Anthony G. Picciano, Hunter College and Graduate Center, City University of New YorkJeff Seaman, Babson Survey Research GroupMyk Garn, Southern Regional Education BoardRichard C. Larson and M. Elizabeth Murray, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

K-12 Online Learning Growth: Implications for Higher Education and Professional Development

Panel presentation at the 15th Annual Sloan Consortium Conference

on Online Learning

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Panel Presentation Outline

• Introduction

• K-12 Online Learning: What the Data Says and Implications for American Education

• Southern Regional Education Board Professional Development

• MIT BLOSSOMS (Blended Learning Open Source Science Or Math Studies)

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K-12 Online Learning: What the Data Says? - Anthony G. Picciano & Jeff Seaman

National studies were conducted in 2005-2006 and 2007-2008. The purpose of these studies was to explore the nature of online learning in K–12 schools and to establish base data for more extensive future studies. (A study of online learning in the American high school is planned for 2010).

These were among the first studies to collect data on and compare fully online and blended learning (part online and part traditional face-to-face instruction) in K-12 schools.

Issues related to planning, operational difficulties, and online learning providers were also examined.

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K-12 Online Learning: What the Data Says?

The major research questions that guided these studies were:

What is the nature and extent of online and blended learning in K–12 schools in the United States? What is the perceived importance of online and blended learning for K–12 school programs? What are the issues and barriers that impede the development of online and blended learning in K–12 schools? Who are the major providers of online and blended learning courses to K–12 schools?

Survey responses were followed-up with telephone interviews with selected respondents.

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K-12 Online Learning: What the Data Says?

In conducting these surveys, it was determined that there needed to be a separation of online from blended learning courses. In the absence of any standard definitions for online and blended learning, the definitions used by Allen & Seaman for the Sloan Consortium studies of American higher education were adopted, namely:

Online — courses where most or all of the content is delivered online. Defined as at least 80% of seat time being replaced by online activity.

Blended/Hybrid — courses that blends online and face-to-face delivery where a substantial proportion (30 to 79%) of the content is delivered online.

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K-12 Online Learning: What the Data Says?Major Findings – From the 2007-2008 Follow-Up Study 1. Three quarters of the responding public school districts are offering online or

blended courses:· 75% had one or more students enrolled in a fully online or blended course.· 70% had one or more students enrolled in a fully online course.· 41% had one or more students enrolled in a blended course· These percentages represent an increase of approximately 10% since 2005-2006.

2. 66% of school districts with students enrolled in online or blended courses anticipate their online enrollments will grow.

3. The overall number of K-12 students engaged in online courses in 2007-2008, is estimated at 1,030,000. This represents a 47% increase since 2005-2006.

4. Respondents report that online learning is meeting the specific needs of a range of students, from those who need extra help and credit recovery to those who want to take Advanced Placement and college-level courses.

5. School districts typically depend on multiple online learning providers.

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K-12 Online Learning: What the Data Says?

Online v. Blended Learning

Within the sample, the data show that overall higher percentages of students are enrolled in online courses than blended courses.

Fully Online Blended/Hybrid Total

N % N % N %

Grades K–5 9016 21% 305 1% 9321 14%

Grades 6–8 6201 15% 4746 20% 10947 17%

Grades 9–12 27289 64% 18312 78% 45601 69%

Other 316 <% 54 <1% 370 <1%

Total 42822 100% 23417 100% 66239 100%

Table 3. Online Enrollment by Grade Level

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K-12 Online Learning: What the Data Says?

Why Online Learning Respondents report that online learning is meeting the specific needs of a

range of students, from those who need extra help to those who want to take more advanced courses and whose districts do not have enough teachers to offer certain subjects.

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K-12 Online Learning: What the Data Says?

Who are the Providers? School districts typically depend on multiple online learning providers.

Online Instruction Provider

Fully Online(percentage of districts with fully online courses

using this provider)

Blended(percentage of districts with blended courses

using this provider)

Your district (i.e., delivered centrally from the district)

17.0% 35.1%

Cyber (i.e., online) charter school in your district

8.9% 6.5%

Other schools in your district 6.3% 4.6%

Another local school district, or schools in another district, in your state

21.2% 18.5%

Education service agencies within your state (e.g., BOCES, COE, IU), not including the state education agency or local school districts

28.9% 15.1%

State virtual school in your state (i.e., state-centralized K–12 courses available through Internet- or web-based methods

40.7% 14.5%

State virtual school in another state 10.3% 2.2%

Districts or schools in other states (other than state virtual schools)

4.9% 2.2%

Postsecondary institution 46.5% 27.1%

Independent vendor 34.7% 17.5%

Other 2.2% 1.5%

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K-12 Online Learning: What the Data Says?

Who are the Providers?

School districts typically depend on multiple online learning providers.

Number of Providers %

1 17.5%

2 24.9%

3 18.8%

4 or more 38.8%

Total 100.0%

Table 8. Number of Online Learning Providers Being Used

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K-12 Online Learning: What the Data Says?

Concerns? Respondents mentioned a number of concerns in offering online courses.

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K-12 Online Learning: Implications

1. Growth of Online Learning in K-12 especially in the High Schools

2. Online Learning and the Public School Reform Agenda

3. Opportunities/Challenges for Teacher Education

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K-12 Online Learning: Implications

1. Growth of Online Learning in K-12 (especially in the High Schools)

If present growth continues – within 5 years there will be approximately 3 million online K-12 students. HOWEVER, New Statewide Policies:

a. Michigan’s Online Learning Requirement Policy (Merit Curriculum)

b. Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators and Students Statewide (ACCESS) - Every public high school student in the state will have access to distance learning courses by 2011.

c. Florida – All 67 School Districts Must Offer Online Courses for K-8 Students (2009-2010)

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K-12 Online Learning: Implications

2. Online Learning and the Public School Reform Agenda

a. K-16 Collaboration

b. Accelerate Time to Completion (e.g., Credit Recovery)

c. Extended School Day

d. Job and Economic Skill Development (Modeling Beneficial Uses of Technology)

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K-12 Online Learning: Implications

3. Opportunities/Challenges for Teacher Education

a. Pre-service Programs – Include Online Learning in the Curriculum

b. In-service Programs – Professional Development in Online Learning

c. Beyond the Technology – Growing Research and Literature Base on the Pedagogy of Online Learning

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Conclusion

Disrupting Class: How Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns. - Christensen, C.M., Horn, M.B., & Johnson, C.W. (2008).

Questions/Discussion!

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