, and a legislative update from state representative Roger Wendt. The title for this year's conference is "The New Agenda: Learning Alternatives for Everyone".

One of the big topics at this year's conference will be online education for Iowa's alternative school students, not just because of potential stimulus money or the current study bills on online education feasibility. There seems to be genuine groundswell movement, within some school districts, some placements, the department of education, and IAAE to bring online offerings to students at-risk.

There will be several sessions on online education, including one by me today at 10:00. If you are attending, look me up. I'd love to connect with you and discuss how online education can help your school.

Upcoming Professional Development Courses for Online Education

Heartland will be offering a sequence of courses to help would-be online instructors become proficient and comfortable teaching online. Here is a quick overview of the courses:

1. Technology for Online Instruction: Moodle and Adobe Connect Pro (2 cr. - May 11th-June 14th)
Course Description: With the demand for online instruction rising, both in K-12 and for professional development, instructors need support in understanding the available tools and their appropriate pedagogical use.

This course will help teachers feel comfortable using Moodle and Adobe Connect Pro, equipping them with tools and skills to create and deliver online instruction. Participants will develop content in the Moodle platform, including activities, forums, lessons, and assessments. Participants will also create and facilitate webinars in Adobe Connect Pro, using desktop sharing and interactive features. Skills and concepts will be analyzed in context of the Iowa Online Teaching Standards and Online Course Standards. The course is delivered online, in both synchronous and asynchronous delivery.

2. Developing Professional Learning Networks (1 cr. - June 8th-17th)
Course Description: Professional development in the 21st century is changing towards Professional Learning Communities and Personal Learning Networks (PLNs). In this online course, we will look at George Siemens' connectivism learning theory and the implications for the way educators learn. We will examine how to structure systemic change to move your individual (or district) practice towards a PLN, utilizing social media tools such as Delicious, RSS, Twitter, and Nings to improve practice.

3. Introduction to Online Teaching and Learning (2 cr. - July 6th-Aug. 9th)
Course Description: Online education not only represents the future of K-12 education and professional development, it represents the present. This introduction to teaching and learning online gives would-be instructors, local facilitators, administrators, technology support staff, and general education teachers an overview experience of that learning forum.

This course focuses on the principles and best practices of successful online facilitation on any learning platform. Participants will practice specific online communication skills with multiple tools, manage assessments and feedback appropriately, analyze and solve problems, and create a plan of action for teaching their next online course. Through class activities, practice course simulations, collaboration with colleagues, and dedicated coaching from the course facilitator, participants will gain the necessary tools to nurture a reflective online learning community.

4. Web 2.0 Tools for the 21st Century Classroom (2 cr. - June 15th-July 24th)
Course Description: Web 2.0 provides critical no-cost tools to meet the demand for easier and more efficient ways of teaching and learning. Investigate core concepts of how Web 2.0 is impacting learning environments. Explore how to improve instruction using new technologies such as wikis, blogs, photo and video tools, podcasts, bookmarking, and other emerging technologies. Develop effective teaching tools that capitalize on students’ interest in technology improve their academic performance. Activities are designed using educational technology to meet learning goals in 21st century skills such as critical thinking; collaborative problem solving; information, media, and technology skills; as well as higher levels of achievement in core academic subjects.

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All the courses will take place online. Graduate credit will be made available through Drake University. Interested participants can register at the Heartland Professional Development Catalog.

Also, we will have available in the fall a new course entitled Assessment and Instructional Design in an Online Course (2 cr.).

100 Posts and Counting...

I see from my odometer that this is my 100th post in this blog, which in the grand scheme of things, is just a drop in the bucket (many edubloggers have several thousand posts).

Rather than look back on the posts, I thought I'd share with you the things I'm working on currently, and how they'll benefit Iowa schools:

1. I help facilitate the statewide online council, representing each AEA and the DE. The council is working on ways to provide more and better online training for teachers. Right now, we are working on a central clearinghouse registration system, so that we share resources across the state. Our hope is that if I'm a teacher in Keokuk, I could take an online course from a teacher in Sioux City, who might be the expert on that topic. Geography won't matter anymore.


2. To further help with that, the online council is developing online teaching and course standards to ensure quality. We have a working draft completed with standards based on the Iowa Teaching Standards, NACOL standards, SREB standards, among others.


3. Those standards are leading towards better training for would-be online instructors. We are developing courses off those standards to help all educators--instructors, facilitators, administrators--become more confident in their knowledge of online education. Since we are going statewide together, you will see quality courses.


4. We're also expanding the definition of what online training means, beyond the Moodle course. In addition to the mandatory trainings Heartland offers, we are adding training for Web IEPs and Positive Behavior Supports.


5. The council is also looking at developing statewide online communities to help teachers connect with other teachers, and to build their own personal learning networks. Our goal for these communities is to have them available in the fall of 2009.


6. Just as important, I am working with the Iowa Association of Alternative Education, which is starting to look at the ways online education can benefit the student at-risk. Just as we hope to provide training for online professional development instructors, we also hope to provide training for online K-12 teachers and facilitators. For those interested, I will be presenting at the 2009 Spring Conference on March 26 & 27.


7. I'm also working locally with a couple districts on their 1:1 initiatives and implementation of the digital curriculum, including providing training and support for instructors as they digitalize their curriculum. Other districts interested, feel free to contact me.


8. I also serve as a member of the Iowa Core network, specifically their new technology/21st century skill team. Our goal is to help crystallize what the nebulous "21st century skills" look like in the classroom and help schools discover the tools to get there. We've just started work in this area... we have a long ways to go.


9. On a local level, I provide training for AEA staff, area Superintendents, and the area Curriculum Network, as all three groups are looking at social media and web 2.0 tools.


10. And as you know, I will continue to blog. My goal for the blog is to both highlight and facilitate change in Iowa's schools and to provide a discussion of the resources to do so. I'm on the look-out to continuously improve the blog to do that.

And with that, I'll start on my next 100...

Online boom in economic crunch?

Blogger Judy Breck postulates that online learning will be the economic alternative in our impending recession.

Perhaps this is something that should be in our minds as Governor Culver looks to make cuts and "scoops" out of the budget. Unfortunately, we don't have the infrastructure (the networked platform, the online teacher workforce, the curriculum) to serve the need.

We should have worked on this two years ago. We need to work on this now.

2020 Vision

We have 12 short years to the year 2020, a year that serves as more than a play on words with a future vision. In 2020, our current first graders, including my son, will be we graduating. We will be starting to see a new generation to enter our schools (post-"Net Generation"). We will be far enough removed from the end of NCLB to look back and fully assess its worth. And given the rate at which information and technology is expanding, a personal computer will begin to have the knowledge capacity of a human brain.

There are some things we can safely predict about the year 2020 in Iowa. Higher percentages of our students will be living in the Urban 8, meaning we'll likely have fewer total districts, requiring more distance learning opportunities. Quite a few of the top jobs in demand in that year don't exist today. And, those jobs will rely on the blending of technological advances with the advances in other seemingly limitless fields, like genetics or nuclear physics.

It goes without saying that the needs of students are changing; contrary to what you see in your local classroom, we aren't preparing students for the industrial age anymore. There are no longer set answers, set skills to master in order to be employable, like there was in work places of the past. Set patterns, answers, and skills can be learned by computers who can perform more and more of those tasks. Replacing it are those things that are not set, the solving of unclear problems and the mastery of soft skills, of consensus-building and relationship forming, and most importantly of teamwork and leadership. These are the mysterious "21st century skills" that the Iowa Core is emphasizing, in addition to math, reading, science, and social studies.

THE IOWA CORE: PART OF THE SOLUTION

There is still much work to be done on the state's vision of what those 21st century skills look like, how they are best implemented in the classroom. The Iowa Core is, after all, a curriculum, a system of standards, benchmarks, and indicators to be achieved. It is not a pedagogy of instruction, and although Iowa Core training for district leadership teams right now are emphasizing work such as Balanced Leadership and Instructional Decision Making, there is still a lot left open to individual districts, which is both good and bad.

I am very encouraged by the work on the Iowa Core and its call to ramp up the instruction, but a new set of standards and more push for the bevy of instructional initiatives alone won't get us there. In spite of where we are heading right now, we need more. We need more if we are going to meet our vision of providing a world-class education to all of our students so they can compete in the global economy.

THE PLAN WE NEED:

Enter Scott McLeod's plan for the 21st century learning system. I've included the graphic below:
Scott identifies 6 categories in order to create an educational world that mimics the world students will be competing in, not in the industrial age, but in the network age.

• Curriculum that supports 21st century skills- Which, is the attempt of the Iowa Core. Iowa is in a unique situation. Great change will be coming through state legislative mandate, and it will have an effect, just as NCLB did. Hopefully, the effect will be a positive one on instruction. But, I will judge the value of the Iowa Core Curriculum by its ability to bring about the Digital Curriculum.

• P-20 coordination and articulation- Because while the world has shifted to make college a necessity to compete, the educational system hasn't shifted nearly as much. There is still a communication divide between K-12 and 13-20.

• A computerized device in every student's hand- You know how I feel about this.

• Robust statewide online learning infrastructure- Ditto

• Broadband access for all those computers- Or else, the computerized device is a glorified graphing calculator.

• Preservice and inservice training for teachers- And ultimately, this is where we will succeed or fail, how tangible and meaningful can we make our training on 21st century skills be for teachers?

We have to get there. This is the "more" that we need. Having these things in place, there will be no mistake about it; we are not just setting ourselves up for another initiative that will go away, another binder that will soon collect dust on the shelf. We will have given students and teachers the actual tools (both technology and training). All will take notice.

HOW WE GET THERE

Scott identifies three important supports to get there: Legislative policy and funding, ongoing monitoring and evaluation, and a mindset shift. And, there is both hope and despair here. Legislative policy in Iowa hasn't moved at all here (which can best be shown by what NACOL had to say about Iowa's online developments), and this is a bleak time to look for funding. But in this bleakness, our businesses have an opportunity to build the shining star educational system in this post-Lehman Brothers economy, where an opportunity exists for new players (read: Iowa companies) in the national scene. Despite what the closed secrecy of the Iowa Core's development would suggest, those businesses need a place at the planning table, as well as a piece of the financial responsibility to bring about this plan.

Monitoring and evaluation might seem the most formidable to seasoned veterans, but this is one area where Iowa has truly made progress in recent years. Administrators and district leadership teams alike regularly use data in their decision-making process now; developing a quality monitoring and evaluation process for this vision is not nearly as formidable as it was 10 years ago.

It is perhaps the mindset shift that is the most daunting to me. We need more than lip service to the reality that we need to change to meet the changing times. We need the sense of urgency with the hope of possibility. We can do this and we must. How do we make believers out of educators, lawmakers, and community members? This is our task.

MY ROLE

And so, I get to my role in bringing about the vision. I know my limitations; I don't have the levers to move lawmakers for legislation or for funding from businesses. But I'm not helpless, either. It is my goal to do the following:

• Lead a statewide partnership of agencies and school districts to create quality online education for students. This is the heart and soul of what my job is. I'm heading up several groups in the state to bring about that very task.

• Help shape the Iowa Core Curriculum to make sure 21st century skills represent the Digital Curriculum. My role in statewide Iowa Core development committees will hopefully drive that.

• Train educational leaders in the 21st century skills- The opportunities I have now to work with districts is just a start.

• Provide a working example of the Digital Curriculum- My top task is to work with some districts who, at a local level, can provide the items above in Scott's plan. I can provide the training and support, as well as the vision on the curriculum to make it happen.

What is your role?