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