CAL Online
Beginning Questions

Back to Research Page

QUESTIONS BEING ASKED
ABOUT ONLINE LEARNING IN CLOVIS UNIFIED

These are the questions being asked by administrators, teachers and parents about the possibility of online learning for students and adults. Questions have been divided into seven categories: general design, assessment, student specific, teacher specific, pedagogy, technical and teacher staff development. Questions were asked and categorized by Rob Darrow, online learning specialist. For comments, send e-mail to RobDarrow@cusd.com.

** Pedagogy ** General Design ** Evaluation/Assessment ** Students ** Teachers **
** Management/Administrative ** Staff Development ** Technology **

• Why should we have a virtual high school?
• How does this fit with business models?
• Is this value added for the customer or is the goal to be able to teach more students with fewer instructors?
• Worry about socialization of society…how much will it isolate people?
• Hypothesis: AP students can take Internet course and do well and pass exams with a higher teacher to student ratio. Less capable students needs more ongoing contact with teacher and would not do as well with Internet course on their own?
• What about huge question about "authority/credibility" issue…how do we know what is true and not true on the web? Do students have ability to discern between fact and opinion and credible vs. divergent thought?
• How will the learning be the same/different than traditional classes?
• Is there a good model out there that we could use for the creation of these classes?

• Which classes are best suited for this type of learning?
• Any AP classes online?
• How many do we start with?
• Do we start with certain grade level? 9^th graders don’t drive…what if they had one virtual class during 4^th period, how would they get to school? Juniors or seniors driving on and off campus present problems.
• Would there ever be an online class in auto shop, drama, choir, band or art?

b) STRUCTURE

• How do we know online classes will have same rigor as face to face classes? How do we make sure we maintain that the delivery of online content is the same as face to face content?
• Where will the online learning occur for students? Home? School?
• Will there be a face to face component or just online interaction?
• Will any part of the learning not be "On-Line?" for example what about term papers?
• What does a student have to produce to create an equivalent amount of work online? In regular classes, many teachers give students a grade for participation. How do you do this with online classes?
• For interactive classes- how do you get the same high level of discussions online?
• How do you do whole group instruction?
• How do we make sure the courses align with the curriculum and standards?
• What will the class size be?
• How do we fit a virtual class into our current master schedule for our high schools and still balance with the current APU formula for teachers and classes? Class schedules are different at each high school.
• space

c) RESOURCES

• What resources will be utilized? Print? Nonprint? Library?
• How are textbooks handled? If certain novels are required how would they get them? Do kids need to have text printed and online?

d) RESEARCH

• How effective are current online training for students? How does it compare to regular classrooms?
• How does this fit with business models? There needs to be some time for students to meet one another. Needs to be some working together physically, since this is what business is saying they need in their employees.
• What are our customer needs? Surveys, focus groups, research, and discussions with key people need to take place.

e) OTHER

• Do we just start in CUSD? Should we open to those outside of CUSD?
• How do we market the program so that it starts in a gradual way for students and for teachers?
• What happens if this becomes so popular that there is a large demand for this? What will be the capacity for this? Need to have a 5 year plan in place.
• If you’re online, are you locked into regular school year? Or is there an option for students to work at their own pace?
• How would we do labs, especially in science?
• How might this connect with the laptop program?
• How might home-schoolers fit into online learning?
• What are Special Education implications?

** Pedagogy ** General Design ** Evaluation/Assessment ** Students ** Teachers **
** Management/Administrative ** Staff Development ** Technology ** to top...

• How will these classes meet all the state standards so kids do equally well on SAT9 and high school exit exam?
• What’s the strategy for ongoing monitoring? What will be the assessment tool?
• If students aren’t making progress, how do we hold them accountable? Who is responsible for that student?
• How do you deal with failing students in a virtual school? What are safety nets?
• For English, how do we meet oral language standards of state? For example peer editing?
• How will plagiarism be handled? How do we limit cheating?
• How do we know student is actually doing the work? (i.e. know of twin uncles who actually took regular classes for each other in college). How do we avoid plagiarism?
• How will courses be monitored and tested?
• How is a testing situation secure online?

** Pedagogy ** General Design ** Evaluation/Assessment ** Students ** Teachers **
 ** Management/Administrative ** Staff Development ** Technology ** to top...

• Which students do we target first?
• How do we know which kids best fit this type of learning?
• How can we help kids assess themselves to determine if this kind of learning is for them?
• How much interaction do students need to be successful?
• Ask the students how they would like this to be structured? How would you like this to work for you?
• How do we avoid an elitist attitude by students taking these courses?
• What will happen to the demography of a school? Will we end up with segregated schools – those that can take these courses and those that can’t?
• How do we guarantee equal access for all?
• What will prerequisites be for kids to take these courses? Technology requirement?
• Are there any liability issues if student is at home working and something happens? What if he/she is in the library working?
• How can parents be aware of the online course project?
• Can we offer classes to parents online?

• Will this increase the teacher to student ratio?
• What is the teacher to student ratio in current virtual schools?
• What are these projects going to look like that students do online and how can they be assessed if one teacher teaches 60 kids in one period?
• How do we compensate teachers – do we have them substitute an online class for a regular class or is this an extra job? Or do we hire teachers who just do online instruction?
• How much time does it take for a teacher to create a virtual class?
• How much prep time does it take for a teacher teaching a virtual class?
• How would online staff interact and share information?
• How would you select teachers to be online learning teachers?
• How would observe and evaluate an online teacher?
• How does this change the way teachers will deliver instruction?

Pedagogy ** General Design ** Evaluation/Assessment ** Students ** Teachers **
** Management/Administrative ** Staff Development ** Technology ** to top...

• How do we ensure classes meet graduation requirements, state standards and UC grad requirements?
• How do classes get accredited?
• How will credit be given, hours approved.
• How do you do attendance? Cocurricular? In virtual school, can you still participate in sports?
• If students are at home doing their work, are they under school jurisdiction?
• How do we administrate this program?
• For high school to get ADA, students need to be on campus for 4 hours. How does this work in a virtual school?
• How do students involved in athletics meet eligibility requirements? What are CIF rules governing eligibility?

• What would cause a teacher to use staff development online?
• Why don’t teachers use it more?
• How many have the access to Internet at home? How many have the bandwidth and speed needed to use the World Wide Web?
• We need to be rethinking about the way teachers are doing their jobs and how that is changing and how this technology may help.

Technology/Technical (hardware/software/network) Questions

• Are we going to have enough technology support for the program? We need to limit the frustration on the part of teachers and the students.
• Will there be someone to guide teachers in use of the software in the creation of online courses and supporting teachers during their online courses?
• How do we need support students with their own computers?
• What are the cutting edge technologies that currently exist that would be useful for online learning?
• What companies are offering the on line structure needed for creating online courses?

Pedagogy ** General Design ** Evaluation/Assessment ** Students ** Teachers **
** Management/Administrative ** Staff Development ** Technology ** to top...