Students with Disabilities Learning Online

David Rose, CASTApril 23, 2015, 3:00-4:00 PM ET

www.CTDInstitute.org

Vulnerable Students in a Rapidly Evolving and Unstable Environment

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Founding Partners of the Center

1. Center for Research on Learning, University of Kansas (KU-CRL) Don Deshler, Jamie Basham, Daryl Mellard, Sean Smith

2. Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) David Rose, Michael Connelly, Tracey Hall, Sam Johnston,

Wendy Johnson, Skip Stahl

3. National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE)

Bill East, Paula Burdette

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Evolution, variability, and the origin of everything.

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The Top Ten Observations

and their variance

1. Large Variance; Small Central Tendency

Other than the inclusion of some kind of online content delivery, no consistent or uniform procedures constitute the practice of online learning.

Proportions and populations of students with disabilities

enrolled

Roles played by teachers and parents

Quality of instructional design (e.g., in the adoption of

evidence-based practices)

Basic accessibility and universal design features, or lack

thereof

1. Large Variance, Small Central Tendency in:

Capacity for peer-to-peer or student-to-teacher

interaction

Resources and training provided for teachers and

administrators

Means for monitoring progress

Feedback provided to students, parents, and teachers

Requirements for “offline” contextual support, and many

more

1. Large Variance, Small Central Tendency in:

2. Data Rich; Information Poor

2. Data Rich; Information Poor

Potential: Much data for tracking student progress and learning pathwaysalready exists

Reality: Lack of communication and interoperability

across systems currently makes this tracking nearly impossible

NE1 Information Systems

2. Data Rich, Information Poor

Vendors: Lots of big data but too little information from schools about individual SWD’s - their strengths or weaknesses, their IEP goals - to help them adapt or customize instruction

Schools: Too little information from vendors that is timely or informative enough to evaluate or modify ongoing plans and practices.

Parents and students: Too little information is available or helpful in making choices about the focus of instruction, alternative paths, access features or supports, etc.

3. Old Methods, New Packaging

The majority of online instructional offerings are traditional offline materials delivered online.

Benefits include: Scalability Timeliness/relevance Accessibility (when compliant) SEA/LEA customization Multiple media

3. Old Methods, New Packaging

Less common are curricular offerings that take advantage of the unique affordances of online learning to: Foster student collaboration Support student capacity for

self-regulation Differentiate instruction and

learning pathways Support mastery demonstrations in multiple ways Encourage student-centered learning

3. Content Mastery; Process Mastery

Most online platforms concentrate on content mastery whereas SWD’s need support and direct instruction in process mastery: Self-regulation Learning strategies Time management Executive function Socialization Help seeking Etc.

Data + Analytics = Personalization

Monitoring Student’s academic “health”

http://www.seneye.com/

4. Design Matters

Enormous variation exists – both between and within vendors – in meeting the core needs of SWDs for basic accessibility.

4. Design Matters

Enormous variation exists – both between and within vendors – in following basic guidelines for Universal Design for Learning (UDL): Provide students with Information presented in multiple ways &

multiple media Allow students to demonstrate achievement in multiple ways Provide varying support for student engagement & persistence

Khan Academy

5. Context Matters: Variance in Implementation

Virtually every online program is a “blended” program in its implementation, but the “blends” differ considerably in what is offered “online” Natively Offline:

Read a textbook, Watch a video

Natively Offline delivered online: Read a textbook on a Kindle/iPad/Mobile device, Watch an online video

Natively Online: Read or watch interactive “textbook” that continually updates and

modifies itself based on student usage patterns, progress, etc..

5. Context Matters: Variance in Implementation

Huge variation exists in the ways any particular program is implemented: Teacher : Student ratios – 1 to 25, 50, 200? Separate “placements” for SWD? Number of contacts per week, month? Who is responsible

for the IEP? Is there an IEP? Who is primary

teacher?

5. Context Matters: Variance in implementation

Whatever the design of the online learning component, research shows that the context in which that program is implemented has strong effects on outcomes.

6. Context Matters: Teacher Preparation

Virtually all stakeholders report that teaching SWDs online requires significantly different knowledge, skills, and motivations than teaching SWDs in F2F settings. Different goals and goal-setting processes Different methods of instruction Different materials for instruction Different roles and responsibilities Different means of communication with parents Different social-emotional demands Different tools for measuring progress

Kennedy & Archambault, 2014

None of the existing standards (NEA, iNACOL, etc.) have been formally validated.

Existing certification requirements based on F2F instruction may limit the pool of effective online teachers.

Natale, 2011

Greer, Rowland, & Smith, 2014

6. Context Matters: Teacher Preparation

Few teachers are being prepared professionally for the changed demands of online teaching: Very few teacher preparation programs

provide any guidance or experience in online instruction.

In-service supervision from schools and/or vendors in how to teach or adapt for SWDs is highly variable

Currie-Rubin & Smith, 2014

6. Teacher Preparation & Development

National survey data shows that less than 2% of teacher preparation programs offer field experience in online learning.

Kennedy & Archambault, 2014

None of the existing standards (NEA, iNACOL, etc.) have been formally validated.

Existing certification requirements based on F2F instruction may limit the pool of effective online teachers.

Natale, 2011

7. Context Matters: Parent Preparation

Parent roles in different online learning platforms varied widely. In some cases, parents are less involved than in F2F classrooms. In others, parents are expected to be the primary teachers. Many parents reported that they were

unprepared for the new demands imposed by their roles in online learning.

Continuing support for parents varied significantly across different schools and programs. Currie-Rubin & Smith, 2014

8. Context Matters: Local and National Policies

Virtually every stakeholder- from parent to school to vendor – reported that the wildly inconsistent and anachronistic policy landscape created among the most significant barriers to successful outcomes for SWDs.

8. Context Matters: Policy Example

Supporting Data Privacy Review third-party contracts carefully to

identify how student data will be kept secure and what happens to student data when the contract ends. 

Educate teachers so they understand how to keep sensitive data secure and within the State privacy legislation and the federal FERPA & COPPA laws.

8. Context Matters: Policy Example

CA SB-1177 …prohibits an operator of an Internet Web site,

online service, online application, or mobile application from knowingly engaging in targeted advertising to students or their parents or legal guardians, using covered information to amass a profile about a K–12 student, selling a student’s information, or disclosing covered information, as provided.

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State Policies Tablehttp://centerononlinelearning.org/resources/state-policy-guide/

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Categories of Policy Placement and Enrollment Allowable Providers of Services Accommodations and Assessments Access and Accessibility Funding for Services Administrative Duties Graduation or Exiting Teacher Preparedness Definitions

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Policies in 2013 vs 20142013 27 states had policies Most around Placement and

Enrollment issues No true student ‘engagement’

Little policy until 2012

Teacher qualification non-existent

Online learning not defined

2014 37 states had policies Most around Placement and

Enrollment issues Still no true student

‘engagement’ policy Policy nearly doubled

between 2013 and 2014

Teacher Preparedness (certification, training) found in 5 states

Definitions for online program, blended learning, eligible students, appropriate online course (5 states)

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How knowledgeable are you about the numbers and types of students with disabilities who are now enrolled in online learning?

2013 2014

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How comfortable are you with existing state policies about online learning for students with disabilities?

2013 2014

7. Persistence, Completion & Outcomes

The primary barrier to research on the effectiveness of online learning: access to critical data that is often not publicly

available or even viewed as proprietaryBarbour, 2010

Instruction combining online and face-to-face elements had a larger advantage relative to purely face-to-face instruction than did purely online instruction.

Means, et al, 2010

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How confident are you that your teachers and administrators know how to deliver effective 'specially designed instruction' in online environments?

2013 2014

9. Students Matter: Recruitment & Enrollment

Who Chooses? Participation rates of SWD = 3% to 35%

10. Students Matter: Persistence, Completion & Outcomes

While most vendors believe differential rates of persistence, completion, and outcomes for different groups of SWDs occur, access to that data is often not available to researchers for various reasons: Schools have not provided adequate data on

individual students (often for privacy reasons) so that vendors can conduct such analyses

Vendors believe that such data is proprietary or is unavailable to them because of other policies and constraints.

10. Persistence, Completion & Outcomes

The primary barrier to research on the key variables of persistence, completion, and outcomes of online learning: access to critical data that is often not publicly

available or even viewed as proprietaryBarbour, 2010

Reconceptualizing our research in this evolving online ecosystem:

Critical connections in the online ecosystem

Disconnection Syndromes

Critical disconnections in the online ecosystem

Based on the Center’s investigations of the first 2 ½ years, two key findings emerge that inform our research plans:

1) Research conducted in only one or more of these sectors in isolation is empirically unproductive, lacks ecological validity, and is likely to have no impact.

2) Research conducted across the sectors is is so hobbled by disconnections and barriers that it is grossly inefficient and is powerless to take advantage of the unique research capabilities of online technologies.

These disconnections produce two kinds of disabilities:

Internally: A system that is unable to adequately monitor its progress or to support evidence-based decision-making.

Externally: A system that is unable to support effective research, especially the kinds of research that modern online technologies would require and allow.

An Example: Audio-Supported Reading (ASR)

What we already know: Most SWD’s face barriers with text-based

information Text is heavily used for information in

most online programsUsage of ASR varies widely across

different vendors, schools, students.

What we don’t know: What are the (long and short-term)

effects of using ASR?For whom (what types of SWDs) is use of

ASR effective?How can ASR be used most effectively

(training, strategies, etc.)?When (under what conditions, goals)

should ASR be used, when should it not be used?

Research within the Online Research to Practice Network: ASR research as an example.

First, recognizing the disconnection problem:

The Center is working with a provider that can track (and record) every use of ASR for every student in their network.

The Center is working with a provider that can track (and record) every use of ASR for every student in their network.

But they do not have access to the data on who the individual students are: their disabilities, their IEPs, their demographics etc.

Recognizing the disconnection problem:

Recognizing the disconnection problem

The Center is working with a provider that can track (and record) every use of ASR for every student in their network.

But they do not have access to the data on who the individual students are: their disabilities, their IEPs, their demographics etc.

And they do not have access to data about context: the instructional practices and policies of the LEA or classroom that affect the use of ASR.

This is what a disconnection syndrome looks like.

Re-imagining research in a functional ecosystem: The Online Research to Practice Network: Reducing the barriers.

The provider could track (and record) every use of ASR for every student and use that information, along with information from other SWDs and their schools, to optimize adjustments and accommodations in their design and delivery.

Each individual student and their parents would be able to track their usage of ASR and its effects on their overall progress, their reading development, their motivation, etc.

Schools and teachers could examine the effects of changes in local policies and practices – e.g. do usage patterns (and outcomes) change after strategy instruction in effective use of ASR.

What if the “disconnections” were remediated?

Based on 1) What the Center has

learned from its investigations 2) AND the relationships and

partnerships the Center has developed with vendors, school systems, and parents

We propose:To enhance and collaborate

with exemplary “online research to practice” partnerships where the typical barriers to research and practice have been reduced or eliminated.

Online Research to Practice Partnership

The purpose of such “Online Research to Practice Partnerships” is twofold:

1) To enhance the capacity of the Center to conduct research that is efficient, timely, ecologically valid, and meaningful.

2) To provide three different “real-world” models of online ecosystems that are less disabled, that can measureably meet their students needs, that can conduct their own research, and can serve as models of research-driven practice for other districts and vendors to emulate (see Summit).

Online Research to Practice Partnership

What are the most significant barriers that interfere (i.e. the disconnection syndromes) with present research to practice:

1) Policy Barriers2) Data interoperability barriers3) Lack of measurement instruments4) Knowledge deficits5) Technical barriers

Online Research to Practice Partnership

What does the Center bring to the partnerships to ensure their success?1) Policy Expertise and Exemplars

The Center has already comprehensively reviewed relevant and exemplary policies nationally)2) Data interoperability enhancements

The Center has national expertise in modern data analytics and visualization, data transfer and storage, privacy, etc. 3) Relevant Measurement instruments

The Center has multiple instruments under development designed specifically for this ecosystem4) Knowledge and Research Capacity

The Center’s previous research, and its ongoing capacity to lead ongoing and future research will be its most important contributions.5) Incentives and support

Most stakeholders are stymied by existing barriers and other commitments. The Center will provide both expertise and funding for

critical advances developed within the partnerships.

Online Research to Practice Partnerships

The purpose of such “Online Research to Practice Partnerships” is twofold:

1) To enhance the capacity of the Center to conduct research that is efficient, timely, ecologically valid, and meaningful.

2) To provide three different “real-world” models of online ecosystems that are less disabled, that can measureably meet their students needs, that can conduct their own research, and can serve as models of research-driven practice for other districts and vendors to emulate (see Summit).

Online Research to Practice Partnership

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Thank you Thank you for taking the time to hear this

story and engage with it. If you have suggestions for great research

to practice partnerships – including vendor, school, parent-child – we would be most happy to hear from you.

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