Shakespeare Festival - Collaboration for all Virtual Learners

My virtual teacher is planning an amazing week long collaborative experience for her virtual students. My face-to-face students are invited too. Here is an excerpt from her email that explained this excellent opportunity for me to witness some of her best work:

"I am attaching the Shakespeare Festival schedule for you. Unfortunately, many of the sessions are in the evenings so won't be as accessible for your class to participate, but the Tuesday session at 10:00am will be great. K. is an 8th grade Language Arts teacher who is wonderful! In fact, he has made a few recordings for the festival that we will be playing each day to let the students know about what is happening that day. In your training course (in Educator), I loaded the banner I have on my announcement page so you can see what it looks like and can access the link for the session. You will also see a link for the first day's recording that introduces the whole festival so you can see how we can use audio to engage kids. :) This is one of 6 recordings we will play over the next week.

If you would like to log into any of the evening sessions, that would be fine, too! Here is an Elluminate link...

You can also view the Shakespeare Festival page on the FLVS website. Beginning on Monday, you will be able to view our Shakespeare Idol contest pages and see some of the projects students have created."

I spoke with my teacher about the importance of collaborative online experiences for students with special needs. She said that although all students reap significant benefit from working together, students with reading disabilities seem to benefit most. They are able to learn through their areas of strength (speaking, listening) and gain perspective so they can better understand related text.

Gifted learners enjoy the detail of collaborative events like these. They enjoy the history and drama, as well as the related literary experiences.

I am very excited about our upcoming collaboration. I will report in full on Tuesday evening.

The Ends of the Bell Curve

I spoke with my virtual school teacher about her special education students. Her comment surprised me, but on reflection make perfect sense. She said approximately 30% of her 200 students have learning disabilities, some mild, some significant. Another 10-20% are academically advanced, probably gifted. We discussed how this group, about half of her students, lie at either end of the bell curve. They are the kids who don't fit well into traditional schools. They are the kids who fall between the cracks and sometimes under the bus.

My virtual teacher told me the story of a middle school girl who was retained twice before she entered virtual school. My teacher took the time to understand her problems, anxiety and the need for extra time, and find solutions. The child quickly went from being an academic failure, to a success story. She became an honor student and went on to college. Her story was published in a local newspaper and it was picked up the the Associated Press. This child, once a special diploma candidate, graduated with a regular diploma with honors.

Virtual school serves a need in our society. I'm sure there are many other success stories like this.

Exploring Ucompass Educator

Ucompass Educator, the online course management system used by the virtual school I'm observing, has a variety of interesting tools teachers can use to meet the needs of special learners. I spent an hour this evening exploring the Help Center, a page on the virtual school website that explains the features of the system, focusing on the management and communication tools that a teacher could use to support struggling learners and enrich the learning experiences of advanced learners. I'll describe those that are not features I've found on Moodle, the course management system I use in my face-to-face classroom, though I may not have discovered them yet.

In April, 2006, Educator added a feature that allows users to record audio or video, and create a podcast of those files. No special equipment is needed other than ordinary sound input and a web cam. The directions are clear, making the process a snap even for new users. This feature could be used by virtual school teachers to help struggling readers by providing oral interpretations of text or directions. Students with writing disabilities could create podcasts as assessment options. Gifted students can view supplementary, enriching podcasts related to traditional topics. They can also create podcasts as enrichment projects.

Educator study aids help students review vocabulary through the creation of a glossary, quizzes, and games. Matching games and hangman are fun ways for all students to review material. Struggling learners are able to uses these tools, over and over if necessary, to prepare for real tests. Gifted learners can explore higher level concepts with these tools too.

Teachers have access to a wide variety of tools to evaluate learners. This allows them to find a way to evaluate learners in ways that access strengths. Quizzes, multiple format exams, worksheets, surveys, practice tests, and rubrics are available to teachers to customize tests and reviews.

Most of all, however, the communication tools on Educator are the keys to differentiation. Educator's email, instant messaging, teacher-led and student-led grouping options, chatrooms, discussion boards, and whiteboard features give virtual teachers a variety of tools in their toolbox to meet special needs.

This course management system seems easy to use and flexible enough to allow teachers to meet the special needs of many special learners.

Virtual School Assessments and Multiple Intelligences

I like many of the assessment activities in the sixth grade language arts virtual school course; they're varied, choice driven, and appeal to multiple intelligences. For example, in the lesson "2.02 The Reading Readiness Road: School Day Blues," the main character in the story experiences a painfully embarrassing day at school. The Creative Reader Response assessment activity gives the student two choices: create and send an e-card to the main character or write her a friendly letter of encouragement. Both options have links to lists of specific directions (which has more links to definitions, galleries of cards, and guidelines for letter writing. I like like both choices because options empower learners and variety addresses multiple intelligences. This is another example of how virtual school meets the special needs of learners. The e-card assignment meets the needs of learners with strong spatial intelligences and the letter assignment meets the needs of linguistically oriented learners. The choice between the assignments allows students with learning disabilities choose the assignment that suits their areas of strength but still gives them the opportunity to practice important skills.

In our gifted program we use Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences as a guide for meeting the special needs of our students. It appears the virtual school also provides alternative assignments and assessments to meet the needs of the children they serve.

Armstrong, T. (1994) Multiple Intelligences: Seven Ways to Approach Curriculum. Educational Leadership (November), retrieved on 4/11/08 from http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/articles/7_ways.htm

Virtual School and Learning Disabilities

I met a young graduate student today who has dyslexia. She described the accommodations she receives from her university, which includes digital audio recordings of all text, extra time to complete assignments, and tutoring services when needed. She is a successful student who feels strongly that her accommodations are important ingredients of her success.

Our conversation made me wonder, how do dyslexic students fare in virtual school? I wondered how students with other specific learning disabilities manage virtual school courses. And from a teacher's perspective I wondered, how do virtual school teachers with hundreds of students have the time to provide accommodations like those my acquaintance receives in her face-to-face graduate classes?

In their article, "An assistive computerized learning environment for distance learning students with learning disabilities," Klemes, Epstein, Zuker, Grinberg and Ilovitch said 5 to 20% of people in the general population have learning disabilities. This is an astounding number of potential distance learning students. The authors found that many distance learning courses are text-centered so students with reading centered learning disabilities (like dyslexia) struggle. Although distance learning programs offer these students several advantages, such as extra time and assignment flexibility, many have difficulty processing the large quantities of text inherent in the courses.

Commercial products such as speech synthesizers help many students, but many others encounter flaws with the synthesizers. Few are available in languages other than English and many of synthesizers feature voices that are difficult to understand, cost a lot, and are time consuming (Klemes, J., Epstein, A., Zuker, M, Grinberg, N. & Ilovitch, T., 2006). The authors urge educational technologists to continue to explore technologies that support learning disabled students and to improve the quality of the tools that exist.

When I consider the sixth grade language arts class I'm observing, I realize it is rather text intensive. When my virtual school teacher returns from her well deserved vacation in a few days, I will ask her which technologies she uses with learning disabled students.

Klemes, J., Epstein, A., Zuker, M, Grinberg, N. & Ilovitch, T. (2006) An assistive computerized learning environment for distance learning students with learning disabilities. Open Learning (21)1, 19-32.

Local Virtual School Grabs Attention

The front page of our county's most popular newspaper highlighted the success of our local virtual school yesterday and my community is reacting. This afternoon three parents of my fifth grade gifted students waited outside my classroom after school to talk to me about it. Another called me during my drive home. The newspaper article grabbed their attention and gave instant credibility to this educational option for their soon to be middle school students. They wanted to know what I thought, yet ironically had no idea I am observing the same virtual school as part of a graduate course. I didn't reveal my internship, but I explained a personal perspective that evolved through my internship: virtual school would be an excellent full-time or part-time option for their gifted children next year.

Each of the parents spent hours online today exploring the program. The parents were stunned by the list of course options and simplicity of the program. They couldn't believe it's free. All were especially excited by the foreign language options and the opportunities for their children to work at advanced levels in mathematics, reading, and science.

For confidentiality reasons, I am unable to quote or cite the article in this blog. I can say that the article explained that virtual school classes are excellent choices for thousands of students whose regular schools don't offer advanced or unusual courses, or for students who want to work faster or slower than the students at their local schools. It explained that our virtual school offers more than 90 online courses for middle and high school students and serves over 54,000 students. Next year it expects to serve over 80,000 students.

Since the focus of my blog is how virtual schools meet the needs of special students, I was especially interested to read statements from students that said their virtual school teachers give them more attention than they got in regular school. These students reported that they are able to call their virtual teachers as late as 9PM or as early as 6AM with questions or concerns. One said she was recently given an extra week to work on material that was extra challenging, something she was never allowed to do in traditional school. Clearly, this program meets the needs of these special students. I feel confident they can also meet the needs of mine.

Online Course Designs for Special Students

As I review selected lessons in the sixth grade language arts virtual school course, many thoughts regarding course design cross my mind. Mostly, I'm struck by the overall quality and balance of the lessons. They're quick paced, interactive, and varied; they possess the attributes of high quality online courses suggested in the studies I've cited in my blog. The lesson assessments seem purposeful, engaging, and fun. My teacher explained how she uses course pacing (among other tools) to meet the special needs of students. High achieving students move twice as fast through the course than traditional students; struggling students move at a significantly slower pace. Most students are encouraged to take 36 weeks to finish the course, a pace that seems appropriate to me as I review the material and consider the skills of my own fifth grade students. It seems like most sixth graders would be well served by these lessons offered at various paces.

As I read through the material, I realized the lessons involve a lot of reading. Although novels are used elsewhere in the course, the students read all necessary material for these lessons on their computer screens. Directions, assignments, and stories must be independently read and comprehended by students. It's a significant quantity of text. I wondered how struggling sixth grade readers manage this challenge, for even at a slower pace, the independent reading demands seem significant. I wondered if struggling readers might benefit from having portions of the material read aloud to them as they read along on the screen. I wondered if students with attention issues may also benefit from such support. I know I sometimes enjoy hearing my online professors reading to me through PowerPoint presentations and prerecorded lessons. The audio portion helps me pay attention as I work my way through the lessons.

My virtual school teacher explained that most of her students, struggling or not, get a lot of adult support through the initial weeks of the course. Text is read aloud to students as they follow along on their screens. Students ask questions, and answers are provided immediately. As students adjust to the course design and the technologies involved, the adult support is gradually reduced. Some students get daily parental support through the adjustment period, some get daily teacher support, and many get both. Students with learning disabilities often need adult support throughout the course, just as they would in face-to-face courses.

I wondered if most online courses meet the needs of special students in a similar manner. In their article, "Online Course Designs: Are Special Needs Being Met?" authors Christy Keeler and Mark Horney examined how students with special physical and cognitive needs are served in online courses. The authors monitored how frequently 156 online design elements identified as critical for students with special needs appeared in 22 online high school courses. These elements were sorted into five general categories: accessibility, website design, technologies used, instructional methodologies, and support systems. Their "overall finding is that contemporary courses generally include design elements necessary to meet the basic needs of students with disabilities" (Keeler, C. & Horney, M., 2007).

Keeler and Horney made 12 recommendations for instructional designers including: "Increase the availability of audio elements," and "Include supportive text, but allow users to select which supports they want to access (e.g., no supports, ASL, definitions, graphics)," and "Encourage use of face-to-face support personnel who have experience working with individuals with special needs and who are knowledgeable about assistive technologies" (Keeler, C. & Horney, M., 2007).

Based on my observations of lessons in my virtual course, conversations with my virtual course teacher, and the recommendations listed in this study, it appears that the sixth grade language arts course meets the needs (or can be easily adapted to meet the needs) of special students with a wide range of special needs.

Keeler, C. & Horney, M. (2007). Online Course Designs: Are Special Needs Being Met? The American Journal of Distance Education, 21(2), 61-75.

Elluminate Live! A Critical Feature

As I complete the final four weeks of my internship with our local virtual school, I will continue to focus my observations on the methods distance educators use to meet the individual needs of learners. I want to understand all the ways virtual educators differentiate curriculum and instruction to help all children learn and achieve, especially those with special needs. I chose this area of focus because I teach gifted students in a full time, face-to-face magnet program. I want to know if virtual school courses provide gifted students with a viable alternative to gifted face-to-face classes, and if virtual schools provide them with options not available in brick and mortar classrooms. I am also very interested to learn how virtual teachers modify the pace and curriculum to meet the needs of struggling learners.

My virtual teacher loves Elluminate. It's a tool that helps her differentiate instruction when necessary and to give her students opportunities for synchronous learning. In her article "Harnessing the Virtual Classroom," Ruth Clovin Clark describes Elluminate as a synchronous e-learning environment that supports "the projection of still, animated, and video images; instructor-participant audio; sharing of desk-top applications; and interactions using instant polling, chat, and whiteboard marking tools" (Clark, R., 2005). My teacher uses these Elluminate features with all of her students quite regularly, and more frequently with students who seek or need extra attention.

My two experiences with Elluminate so far have been memorable, and I know I haven't seen all it can do yet. I felt surprised when my teacher presented video images (PowerPoint slides, drawings on the whiteboard, or sections of text) while she was talking to me over the telephone. She could see where I was placing my cursor and where I clicked on the screen. She could even see my face as I watched the screen through the video camera on my computer. I've never experienced anything like that before. Elluminate is far more fascinating than iChat or Skype because it has so many additional features.

Even though Clark's article described how Elluminate was used in a corporate training environment, her conclusions and recommendations certainly seem relevant to K-12 virtual education. Clark says the key creating effective virtual learning environments is to maintain student engagement; Elluminate does this quite well. She recommends that virtual teachers maintain a lively pace, visualize their content (avoiding "a wall of words"), incorporate frequent participant responses, and to use small group breakout rooms (Clark, R., 2005).

From what I've learned, it seems clear that Elluminate is a key component of my teacher's virtual classroom and an effective tool for differentiating instruction to meet the needs of all learners.

Clark, R. C. (2005). Harnessing the Virtual Classroom. T+D. 59(11).

Reflections of an Old Virtual Student

As I explore the sixth grade language arts lessons for the virtual class I'm observing, I keep wondering, "What do the kids think about this lesson?" I wonder if they think the lesson is fun, interesting, long, etc. I wonder if the work zips by quickly or if it feels like a chore. I wonder if their mom has to nag them to get busy and threaten to take away privileges if they don't finish promptly.

Then I thought about my life as a virtual student. I thought about the lessons I work through each week, and how I feel about them. I thought about the weeks I procrastinate and the weeks I work ahead. Like me, I'm sure virtual kids experience a natural ebb and flow of motivation and productivity.

Next year, after I finish my degree at UF this summer, I have the option of doing additional grad work in Boston. The program is full time, face-to-face, with no online options. My husband is working on a joint venture there, and he would love to relocate temporarily. Our last kid will start college in the fall (phew!) and the timing feels right. I'd have to take a leave of absence from my beloved job, buy a backpack, and probably ride an old, rusty bike around campus. As you can imagine, I have mixed feelings, especially at my age.

Surprisingly, one of my concerns is how I'll adjust to the demands of the face-to-face classroom. Though I've taken college courses throughout my adult life, the last time I had to drag myself to a brick and mortar college classroom was in 1998. I love online learning; it's perfect for me. I worry that I'll resent having to go to class and listen to lectures. I wonder if I'll skip class when the snow piles up. I wonder if working in groups, face-to-face with students I may not enjoy working with, will bug me.

So I decided to make a list of the things I love about online learning and the things I love about face-to-face classes. Maybe the list will help me decide. Probably not. Here it is:

Attributes of online learning (IMO)
I learn when I want to, not when the clock says I should
I can learn in my robe with wet hair and a cup of coffee (this is a big one)
I don't have to interact with classmates if I don't feel like it
I can interact with classmates if I feel like it
I like to write, and online classes are usually focused on writing
I get more personal attention from teachers than I ever had in any face-to-face classes

Attributes of face-to-face classes (IMO)
If you're lucky, you'll witness live unforgettable lectures by accomplished professors
You can meet and become friends with interesting students who live near you
You can become immersed in the campus experience and everything campus life offers
Riding an old rusty bike around campus is less sedentary than sitting on the sofa with a laptop

When I look at my list, I can't help but wonder if kids who have taken virtual classes feel the same way. Like everything in life, choices involve opportunity costs. Everything has pros and cons. Nothing is totally good or totally awful.

Though these decisions are hard, I can't help but think about how lucky this generation is because they have choices that I only found after I was 30. I'll let you know what I decide.

Virtual School and Isolation

I excitedly shared my newfound notion of the ideal sixth grade curriculum for one of our highly gifted fifth graders with a colleague the other day. His response shocked me. I suggested that the student combine the best of two worlds; he should enroll in three gifted classes at his local middle school (gifted math, gifted science, and a gifted literature elective) and then go to the school library to work on three virtual school classes at an accelerated pace (social studies, language arts, and foreign language) for the remainder of his school day. Our district does not offer gifted classes for middle school students in social studies or language arts and sixth graders are not allowed to take foreign language classes. I thought it sounded like a perfect schedule for an exceptional student, but my colleague gasped. "Just a kid and a computer?" he said, "No eleven year old should be taking entire courses over a computer. Think of all he'd miss!"

Before you gasp, let me explain this educator's perspective. This teacher is one of those extraordinary, theatrical teachers who loves social studies and language arts. His lessons are spellbinding. He is a time traveler who brings historical characters to life each day in his classroom. Costumes, props, and accented oratory are routine in his classroom. From his view, young adolescents need face-to-face interactions with their teachers and peers. He doesn't believe a virtual teacher or a virtual classroom could meet the needs of young adolescents in a comparable manner. And when I watch what he does, and how his students respond, I know, on some level, he's right. But teachers like him are rare.

Still, my lengthly conversations with my virtual school sixth grade language arts teacher tell me that she too is extraordinary. I doubt she uses costumes or accented oratory, but her props are incredibly cool. She uses Elluminate to connect with children on many levels . She is planning a virtual Shakespeare festival and online collaborative lessons with a middle school in London. Her passion for teaching is just as special.

I'm interested to hear what others think. Please post. In the meantime, I'm searching for research on this topic. There are a lot of articles on the pros and cons of distance education for older students, but I don't see much on fifth and sixth grade students.... yet. Let me know if you've found anything.

Distance Education for Gifted Students: Blending Classroom Instruction with Distance Learning Opportunities

Annual teacher evaluations begin this month in my district. For me, this is my annual period of serious reflection on my teaching. It's a time to gather data over time, work through a checklist of desirable teacher attributes, and prepare to defend my practices against an ever evolving rubric. As part of this process, I must explain and defend my practices for differentiating instruction to meet the needs of my students. Since I teach fifth grade in a magnet program for gifted students, one might think the academic needs of my students are homogeneous, but they are not. In fact, I believe the academic needs of my gifted students are almost as diverse as the "traditional" students taught by my colleague in the classroom across the hall. When I reflect on the tools and strategies I use to meet the needs of my students, one group of learners typically gives me pause. Those are my highly gifted, high achieving students (typically defined as students with IQ scores of 145 or higher and 4.0 grade point averages), which comprise about 25% of my students this year. Though these students report that they enjoy school and find it challenging, data suggests that these students aren't achieving the same learning gains as their peers. I worry that my curriculum based on acceleration and enrichment, doesn't fully meet their needs (particularly in their areas of strength). As I experiment with distance learning tools this year, I realize that online and distance learning technology has the potential and capacity to serve these students and compliment what I do in the classroom.

An interesting article describes programs where distance learning is combined with classroom learning to meet the needs of gifted students. I found it appropriate for this post because it describes programs that reach out to elementary gifted students like mine. The article is called "Distance Learning Opportunities for Academically Gifted Students" and it appeared in the Journal of Secondary Gifted Education in 2000. Authors Cheryll Adams and Tracy Cross studied three distance learning programs designed specifically for gifted children. The authors gathered data on the advantages and disadvantages of distance education for this population of students (Adams, C. & Cross, T., 2000).

The first program, and one I've read about before, is the A. Linwood Holton Governor's School in southwest Virginia. The geography and climate in rural southwest Virginia present challenges for gifted students who need to take advantage of Virginia’s leading state subsidized program for gifted students, Governor’s School. So the local school board developed a supplementary online program that allowed gifted high school students to take advanced courses that weren’t offered in their schools. During the summer months, these gifted students met face-to-face, to further develop learning communities. Interestingly, advanced younger gifted children who are too young for Governor’s School are invited to participate in online courses on a limited basis. The authors wrote, “By allowing them to take one or two specific classes offered by the Governor's School while still spending most of their day with their age mates, the students will receive the intellectual challenge they require to develop their full potential” (Adams, C. & Cross, T., 2000).

The second featured program, The Regional Electronic Magnet School for Re: Math and Science, was a project born from a US Department of Education grant in 1993. The program involved high school juniors from 15 schools in Massachusetts who demonstrated giftedness in the math and science. “The focus of the program was problem solving, logical thinking, and challenging strategies that could be pursued individually or with peers from other districts,” the authors wrote (Adams, C. & Cross, T., 2000). Among the many advantages of the program was that it “had a substantial and continuing impact not only on the region’s high schools, but on the elementary and middle schools as well” (Adams, C. & Cross, T., 2000).

The third program cited in the article, and the most interesting to me, is the Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities. This state-supported program provides a wide variety of services to gifted high school students (both residential and distance programs), and expanded its services to younger gifted students. Elementary students take distance learning classes in French, German, Spanish, and Japanese at two levels, one day a week for 50 minutes. Electronic field trips are broadcast via satellite from places like the Smithsonian Institute, a dinosaur dig in Colorado, and the Chicago Field Museum (Adams, C. & Cross, T., 2000) for young gifted students.

The authors conclude that despite the technical challenges of distance education (the article was written in 2000, so many such difficulties may be in the past) and the new teacher training needs related to technology tools, distance education provides gifted students with access to “ideas, information, and people otherwise unavailable through conventional means” (Adams, C. & Cross, T., 2000).

As I construct my plan to meet the needs of my highly gifted students in the future, I will undoubtedly search for appropriate distance education options to complement my classroom instruction. This article proves that viable programs for gifted children have existed for almost a decade. Certainly the options offered by our local virtual school and national programs like those described in this blog, are options my district should consider as we try to nurture and develop these extraordinary students.

Adams, C. M., & Cross, T. L. (2000). Distance learning opportunities for academically gifted students. Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, 11 (2).

Teaching Academic Integrity

Today my online teacher and I had an interesting discussion about teaching middle school kids the principles of academic integrity. We agreed that our fifth and sixth grade students have difficulty understanding the concept of intellectual property and thus struggle to know when they're taking it without permission. We also agreed that the process of learning the definitions plagiarism must begin during these years, with gentle but consistent guidance from teachers.

Most students conduct their first independent research projects in fifth or sixth grades. Prior to that, most of these students freely lifted information from books, electronic resources, teachers, parents, etc. and reported it without crediting a single source. Rarely are young students asked to provide bibliographies with reports or projects; a list of "books you used" is the typical extent of an elementary school reference list. Fifth and sixth graders become confused when they are suddenly asked to quote, cite, paraphrase, and list references. Definitions of plagiarism, Brainpop movies on paraphrasing, and lectures from teachers introduce the concept of intellectual property, but practice seems to be the only way kids internalize the concept.

We discussed the ways we teach academic honesty. My teacher is currently working on a project designed to teach kids about plagiarism more effectively. We also discussed ways we detect plagiarism and the appropriate consequences for those that take what isn't theirs. I wondered if virtual school students plagiarize more often than students in face-to-face classrooms, as almost every virtual school website I've seen directly addresses intellectual honesty. From our conversation, I gathered the answer is no. I suspect virtual school teachers are on the lookout for plagiarism more than brick and mortar teachers, and want to be clear about expectations on their websites.

My teacher discussed how she regularly uses a service called Turnitin. It sounds like a wonderful tool for detecting plagiarism and helping young students learn the how to follow the rules. I've never used it in my classroom. I found it interesting that virtual school kids are not expelled from the program if they cheat; they suffer the same consequences that classroom cheaters experience.

In an electronic world, lessons on academic integrity must be learned early and well. The staff at the virtual school are leading the way by teaching young students the art of giving due credit to everyone who creates content.

Distance Education for Talented Youth

A key attribute of online learning is its ability to meet the different academic needs of students. I found several interesting articles that describe the characteristics of vibrant ongoing distance education programs for gifted students. In an article that appeared in High Ability Studies titled "Distance education for gifted students: leveraging technology to expand academic options," author Patricia Wallace said "Distance education has emerged as a valuable option for a number of special populations of learners whose needs are more difficult to meet in the classroom, of which gifted students are one." Wallace is the director of the Information Technology and Distance Programs at the Center for Talented Youth (CTY) at Johns Hopkins University. CTY was one of the first distance education programs for gifted youth and is certainly one of the most popular gifted online programs in my community. CTY made its debut in 1984 with a single online writing course. Now the program features more than 45 online courses for gifted children from age 5 and up in a wide range of subjects. (Wallace, 2005).

What I found most interesting about the CTY program is that it isn't intended to replace the face-to-face classroom experience for gifted students, nor does it try to recreate a classroom environment. Instead, Wallace says CTY "provides gifted students who are attending school with year round options for advancement, acceleration and enrichment in the students' strongest subjects." Sometimes CTY online courses replace a single class at school (a gifted writer could take the CTY writing course in the computer lab at school instead of in her language arts course in school), or it supplements a classroom teacher's curriculum. Many gifted students take CTY courses during summer vacations (Wallace, 2005). This makes sense to me, especially for young adolescents, based on my observations of my very social students; they love spending time with their friends at school. A combination of face-to-face learning and specialized online learning seems ideal for young learners.

My last post addressed the pacing flexibility in the online course I'm observing. Advanced students may opt to take the Language Arts course at a pace that is twice as fast as traditional students. Wallace also feels that pacing in online courses must be flexible for gifted students. She says, "Typical gifted education courses in which material is presented at a predetermined pace and students proceed in lockstep regardless of ability are not ideal for gifted students, who vary considerably in their ability and interest levels and also their time commitments." She said CTY varies the formats of courses depending on the subject area. Students and teachers together decide on an appropriate pace. Drill and repetition, often unnecessary for gifted children, is usually omitted in CTY courses (Wallace, 2005). It sounds like the distance education program I'm observing attempts to modify the online curriculum as CTY does.

In her conclusion, Wallace makes an important point about distance education and gifted kids; it allows them to live at home, with their family and community, yet communicate and learn with other gifted kids from all over the globe. She says, "By leveraging information and communications technologies now widely available, distance education can reach gifted students throughout the year and engage them in learning activities appropriate to their ability levels, without taking them away from their local school environment. It can create a community of learners who are intellectual peers, capable of advanced academic challenges in particular areas, without regard to the geographic location of the students" (Wallace, 2005).


Wallace, P. (2005). Distance education for gifted students: leveraging technology to expand academic options. High Ability Studies, 16(1). Retrieved March 22, 2008 from ERIC database.

Exploring Course Information

I was excited to receive access to the distance education website for my internship project this past Wednesday. The distance education school requires that all interns undergo a security check before entering the course website. It took about a week for me to get my paperwork to the school and for them to process it, much quicker than the time it takes to get a security clearance in our district.

Now that I'm in, I am following some initial instructions from my course instructor. She suggested that I get oriented with the system and formulate questions as I work. The course I'll explore is language arts designed for sixth graders. I won't be interacting with students, but I will have access to the lessons, assessments, and projects they use.

As I work, I'll undoubtedly view the course and the course management system though the eyes of my fifth grade gifted students, several of whom are considering distance education courses for their middle school years. I'll be curious to see how the instructor and course differentiate instruction to meet the needs of different learners. I'll also try to assimilate the course management system used by the distance education program and the Moodle LMS we use at my school.

My first task was to explore "Course Information." This area of the course includes all of the "set-up" instructions a student or intern needs to begin exploring content. This section of the course was very well organized and informative. I found the following points especially interesting:

1) I learned how to create a zip file (for some reason I never knew how to do that).
2) A key way the course differentiates instruction is to differentiate pace. Accelerated students complete the course in 18 weeks (4.5 months), traditional students finish in 36 weeks (9 months...twice the time as accelerated students), and extended learning students with special permission finish in 52 weeks (13 months). Students cannot change their pace option midcourse without permission from their parent, teacher, and guidance counselor.
3) Supply lists include a short list of quality novels with additional selections for advanced students.
4) There is no textbook for the course.
5) The course orientation includes an excellent piece for kids on academic integrity and plagiarism. My students struggle with the concept of plagiarism and it was interesting to see this approach.

At this point, these are my major questions:
1) It appears that the pace of the course is doubled for accelerated students and it is enriched with additional novels. What kinds of students are candidates for this level? Gifted? High achieving? What groups of students tend to opt for the extended learning and how does this ultimately affect their graduation rate?
2) How do teachers guide students as they select a pace for the course? If they've never taken an online class before but they are gifted, are they encouraged to try the traditional pace first? How about students that struggle in the face-to-face classroom, are they encouraged to try an extended pace first?
3) How is grade skipping handled? Is it often necessary for gifted students, or does the accelerated pace generally meet their needs?

My next steps are to explore specific lessons and assessments suggest by my teacher. I look forward to working through the material as if I were a student.

I also plan to look for current research on gifted students and online learning. This should help me answer some of my questions. I'm also due to meet with my teacher via Elluminate to discuss the lessons, assessments, and my questions tomorrow morning.

I'm enjoying this opportunity to explore distance education for young students. I really feel like I'm looking into the future of education.

Jeanne

The Psychology of Success in Virtual School

I teach fifth grade in a magnet program for gifted students. At our school we work hard to differentiate the curriculum to meet the diverse needs of our gifted students. Our program has built-in flexibility that allows us to structure out-of-level assignments and projects for profoundly gifted kids, while allowing them to interact with same age peers. Unfortunately, many of our parents are concerned that the middle school programs for gifted students do not provide opportunities for profoundly gifted students to work out-of-level, particularly in the areas of social studies, language arts, and foreign language. Some of parents approached our middle schools with requests to provide gifted classes in these subject areas. As the debate continues and decisions for improving the curriculum for gifted middle school students are postponed, some families are considering virtual school. Many parents want to enroll their children in traditional middle school for math and science (for which gifted curriculum currently exists), but enroll them in virtual school classes in language arts, foreign language, and social studies. Parents suspect virtual school programs will allow their middle school children to work ahead and thus meet their unusual needs.

I wonder, will these profoundly gifted but young students succeed in virtual school classes? Will they enjoy the classes? How can a parent know if their middle school child will be successful in an online environment?

I read an interesting article by Alvin Wang and Michael Newlin in the Journal of Educational Psychology titled, "Characteristics of Students who Enroll and Succeed in Web-Based Classes." The article studied the cognitive, motivational, and demographic characteristics of students who were successful in online classes. Though the study was conducted with college students, several findings seem applicable to the situation described above (Wang, A., & Newlin, H., 2000).

First, the researchers found three characteristics that predicted success in online classes: online course activity levels (how many hits to the course home page a student made in the initial weeks of class), a high need for cognition, and an internal locus of control (belief that one's behavior is guided by personal decisions or efforts) (Wang, A., & Newlin, H., 2000). These characteristics undoubtedly describe my profoundly gifted students and their work habits. Interestingly, and surprisingly, the researchers did not find any demographic characteristics that predicted success in online courses.

Second, the article cited earlier research by Varnhagen, Drake, & Finley (1997) where honors students reported positive perceptions of web based courses, again a research based suggestion that my students would enjoy virtual classes.

As I prepare to observe sixth grade distance learning students over the next seven weeks, I'll be thinking about my students too. I'll ask the instructor about opportunities for students to work ahead and their overall success with advanced online classes. I'll also continue to look for studies that address the characteristics of successful online students.

Reference
Wang, A., & Newlin, M. (2000). Characteristics of Students Who Enroll and Succeed in Psychology Web-Based Classes. Journal of Educational Psychology. 92(1). Retrieved March 14, 2008 from http://psycnet.apa.org.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/index.cfm?fa=main.showContent&id=2000-03003-012&view=fulltext&format=pdf

Distance Learning Project

I'm very excited to participate in a new project with a local distance learning program. Over the next eight weeks I'll be "virtually observing" a sixth grade language arts teacher and her students. I spoke with the teacher via Elluminate for over an hour on Monday night. Using this amazing technology (my first experience with it), we introduced ourselves, explored common areas of interest, and made plans to work collaboratively. My fifth grade gifted students and her sixth grade virtual students have a lot in common. We talked about blogging together and working on a newspaper club. What an amazing opportunity for two groups of kids and their teachers.
More later...Jeanne