Choosing online education: good policies will lead to better decisions about virtual learning options.

Online education recently has been receiving a lot of attention at the K-12 level. Some may see it as a remedy for school budgets that are overstretched. Others view it as another means for reaching and teaching students and teachers, and some view online course delivery as an alternative educational choice.

In fact, online education is simply another tool school leaders choose to use in the delivery of quality education. When making the decision to provide instruction online, administrators need to make choices that start with good policies. School leaders also must decide whether their districts should create their own online courses or buy existing online offerings. Also to be considered are standards for instructional design and course delivery, training of faculty and infrastructure and support.

Good planning on all of these fronts will ensure successful use of online education for students. Thomas Giblin, superintendent in East Lansing, Mich., and a veteran of online teaching and learning, reports positive feedback from the entire educational community. "Teachers feel a renewed sense of excitement after a successful online experience and often report dramatic improvements in their face-to-face classes," he says.

He believes the online course offerings would be "most attractive ... in small, rural or financially strapped school districts." Faced with ever-increasing expectations and dwindling budgets, Giblin adds, superintendents and their governing boards "quickly discover that a quality online experience can be an educational as well as an economic windfall."

Policy Formulation

Before a school district implements online education, policies to address potential areas of conflict need to be developed. These policies, not unlike the school handbook in a traditional school setting, will set the framework within which all online courses will operate.

A suggested set of policies should include:

* expectations for student attendance in online courses;

* how and when to grant credit for online courses;

* definition of when students are allowed to take an online course--as part of the school day or outside the school day. The policy also should address whether students may take a course online if the course is also available and taught by a teacher in a school district classroom;

* responsibility for student discipline in online courses. For example, if a student uses inappropriate language in an online course, a policy should be in place to define who is responsible for discipline, particularly if the online teacher is not an employee of the student's school district;

* expectations for teacher presence in online courses;

* extent of responsibility of the school for monitoring the online teacher, similar to the monitoring of regular classroom teachers, particularly if the online course and instruction are being provided by an outside vendor; and

* use of and credit for online professional development for teaching staff.

These policies address online education use by the school district and are appropriate whether the school district chooses to purchase online courses from an outside vendor or delivers online courses developed within the district using the district's own teaching resources. Should the district decide to develop and deliver its own online courses within the district, additional policies also should address teacher compensation for online course development and delivery, ownership of online courses, and district infrastructure and support requirements for online teacher training and online course delivery.

Make or Buy?

School districts may not have the necessary resources to develop their own online courses and instead may choose to license online courses and online course delivery. The decision to make or buy online courses for students or teacher professional development may come down to time and personnel resources in the short term. Over the long term, the cost of annual course licenses, vendor courses that do not entirely meet the district's curricular needs or district values, and lack of capacity to influence course design and delivery standards may lead a district to decide to develop its own online education resources.

In the short term, school district administrators should consider the timeline for incorporating online courses into the educational plan and the resources available to develop and support an online education initiative. A short timeline may preclude district development of online course curriculum, online teachers and online infrastructure, making the decision to buy a short-term necessity.

When researching the purchase or licensing of online courses, district administrators, as consumers, need to consider how vendor decisions about online course design, delivery and support will affect how well the purchase of online courses will work within their district's mission and educational values. Key questions in the following areas will help administrators better understand what makes an effective online course.

* Course design. Determine whether the courses were designed for students to self-pace through the curriculum or if the course is designed and delivered within a specified period of time. How is mastery of the course curriculum demonstrated? Are a variety of assessments available within the online course design? Are alternative means of course delivery and instruction available to meet a variety of student learning styles? Is the course design and delivery in compliance with IDEA and Section 508 of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act?

Online course design standards will affect the ease with which online courses can be integrated into a school district's educational offerings. The policies that will be developed in support of online education will help administrators determine how to incorporate online courses into their offerings and will guide them in deciding which vendor design standards align with their policies and practice.

* Course interaction levels. Determine the number of students that are expected to be part of an online course at any given time. Is the course designed to encourage student-student and student-teacher interaction? Are online discussions part of the course design and supported through the course delivery infrastructure? Is there an area within the online course where students engage in course discussions or do discussions occur outside of the online course space, perhaps through e-mail, phone conversations or instant messaging?

Also, what is the level of teacher facilitation and monitoring of online course discussions? Can district administrators review course interactions, particularly if there is a question about student attendance, participation or behavior in an online course? Can the administrator monitor or review the teacher participation in the online course, especially if questions arise about teacher attendance or online teaching performance as part of a teacher's annual performance review?

* Course completion rates. Course design and delivery standards can affect student engagement and completion in online courses. What percentage of students successfully complete an online course? How does the vendor measure successful completion?

In our seven years of online course design and delivery experience with the Virtual High School (www.goVHS.org), 90 percent of high school students taking a Virtual High School course successfully completed their online courses. In an industry where online course completion rates of 50 percent are considered acceptable, administrators should strive to formulate policies that will support higher completion rates and higher levels of student success.

* Course success rates. When reviewing online courses that prepare students for national exams like the Advanced Placement exam, determine the vendor's success rates. Online course vendors should attain the national pass rate of 60 perceent for all students taking the AP exam.

* Course delivery. How is the online course delivered? Are students expected to take the course at a certain time of the day (synchronous delivery) or can students connect to the online course at any time during the day or evening (asynchronous delivery)? The method and timing of course delivery will affect the time and resources needed by the school district to deliver the course to students.

Also, does the online course delivery put any additional requirements on the district's technical infrastructure? For example, courses that incorporate multimedia or streaming video may be "bandwidth hogs" to a school district with minimal bandwidth or inconsistent access to the Internet.

* Course support. What level of technical support is available within the course instruction or through the vendor to assist students with technical support issues? How quickly do students receive assistance once they have submitted a request for assistance? Who is responsible for technical assistance issues that are outside of online course issues?

For example, if a student is having difficulty accessing the online course because of the district's firewall, how is that determined? What level of assistance does the vendor provide to assist in the resolution of such an issue? Quick resolution of technical issues is key to the successful implementation of an online education program.

Resource Considerations

To develop and deliver online course offerings within the district, administrators will need to address the issues of development resources, technical resources and delivery resources.

* Development resources. Personnel resources must be identified and allocated to the online course development effort. Enough time must be set aside for course development and review prior to course delivery. Part of the online course development effort should include the development of the curriculum and design standards for online courses, which then will facilitate the review of the online courses against those standards, prior to the delivery of the courses.

Policies need to be implemented to determine payment for such online course curriculum, ownership of the online course curriculum, and terms and conditions for licensing to other districts or vendors. A plan to maintain the accuracy and timeliness of online courses also should be developed and resources budgeted for this ongoing effort.

* Technical resources. A course platform will need to be selected, purchased and installed, and online teachers will need to be identified and trained in use of the course platform. File servers will be needed for course delivery, and servers and Internet access will need to be available on a consistent basis for online students to be able to attend their online courses.

Also, security measures must be in place so that students are not able to visit inappropriate websites, and the online classes are protected from outsiders entering into the online courses. Information about students must be secured and online curriculum must not be altered by those without appropriate permissions for course revisions.

* Delivery resources. Online teachers need to receive professional development to teach effectively online. Administrators must determine what skills teachers need to teach online and determine what type of professional development is available for such skills development. Online teachers will also need appropriate technical resources for online course delivery, including hardware, Internet access and technical support.

Savvy Consumerism

To purchase or develop online courses that meet the needs of students, the district should define the standards it will use against which to measure the courses. No Consumer Reports exist for online courses so it is necessary for administrators to become savvy consumers. Some standards for consideration:

* Student role. What are the expectations for the student's role in the course? If the school's mission is to offer student-centered education, then online courses need to meet that standard. Student-centered online courses should foster an active, constructivist approach to learning, leading to student-to-student interactions as well as student-teacher interactions.

Some of the course design standards used by the Virtual High School in its student-centered online courses include a description of the course learning objectives; a clear description of expectations for student performance in the course; a variety of assignments with short, medium and long-range due dates within the course; an online course area in which students can submit their assignment and technical questions, where they receive responses to their questions within a reasonable amount of time; an online discussion area in which students can engage in monitored online discussions with their online classmates; and an online area in which students can review teacher feedback to their submitted work, can see their grades on assignments, and privately communicate with their teacher about any course issues.

* Teacher role: What are the expectations for the teacher's role in the online course? Should the teacher be present in the course every day? Does teacher presence mean the teacher is there on an "emergency" basis only, such as to answer questions about assignments? What is the teacher's role about feedback to students, facilitating student discussions and revising course assignments to meet individual learning needs and styles?

Virtual High School's standards for teacher participation in online courses include daily participation in the online course; response to student assignment and technical questions within 24 hours; appropriate and timely response and feedback to student assignments and discussions; facilitation of online team activities and group projects; facilitation of online course discussions through appropriate starter questions; and ability to revise course documents and assignments to meet individual students' needs.

* Teaching standards. If there is a teacher in the online course, is that teacher certified to teach within the discipline of the course? What professional development has the teacher received to teach online? Who is monitoring the teacher's online course delivery?

* Infrastructure and support standards. Will students have access to 24/7 technical support? What are the expectations for home access to the Internet? What are the technical requirements for the computer and network to enable successful participation in the online course? What demands will online course delivery put upon the student's computer and the school/home network? Will students have someone at their school to assist them with online course enrollment and participation? What level of technical expertise should students have to successfully participate in the online course?

The VHS site coordinator role was developed as a means of offering on-site support to online course students. VHS recognizes the critical role site coordinators play in the successful participation of students in online courses. They provide technical assistance, administrative support in online course registration, delivery of course grades to school administrators, and are also available to parents of online students as a resource for questions about student performance in online courses in which the teacher is not part of the school district.

* Communications. What is the process for students, parents and school administrators to communicate questions or concerns to the online course deliverer? Is there a review process for online course design and revisions based on student communications about course quality?

A New Believer

Online courses create opportunities for school districts to offer students courses that would otherwise not be available, to gain 21st century skills through online collaboration, online team activities and group projects, and to participate in learning communities with students beyond their bricks-and-mortar communities of learning.

Adding online education to a student's face-to-face experience can enable students to become a part of a global community of learners. In rural or small school districts with limited course offerings, this becomes especially important.

Teachers participating in online professional development have opportunities for online collaboration, becoming members of online communities of learning and support as teachers learn and implement new teaching skills, and opportunities to join with a virtual community of their peers.

Administrators considering online instruction within their districts face many decisions. Ultimately, much of the decision to provide online courses will come down to resource availability.

Starting an online initiative from scratch comes with many responsibilities and is much more resource intensive than collaborating with an existing online education provider. However, when selecting an online provider, districts must ensure that the provider's philosophy coincides with that of the district. Properly designed and delivered online courses can provide students and teachers with substantial benefits.

Jim Nolan, former superintendent in Wareham, Mass., has become a believer in the power of online courses after taking the VHS professional development course, "Teachers Learning Conference," and then developing and delivering several four-week online courses for administrators.

"All along I had questions whether or not an online course would be something of quality. From what I have read and done, I can honestly say if a course is designed correctly it can match or in many instances be better than a quality course face to face.

Resources

Liz Pape of Virtual High School and Jim Hirsch of the Piano Independent School District recommend these resources for school leaders who want to learn more about online courses:

American Library Association provides clear coverage of the TEACH (Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization) Act and its implications for creating online courses (www.ala.org/washoff/ teach.html).

Distance Education Clearinghouse is a virtual cornucopia of information on distance learning with specific focus on virtual courses (www.uwex.edu/disted).

Distance Learning Resource Network is the dissemination project for the U.S. Department of Education's Star Schools Program (www.dlrn. org). The K-12 section includes suggestions for finding online courses and criteria for determining which students would likely be successful candidates for online study.

National Education Association has published the "Guide to Online High School Courses" (www.nea. org/technology/onlinecourseguide.html).

Partnership for 21st Century Skills has produced two useful reports, "Learning for the 21st Century Report" and "MILE (Milestones for Improving Learning and Education) Guide for 21st Century Skills" (www.21stcenturyskills.org).

Southern Regional Education Board provides a comprehensive list of criteria for evaluating online courses, "Essential Principles of Quality: Guidelines for Web-based Courses for Middle and High School" (www.sret.sreb.org/criteria/ online.asp).

Liz Pape is chief executive officer of Virtual High School, 3 Clock Tower Place, Maynard, MA 01754. E-mail: [e-mail]