Virtual VirginiaEDC

Online Professional Development for Online Instructors

Presented by: Cathy CheelyPresented by: Cathy CheelyDirector of Virtual VirginiaDirector of Virtual Virginia

EDC

Online Professional Development for Online Instructors

Presented by: Cathy CheelyPresented by: Cathy CheelyDirector of Virtual VirginiaDirector of Virtual Virginia

Goal and ChallengesGoal and Challenges

Challenges include:• Scarcity of highly qualified experienced instructors• Few pre-service programs for potential teachers• Little or no training in traditional academic training programs• Lack of knowledge of online pedagogy• Lack of experience in online work environment

• Full time and adjunct faculty with different needs

• Understanding of Virtual Virginia’s mission and standards

• Best practices are evolving as new research influences the direction of online education

• Others….

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The goal is to develop and provide a quality online professional development program for beginning and experienced faculty and staff.

SolutionsSolutions• Professional development program based on Standards for Online Professional Development from SREB http://www.sreb.org/programs/edtech/pubs/PDF/04T04-Standards_Online_Prof_Dev.pdf and Standards for Quality Online Teaching http://www.sreb.org/programs/EdTech/pubs/PDF/StandardsQualityOnlineTeaching.asp

• All efforts lead to the development of a strong and inclusive learning community

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The W’sThe W’s• What: Professional Development for Virtual Virginia

• Who: Everyone! • Everyone participates in professional development activities including the Virtual Virginia administrators, support staff and faculty

•Training is also provided for those in the schools who work with the program including the building level counselors and mentors

Online modules and handbooks as well as f2f sessions upon request.

• Where: Virtual and F2F

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The W’sThe W’s

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• When: Professional development begins with the interview and is a continuous process

• What: • A varied menu of professional development activities that are timely, need

based and related to the Virtual Virginia mission of serving students in the Commonwealth.

• Data driven (based on student and school survey results and student achievement)

• Research based (does it work and is it making a difference in improved performance?)

• Collaborative – promotes sharing and working together to achieve goals of Virtual Virginia

Virtual Virginia Professional Development ActivitiesVirtual Virginia Professional Development ActivitiesActivity Type When Optional/Mandatory Description

Teacher Week F2F August Mandatory New teachers - 5 days Returning teachers - 3 days

Facilitator Intro (7 weeks)

Virtual Varies Mandatory Initial training for all instructors

Adv. Facilitator (3 weeks)

Virtual Varies Mandatory - FT Optional - PT

Virtual learning community

Mission Control Virtual Continuous Mandatory-Tricks Trade Optional - all other boards

Discussion Boards/Learning community

Elluminate Sessions

Virtual Bi-Monthly Optional Variety of topics hosted by admin and team leaders - archived for those who can’t attend live

Faculty Meetings Virtual Weekly Mandatory Thursdays at 7 pm via Elluminate Archived for those who can’t attend live

Department Meetings

Virtual Monthly Mandatory Hosted by team leaders

AP seminars / workshops

F2F/Virtual Varies Mandatory Week long seminars every 5 years Full day workshop every 2 years

Webinars Virtual Varies Optional Hosted by ETLO, SREB, NACOL

Teacher Mentor Program

F2F/Virtual Continuous Mandatory for New Teachers

Paired with experienced teachers/Meet regularly/Enrolled in courses

Mission ControlMission Control

Mission ControlMission Control• Content area - All reference documents, forms and how-to’s

• Tricks of the Trade – A place for colleagues to seek and to offer general instructional support as well as discuss best practices for online learning

• Faculty Bulletin Board - A place to share non-instructional news with your colleagues

• News Articles of Interest - This is a place to post news articles either in print or online that may be of interest to the online learning world

• Department Forums – Science, Social Studies, English/Humanities, World Languages

• Book Forum - Seven Habits discussions

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Mission ControlMission Control

“I am in these two worlds every day...and I can't help comparing the two...but I love having these articles and being a part of such a group that spends this much time on reading and taking these issues seriously - something like this would not happen in a f2f school, I think.  At least not like this.  I do not mean to diss f2f organizations by saying this.  But it feels pretty revolutionary!  Vive la revolution!”

(Adjunct French instructor who also teaches in traditional school)

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Professional Development AnnouncementProfessional Development Announcement

Online Professional Development AgendaOnline Professional Development Agenda

Online Professional Development SessionOnline Professional Development Session

Comments and QuestionsComments and Questions

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• Virtual Virginia - www.virtualvirginia.org

• Cathy Cheely – cathy.cheely@virtualvirginia.org