VHS Special Issue | VHS Table of Contents | Spring 1999 Newsletter | CC Home

These are some of the questions that many school administrators are being asked, by parents, community members, and taxpayers. If technology is the tool, what is it that we are using the tool for?

For the past two and a half years, the Virtual High School (VHS) has been addressing some of these concerns. VHS is using technology as a tool to build online high school courses that are given over the Internet. Our experience has shown that it is possible to effectively use technology to offer high school online courses and that the VHS is a scalable model. VHS courses have given students throughout the country the opportunity to take courses that their schools are not able to offer, to work with students from a variety of locations and cultures, and to use technology daily while in their online NetCourses.

How do we know that these courses are as good as courses being taught in high schools across the country?

Although VHS courses are developed and taught by high school teachers, what additional support is given to them so that they might learn to effectively use this new medium? In VHS, quality of teaching and curriculum content is primarily influenced by our training program, called the Teachers Learning Conference (TLC), and by the online standards all VHS NetCourses are measured against. Potential VHS teachers must participate in the TLC, a graduate-level online professional development course developed and taught by VHS faculty. Teachers bring to the TLC their skills as high school teachers and we add online pedagogy and assessment skills. During training, as participants develop their courses, we evaluate the courses against criteria that we have developed. These criteria address areas such as the appropriate use of LearningSpace technology, appropriateness and organization of content throughout the semester, and use of online assessment techniques. Once a teacher completes the TLC training course, he or she can offer a NetCourse to VHS students.

How is the quality of teacher and student participation evaluated in a NetCourse?

Because they consist of databases and reside on a file server, the entire course and all its interactions are archived and reviewed, both while the course is taking place and after it has ended. While the course is in progress, VHS national office personnel evaluate teacher and student attendance in the course, making sure that all are fully participating. Assignments and media resources are evaluated. Student portfolios are reviewed to make sure they are kept up-to-date, so that students can always know the status and grades of their submitted work.

Once a course is completed, we evaluate the entire semester's activities, including types of assignments, resource materials made available to students, discussions, and all submitted student work. Without actually participating in classroom discussions, we can review them, evaluating whether there is student-to-student discourse or just student-to-teacher discussions, checking to make sure that teachers and students are participating on a regular basis and that their comments show an understanding of course content. Students are also part of the evaluation and review process. Students take online surveys at the end of each semester, giving teachers additional feedback about the course and the instructional method.

This year, the VHS national offices worked with professionals from universities and state departments of education to define standards for online courses and to create a NetCourse Evaluation Board. These standards will be used to evaluate courses during their development and implementation, and then after the courses have been completed and archived. The NetCourse Evaluation Board will be reviewing all archived VHS course offerings to suggest revisions before courses are taught again.

The online NetCourse standards are broken into two main categories: operational and instructional standards. Operational standards define the environment in which courses are taught and the personnel and technology resources that high schools should provide. Instructional standards are divided into three areas: pedagogical, assessment and curriculum standards. Pedagogical standards define how teachers teach in an online environment. Does the teacher work to create a virtual learning environment in the CourseRoom? Are expectations for course work clearly communicated to students? Have course materials and expectations been adjusted for individual learning needs? Does the teacher incorporate multimedia techniques in the NetCourse? Assessment standards define expectations for how teachers should communicate to students their grades and the status of submitted work. Are student portfolios kept updated? What feedback do students receive about submitted work?

Curriculum standards address course content. Online courses should have the following characteristics: engageability, higher level questioning, critical thinking, problem-solving, hypothesizing, reading for comprehension and interpretation, data collection, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. VHS NetCourses should be an opportunity for the student to master a limited number of concepts in depth, rather than many concepts at a minimal level. Wherever possible, learning objectives should be mapped to national standards, and an interdisciplinary approach is encouraged.

The development of an effective online professional development model, rigorous evaluation of NetCourses before, during and after their implementation, and effective administration by VHS national offices assures a satisfactory experience in continuing years.

Virtual education can never replace the social learning environment within a school. However, virtual instruction can become another effective vehicle for strengthening our instructional programs and course offerings.

By merging the best in instructional practice with the best in current technology, we can demonstrate the potential of network and information technologies in public education. But most important, VHS shows that public education can place students at the forefront of knowledge and experience internationally and prepare them for the demands of either the workplace or further education.

Liz Pape is the VHS administrator. Liz@concord.org

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