Ohio’s eLearning–Online Professional Development

Ohio SchoolNet Commission/Ohio Department of Education

Introduction/Overview
Organizational Change
Budget & Finance
Professional Development
Technology Infrastructure
Outcomes
Evaluation
Contact Information
 

Introduction/Overview

There are several key leaders and organizational units in the creation, management, and evaluation of eTech Ohio’s eLearning–Online Professional Development, a collaborative project between the eTech Ohio Commission, (formerly Ohio Schoolnet) and the Ohio Department of Education (ODE). From eTech Ohio, these include the Executive Director, Education Liaison, Director of Information Technology, Educational Technology Consultants, Information Technology Staff, Associate Director of Educational Technology, Communications Officer, and Field Staff. From ODE, staff includes the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Associate Directors of Curriculum and Instruction, Subject Matter Education Consultants, Regional Field Services, staff from Policy and Accountability, and Communications Staff.

The overarching goal of eTech Ohio’s eLearning–Online Professional Development is to provide high-quality online professional development for all PK-20 educators and professionals throughout the state of Ohio. The overarching rationale for offering professional development is four-fold:

1. To provide tools and “scaffolds” that enhance learning, support thinking and problem solving, model activities and guide practice, represent data in different ways, and are part of a coherent and systemic educational approach;

2. To give educators more opportunities for feedback, reflection, and revision, including those where educators evaluate the quality of their own thinking and products; have opportunities to interact with subject matter experts; receive feedback from multiple sources, which include their peers; and experience cognitive tutors and coaching in areas where improvement is needed;

3. To build local and global communities that are inclusive of teachers, administrators, practicing scientists and other community people who are interested in expanding the learning environment beyond the school walls; and

4. To expand opportunities for educator learning that include helping educators think differently about learners and learning, reducing the barriers between students and teachers as learners, and expanding communities of learners that support ongoing communication and professional development of teachers.

From the overarching goal and rationale, five services have been identified with individual goals and objectives:

1. Consulting. The goal of the consulting services is to build capacity within Ohio educators so that school districts can manage, support, plan, and develop eLearning in order to aide in the implementation of academic content standards and in achieving district goals for increased student achievement.

The objectives of the consulting services include:

• Provide tools for districts to make decisions around eLearning technologies and the integration of these technologies into the classroom.
• Inform strategic decisions.
• Leverage state-level expertise in eLearning.

2. Course Design and Development. The goal of the course design and development service is to raise expectations for learners by providing Ohio educators high-quality online professional development. These courses will raise the capacity of educators to improve teaching and learning in Ohio.

The objectives of the course design and development include:

• Design and develop online courses aligned with the high-quality professional development framework for Ohio educators.
• Leverage partnerships with educational agencies in Ohio to provide these services.
• Create the courses based upon standards of eLearning.
• Leverage state-level expertise in eLearning.
• Provide any time, any place learning and access to information.
• Create online courses that are based upon customer needs.

3. Course Hosting. The goals of course hosting include leveraging resources at the state level and offering the courses that have been designed and developed.

The objectives of the course hosting services include:

• Provide districts with the best pricing for content/course development software.
• Offer technical training and best practices on hosting content/course development Web applications.
• Provide a Web-based environment for districts to provide courses for students that would not otherwise be possible.
• Host courses that other educational agencies have designed and developed.
• Offer 24/7 support for districts in the implementation and hosting of the courses to provide any time, any place learning for Ohio educators.

4. Course Delivery and Management. The goal of course delivery and management services is to provide management services for the courses that eTech Ohio has designed and developed. The objectives of the course delivery and management services include:

• Provide any time, any place learning for Ohio educators.
• Develop a course schedule and catalog for all online courses delivered via Ohio SchoolNet.
• Offer high-quality, efficient processes for the registration, delivery, and completion of online courses.

5. Course Clearinghouse. The goal of the course clearinghouse services include leveraging resources and providing a repository of online course packages, for both students and educators, for school districts to utilize for adoption or customization. The objectives of the course hosting services include:

The objectives of the course hosting services include:

• Provide an online repository of user-posted courses available by end-user agreement for the course exchange.
• Create a course taxonomy and manage change.

The eTech Ohio Commission has the opportunity to provide leadership and services around online learning for PK-20 in the state of Ohio. Accountability is high for teachers to meet “highly qualified” standards and for school districts to provide high-quality professional development to teachers and courses to students. Leveraging of these services through an online environment assists districts in these goals as well as provides equitable access to high-quality materials. The collaborative environment offers over 60 Online Professional Development opportunities for PK-20 educators and professionals, including:

• Grant Writing
• Developing an Administrative Learning Community
• Podcasting for Teaching and Learning
• Differentiating Instruction with Technology
• Exploring Standards-Based Resources with INFOhio
• Facilitating Courses in an Online Environment
• Instructional Design Theory
• Leadership for Successful Schools
• Ohio Mathematics Academy Project, (OMAP) Module A, B, C - Algebra
• Ohio Mathematics Academy Project, (OMAP) Module A, B, C–Geometry and Spatial Sense and Measurement
• Ohio Mathematics Academy Project, (OMAP) Module A, B, C–Data Analysis & Probability
• Ohio Science Institute, (OSCI) Module A, B, C–Earth Science
• Ohio Science Institute, (OSCI) Module A, B, C–Life Science
• Ohio Science Institute, (OSCI) Module A, B, C–Physical Science
• Standards-Based Education (SBE) I and II
• Strengthening Systems to Support Technology Integration
• Transformational Connections with Blogs and Wikis
• Ohio Assistive Technology Distance Learning Project Courses
• 21st Century Skill Series Courses

Numerous standards are addressed with the eLearning–Online Professional Development courses. The standards utilized are decided based upon the content of the course. Courses are designed and developed according to customer needs through feedback, technology planning, and continuous improvement planning. In addition, the courses are created based upon a variety of research and best practices.

Organizational Change

The need to move toward an eLearning system has been apparent in Ohio for quite some time. On December 14, 2000, Governor Taft’s Commission for Student Success issued its report, Expecting More: Higher Achievement for Ohio’s Students and Schools. In it, the Commission called for the need to develop: (1) clear, rigorous, and reasonable, academic standards; (2) a system of assessments to measure student performance against these standards; (3) intervention strategies that will produce real and lasting student improvement; and (4) a system of accountability that rewards success and does not allow failure. Online learning through an eLearning system will be critically important to advancing the Commission’s goals of standards development, assessment and intervention, and accountability.

In Achieving More: Quality Teaching, School Leadership, Student Success (2003), the second Governor’s Commission–this time focusing on teaching success–outlined the vital role that technology can play in preparing, sustaining, and supporting effective school leaders and classroom professionals. The report highlights how Ohio must address critical areas of (1) teacher recruitment and preparation; (2) teacher induction, support and retention; (3) educational professional development; and (4) the development of school leadership to support quality teaching. A dynamic school administrative and professional development system to provide capacity building linked to student achievement will provide critical information at the right time to positively impact the teaching and learning process.

The envisioned components of eTech Ohio’s eLearning Process Model include (1) content/standards alignment/lesson planning tools; (2) courseware development and delivery tools; (3) online professional development tools; (4) education portals; (5) diagnostic and assessment tools; (6) communications/collaboration tools; and (7) data collection, analysis and reporting tools.

Three types of online courses were identified:

1. Instructor-led courses are synchronous. All participants join at the same time and see the text, content, and other materials controlled by the facilitator. Classes typically meet online at a specified day and time.

2. Instructor-facilitated courses are a combination of self-paced content materials and facilitated whole-group or small-group online conversations. They can be either synchronous or asynchronous or both. Facilitators monitor group conversations that occur at specified or unspecified times and provide feedback and guidance for each group. (A group can include an individual participant.)

3. Self-paced courses are completely asynchronous and involve very little of the facilitators’ time. They may monitor participant progress throughout the course, respond to e-mails, and monitor participant results. In many cases, there is no involvement from the facilitator. An analysis of the costs and impacts on participants was conducted, and it was determined that the pilot courses would be instructor facilitated. The initial planning in October 2003, consisted of transforming face-to-face courses in Standards-Based Education and the Ohio Mathematics Academy Project I (OMAP I–Algebra) as appropriate for online professional development. Design teams consisted of a subject matter expert, an instructional designer, a digital transformation expert, a project manager, and a course facilitator. These design teams are important to ensure that all aspects of the courses are high-quality, that the activities are interactive, that communication and collaboration are an integral part of the course and that support structures are in place. Once the existing courses were created, approximately 4 months later, communication was sent to educators throughout the state notifying them of the course pilot opportunity. After each course pilot was completed, evaluations were collected, and edits to the courses were completed.

Ohio educators express an interest in continuing this form of professional development as another option for receiving high-quality professional development opportunities. A system process of designing, developing, delivering, hosting, managing, and evaluating the courses has been created. Currently, over 60 eLearning–Online Professional Development courses exist for Ohio teachers, administrators, technology coordinators, media specialists, curriculum coordinators, and professional development leaders. Full descriptions can be found at http://www.etech.ohio.gov/programs/elearning.

This work has had a large impact on the organization for the eTech Ohio Commission. Two of the seven priorities set by the governing body focus upon the eLearning Process Model: (1) lead and continue the development of a decision support system to align content, instruction, information, assessments, and resources with Ohio’s academic content standards; and (2) expand professional development for teachers, administrators, and technology coordinators, emphasizing online delivery of courses when appropriate. In addition, professional development created by ODE also has a budget for generating eLearning–Online Professional Development.

Budget & Finance

Funding sources have come from general revenue and grants. In addition, a nominal fee for each course is charged to all participants. This funding is utilized to pay for facilitators and resources and materials for the courses.

The costs that have driven eLearning–Online Professional Development have included the licensing fees for the course development software, 24/7 multi-channel technical support environment, contracts with instructional designers to work with subject-matter experts, facilitators for the courses, digital transformation, and staff time to manage the services. As courses continue to be designed, developed, hosted, managed, and delivered, these costs will be recurring.

Professional Development

The professional development for the eLearning–Online Professional Development has not been an enormous expenditure. Lead staff has expertise in the instructional design and implementing online coursework. The professional development included training on the course development tool and server maintenance. Additional training includes informal sharing of research, best practices, and documents.

Technology Infrastructure

Ohio has a statewide educational network, and every school in the state is connected to the Internet. This assisted in the delivery of the professional development. In terms of the hardware, eTech Ohio currently has redundant servers to balance the load in the event that one of the servers fails and a support services contract to provide support to users outside of normal agency business hours. eTech Ohio does utilize an online content/course development tool to build the courses. Finally, the digital transformation expert uses specialized software for simulations, animations, and graphic design.

Outcomes

The long-term, ultimate outcome for these courses is to continue to develop content based upon educator need, resulting in all educators in the state having access to high-quality professional development and, as a result of participation, having teaching practices change for the improvement of student learning.

The long-term outcomes incorporate expanding these services to Ohio school districts. There has been an expressed need of leadership and guidance in online courses. Some of this need includes student courses as well as professional development. An expansion of tools to assist districts in these areas is planned. In addition, eTech Ohio would like to leverage the leadership capacity at a state level to provide consultation and technical assistance in the design and development of high-quality online courses to ensure that every student and educator in the state of Ohio has the opportunity to take an online course.

The final long-term outcome is that the eTech Ohio Commission is seen as Ohio’s leader in pre-K–20 educator eLearning—Online Professional Development and a leader for the nation.

Evaluation

One of the elements that have been instrumental to the eLearning–Online Professional Development includes creating a process around the design, development, delivery, hosting, and management of the courses. Without a seamless process and design standards, the online courses would not be consistent and the instructional strategies may be weakened. eTech Ohio has also found that having a similar “look and feel” to the courses reduces apprehension for the participants who take more than one course. Participants who know the coursework, assignments, discussions, etc., will be located in the same place and navigation will be consistent. There are also constant graphic design elements for visual learners. Another crucial factor for the eLearning–Online Professional Development courses involves the team approach. In utilizing a team approach, each team member can focus on their expertise and not have to know how to do everything in order to make the course successful. For example, a subject matter expert may have excellent content concepts; however, the instructional designer understands the online environment and may have an interactive way to express the content instead of just presenting text.

Given human capacity, all aspects of the eLearning–Online Professional Development are scalable. A process has been developed to follow so multiple staff can step in and provide project management for a course. This process has built the capacity of several staff members. The successes of the online courses are definitely dependent upon dedicated staff to oversee the entire process. Without the staff, this would only become a trite activity.

Contact Information

eTech Ohio Commission
eLearning@etech.ohio.gov
614.644.3833